Konoha Children's Crusade
by Cas42
Summary: A Naruto Next Generation tale of epic scale. NOTE: This story veers from Naruto cannon halfway through the Fourth war (Chapter 573, for those of you keeping score) So don't be surprised when things are different. WARNING: This story contains violence, occasional swearing, romantic encounters, and other adult themes. It may be rated T, but it's a hard T. Reader discretion is advised
1. Prologue

**Konoha Children's Crusade**

**Prologue:**

Takumi took a deep breath and checked behind him for the hundredth time to make sure that he hadn't been followed. The darkened corridors of the Daimyo's palace were even spookier than usual this evening. It wasn't helping that he hadn't been able to sleep on this trek back from the Hidden Sand Village. Dark shapes seemed to be scuttling about just on the periphery of his vision. His stomach was roiling and his forehead was coated with a fine sheen of cold sweat. He was regretting all that sake he had drunk in the forlorn hopes it would calm his nerves.

He clutched the dark cloak he was wearing to disguise himself a little tighter. He was expecting to have to explain his way past the Daimyo's guards, but he hadn't seen any in the palace. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen anyone since the two guards at the main gate just casually waved him inside. No challenge or anything. At first he had just assumed that they had been forewarned of his arrival and were expecting him. But now, with his footsteps echoing about the empty hallways, with no lights and no other people… he was beginning to suspect that there was something very wrong.

It wasn't his problem. Not right now anyway. Takumi's mission was to make his report to the Daimyo about the latest information from the Hidden Sand village. The Daimyo had asked for Takumi personally to meet with certain advisors to the Kazekage and to ask them... certain specific questions. "That is my mission," Takumi whispered to himself, "to ask and then report back. That is all I have to concern myself with." He rubbed his sweating hands on his cloak and tried to forget what those questions were.

The Daimyo's private apartment and bedchamber was just around the corner and down the hall. Takumi paused and took calming breaths. Once again he looked for any sign that he was followed, or for that matter... any sign of life at all. The palace remained as still as a graveyard.

Takumi swallowed and headed down the long hall. It was empty, but the moonlight shone through the large windows making it better lit than the rest of the palace. Takumi was just about to reach out to knock on the Daimyo's bedchamber door, when he heard the noise.

It was a dry scrape. Like something sliding very gently over the mosaic floor. He froze and listened as hard as he could, but the noise never repeated itself. He looked around the whole hallway to check, but he was all alone. He turned back and reached out for the door again.

"I wouldn't do that Takumi-san. The Daimyo went to bed early with a stomach ache. He is bound to be displeased if you wake him," said a smooth voice.

Takumi jumped and spun around. There was a man standing in front of the nearest large window, silhouetted against the moonlight.

Takumi panted until he calmed down. He sensed, rather than saw, the man watching him with wry amusement. When he had caught his breath, the ambassador straightened and took a step forward.

"I am glad to see you my friend," Takumi said with forced cheerfulness. "Can you tell me why the palace seems so empty tonight?"

The shadow shrugged. "The Daimyo was feeling ill. I suppose the staff is just trying to be quiet in order to give him the chance to rest quietly."

Takumi walked forward and stared out the window alongside the shadow. "You are still here," he said quietly.

Again the shadow shrugged. "The Daimyo believes that my work is too important for me to afford the luxury of having an early night. Indeed, it appears that I am most fortuitous, for I was just hoping earlier this day that you would arrive. I need the results of your latest meeting with the Kazekage's council in order to finish my projections." There was a pause and Takumi felt himself being studied.

"I have been a diplomat in the service of the Fire Lord for over twenty years," thought Takumi to himself. "I have been threatened, I have had insults and stones hurled at me, I have been chased out of kingdoms by mobs wielding torches and farm implements. I have faced it all in the service of the Daimyo with restraint and decorum." He swallowed. "So why does being examined by this man make me so nervous?"

"You seemed… troubled," said the man in a kind tone. 'Would you care to share with me what is bothering you?"

Takumi took a deep breath. "I have met with the Kazekage and his advisors... They received me well enough. They spoke to me with courtesy and obeyed all the forms."

"But?" prompted the shadow.

Takumi sighed. "I quietly approached all of those councilors named to me personally by the Daimyo in our private meeting. I'm afraid that the majority have... reservations."

"Hmm," said the dark figure rocking back and forth on his heels. "A majority have reservations... does that mean that we can count on the support of some minority?"

Takumi shook his head. "I presented the letters to those who expressed sympathy with the Daimyo's plan to change the leadership of the Hidden Leaf. Upon reading those letters, all but one of those councilors withdrew support immediately."

"And that one remaining councilor?"

"Councilor Teruo expressed doubt that things would go as the Daimyo planned, but would be willing to assist in exchange for... what was promised in the letter."

The shadow chuckled. "Good. It's nice to see that some people in this world can still be tempted by greed." The dark figure studied Takumi again and sighed. "But that is not all… is it? What else is bothering you?"

Takumi looked away. "My dear Takumi," the smooth voice went on, "We are both highly trusted advisors to the Daimyo. If we cannot speak our minds plainly to each other, whom else can we trust? If you have any reservations I want to hear them now."

Takumi took a deep breath. "My Lord," he started quietly. "The letters I handed over to the indicated Sand councilors contained promises that I was… not made aware of ahead of time."

"Oh?" said the shadow, quietly. "Do tell."

"There were all the… standard things that were discussed in the meetings, however these letters that I was carrying also contained... references to certain bloodline traits... that we would be willing to part with?" Takumi finished weakly.

The silhouette sighed and hung his head. "I told the Daimyo that he was being... careless by including that promise. But he did insist."

"My Lord, the very notion that we would go into the business of 'harvesting' byakugan and sharingan and selling them to the highest bidder was what drove off our support of the Sand council! Some of them, while they could support the removal of the current Hokage, found the incentives being offered to be... distasteful." Takumi swallowed. "Those that... did not, were concerned that retaliation from… certain members of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans would quickly negate any advantage gained in such a bargain."

"Strange. The contact we have within the Hyuga clan actually recommended the sale of 'lesser quality byakugan' as a way in which to raise some quick profits."

Takumi shook his head. "I distrust that woman my lord. I find her a most… disagreeable person to work with."

The shadow reached out and tapped one finger against the windowsill. "You would agree though that we do need her? The Head of the Hyuga clan and the Hokage are bound together in ways that cannot be swayed by mere politics. Without a powerful Hyuga to sway the clan, we would have no hope to remove the Hokage."

Takumi shook his head even stronger. "My lord, I must confess… I… I have very strong reservations about the very nature of this plan."

The shadow sighed. "I see." Slowly, he reached out one hand to give Takumi a reassuring pat on the shoulder. As he did so something silently writhed out of his sleeve, and then darted quickly towards Takumi.

Takumi clapped a hand to his neck. "Ouch!" he yelped.

"Oh I'm so sorry," apologized the smooth voice. "The setting on this new ring of mine is quite rough. I must have caught you on your neck. I do hope you are alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," insisted Takumi. There was curious burning sensation around the sting.

"Good," said the silhouette. "I'm glad. Would you mind telling me any of these reservations of yours?"

Takumi shook his head as if to clear it. "I understand the goal of removing the current Hokage from office. I even approve of it. Some of his actions have been really quite... distressful."

"On that point we agree. Go on."

"Well, I approve of the gathering of the popular support among the Leaf village councilors." Takumi shrugged. "I can see no other clean way to remove him from office. However, of those we have managed to recruit to our cause… I find most of them to be a rather disreputable lot."

The smooth voice chuckled. "When you ask for volunteers to remove someone from authority, you must expect the power hungry to step forward."

"True," said Takumi wiping sweat from his brow. "But this batch seems to have a more personal grudge against the Hokage and his... associates than I would like. If they are out for revenge, it will make them harder to control."

"The Shimura clan has assured me that despite their past grievances, they will follow the Daimyo's orders." The shadow shrugged. "We must work with what we have got."

"But do we have to work with the rest of the groups involved with this plan?" Takumi shivered.

"You've voiced your objections to working with the Hyuga representative already..."

"I cannot be expected to give my trust to someone who is willing to market her own flesh and blood!" interrupted Takumi.

The smooth voice had a note of distaste. "Please do let me finish, Takumi-san. I quite agree with you there. But what else can we do? The Daimyo commands and we must obey."

Takumi shivered again. He felt like he was beginning to have a fever. "But the soldiers he has brought in," he croaked. "By the Gods! Whatever was he thinking when he decided to offer them a position in the new Leaf village? They are simply..." He struggled to find the right words.

"Barbaric? Repulsive? Consorting with dark powers?" suggested the shadow man. "Again, you are quite correct. But there will be those in Konoha who will always support the Sixth Hokage. I understand the Daimyo's reasoning. The Black Wind clan can easily match the military power of the Leaf. There are not many who can."

Takumi looked unsteadily up at the silhouette. "I worry my lord. I cannot… in good faith support this plan of the Daimyo. It is just... not right." He took a deep breath to calm the roiling in his stomach. "Replacing the Hokage is one thing. But this current plan goes far beyond that. Given his allies and the offers being made here, it seems like the Daimyo has a personal vendetta against the Sixth Hokage, the Uchiha clan and the Leaf village as a whole! This is not a plan to transition the Sixth Hokage out of power and put the Leaf Village under a new leadership more to our liking… this is a plan to destroy Konoha in its entirety!"

The other man dropped his head and stared at the floor in deep in thought. Takumi pulled out a lace handkerchief and blotted the sweat from his brow. "You are quite astute," said the smooth voice. "I can see all the points that you bring up. I agree with your assessment that as things are, this plan will no doubt lead to the complete destruction of Konoha." The silhouette stood up straight and clasped his hands behind his back. "We must find some way to alter this current situation," he said crisply, "You are quite correct, Takumi-san, this will simply not do. I will add my concerns to yours. Together we shall speak to the Daimyo first thing in the morning."

Despite how awful he felt Takumi smiled. "Thank you, Thank you very much." The hallway seemed to spin around him. He staggered.

The shadowy man caught him. "My poor Takumi," he said. "Whatever is the matter? Have your travels drained you?"

"I appear to be… feeling… a little ill," rasped Takumi. "I'm sure it will pass."

The smooth voice tsked twice. "You appear to have caught a touch of what ails the Daimyo... Don't worry," he said, pulling him upright. "I am more than capable of dealing with his Lordship on my own." Moonlight reflected off his grin. "By the morning we will find that all these… problems have just faded away."

4


	2. Chapter 1: A Brand New Day

**Chapter One: A brand new day.**

It was going to be a bright sunny day. The sun had just crept above the mountaintops and was beginning to burn off the morning mist. The light gleamed down through the forest like warm butter. It warmed the wings of a messenger hawk circling through the sky. It lit up the six faces carved into the mountainside above the sleepy village. It shone down on the Hokage's residence, where it found a slightly parted curtain. Quickly, it stabbed inside and landed on the Hokage's face.

Naruto snorted and twitched, but the sun showed no mercy. He tried to brush it away with his hand but to no avail. He smacked his lips and slowly sat up in bed. He scratched his head and yawned. He glanced sleepily around his bedroom. Then he looked down at his wife, and smiled.

"Over a decade of marriage, four kids, working all day as the Head of her clan, and she still looks beautiful." He thought to himself as he reached over and brushed a lock of raven black hair off her face… hair so glossy it almost looked blue in the sunlight. Naruto leaned forward and buried his face in its waves, inhaling deeply. He loved the way her hair smelled, he loved the way it felt against him. He loved the way it looked, all spread out upon her pillow…

His fingers traced her hairline A smattering of silver strands were showing at her temples. He ran a fingertip down one of her cheeks. A few wrinkles lined the edges of her eyes. She sighed in her sleep and he saw a brief flash of that dimple that always appeared when she smiled. He embraced her from behind and kissed her gently on the nape of her neck. She sighed again, and still asleep, snuggled close to him.

Taking her action as an invitation, albeit a subconscious one, he started to move his free hand up and down the length of her body. She'd gotten softer over the years… As a matter of fact they both had, they no longer partook in active missions, their busy schedules meant they didn't have the time for training like they used to.

Surreptitiously, Naruto tightened his stomach muscles in the hopes of camouflaging his slowly growing paunch better. "It isn't quite fair," Naruto thought to himself. "How come she gets the added weight in all the right places, and I turn into some fat old geezer." She murmured something indistinct and shifted against him.

That felt good. He kissed her neck again and moved up to nibble her earlobe. He kissed her cheek and heard her breathing quicken. Naruto blew gently in her ear and as she shivered back into the realm of the conscious, he whispered "Good morning Mrs. Uzumaki-Hyuga." She rolled over and opened her expressive silver eyes. She smiled and reached up to touch his cheek.

"Naruto… What are you doing awake so early?" She yawned sleepily. "Are the children up?" Hinata ran her hands through his hair.

"No my dear, it's the crack of dawn. In fact…" Naruto snickered. "Hee-hee-hee, I do believe that we are the only ones in the Uzumaki-Hyuga household up this early." He ran his hand down her nightgown and rested it on her thigh. "I was wondering if you might be in the mood for some… recreational activities this fine morning?"

Hinata smiled. "I don't know where you get the energy." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close for one kiss, then another. "I'm still waking up… Why don't you try your best to convince me?" Naruto grinned and buried his face in her neck. She pressed her hands to his back. "Mmmmmm... Naruto…" she purred, deep in the back of her throat.

Naruto kissed his way down her chest, nuzzling her through her nightgown. Here and there, he nipped gently with his teeth and she shuddered. He straddled her hips and sat up, looking down at her lovingly.

"I love you Hinata." Naruto said smiling.

"I love you too Naruto." Hinata smiled back. She reached up and pulled him closer. "Well… I'm awake now… And I think you've managed to convince me…"

"DADDY!" A red headed blur flew across the room, crashed into Naruto, and knocked him off the bed and on to the floor. "Daddy, daddy daddy! Play with me!"

Hinata sat up quickly "Naruto?! Are you okay?"

Naruto got up to his hands and knees. "I'm okay," he said in a dazed voice. " I just have a baby on my head." Hinata giggled. Their youngest, Sasuko, was trying to ride his father like a horse.

"Play with me, play with me, play with me daddy!" He shouted. "Pony ride! Pony ride!" Hinata laughed and clapped her hands as Naruto galloped around the room neighing like a horse.

Naruto stopped his prancing after a moment. "Do you know what is even better than riding a horse Sasuko?" Sasuko shook his head. "A frog!" Naruto began to jump in the air with the child on his back. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" Sasuko squealed as he bounded up and down, blue eyes wide, his grin wrinkling the three whisker marks that adorned each cheek.

After pretending to be a lion, an elephant, and an ostrich in turn, Naruto and Sasuko collapsed on the bed. Sasuko reached out for Hinata. "Mommy!" He called. She reached over and kissed him on the forehead. Sasuko snuggled into her arms. Naruto sat up next to her and lay his head on her shoulder. The sounds of the other children thumping about began to filter into their room. Naruto sighed. He and Hinata shared one last tender kiss.

"I guess we lost the opportunity huh?" he muttered with disappointed shrug.

Hinata made a mischievous smile, then turned and kissed his cheek. She leaned into his ear and whispered "I'm going to take a shower now… If you can find someone willing to watch Sasuko in the next five minutes, I'm sure there will be plenty of room in the shower for you as well." She got up from the bed and gracefully walked to the bathroom door. She gave Naruto a playful, come-hither look over her shoulder, delicately tossed her hair with one hand, then stepped into the bathroom and shut the door.

Naruto closed his mouth with a click. He ruffled Sasuko's bright red hair. "Hey little guy," he said with a grin. "Let's see if your sisters and brother are awake yet."

Sasuko pouted. "No daddy! I want to stay with you!" Naruto tickled him.

"I just need to… help mommy with something for a little bit… Don't you want to see if your brother is awake?"

"No daddy! I want to stay with you! I miss you!"

"Awww… I miss you too little guy. I tell you what, if you play with your brother and sisters for just a little bit this morning, I'll take you to the office with me today. Will that be okay?"

Sasuko looked thoughtful. "Maybe…" The bathroom door creaked open. Hinata's arm slipped through the crack and slowly let her nightgown slide to the floor.

Naruto quickly turned back to Sasuko. "I'll take you to the office, get you an ice cream, and buy you three of any toy you want."

Sasuko clapped his hands in delight. "Yay!"

Naruto picked him up, yelled "I'll be back in a minute dear!" to the bathroom, and ran down the hallway.

* * *

He skidded to a stop in front of the first doorway. "Hishyota… I need you to help me for a while." Loud snores filled the air. Juggling Sasuko to hold him in one arm he stepped over the piles of dirty clothes and scattered ninja tools on the floor. He opened the curtains covering the window. The morning sunlight spilled across the bed. Somewhere buried under the pile of blankets was his eldest daughter. "Hishyota…" He said again, nudging her bed with his foot.

The pile of blankets shifted. From somewhere deep inside a voice muttered, "Go 'way." Naruto thumped the bed again.

"Hishyota…Get up! I need you to play with Sasuko. I know you have a mission today; you'll have to wake up soon anyway! You might as well get up now." There was a ripping noise as a kunai tore through the blankets and solidly slammed in the wall next to Naruto's ear. A pale arm emerged from the heap of blankets groped around for a pillow and pulled it back under the pile.

"Go 'way I said… Still sleeping." the voice muttered again.

Naruto and Sasuko looked and the knife still vibrating in the woodwork. "Let's go see what your other sister and brother are doing this morning shall we?" He quietly stepped out of the room and very gently closed the door.

* * *

Kusumina carefully smoothed down the sheet on her bed. She flipped the blankets up once in the air and tucked them neatly under the corners of her mattress. She then arranged her stuffed animals at the head next to her pillow. "I will… Never understand… Why you bother…doing… that sis." Her twin brother was doing pushups on his side of the room they shared. Normally there was a divider that could split the room for privacy, but they usually opened it when they woke up. There was more space that way. Besides, if they left the divider closed the afternoon breeze wouldn't properly air out the room, which was rather… indispensable when her brother's dirty laundry was filling up the hamper.

"It makes it look nice." Kusumina had a soft voice. "It makes Mom and Dad proud to see that I can take care of things myself. I can't understand how you can stand to sleep in such a messy bed."

"Ha!" said her brother Jiraiya. Jumping up from the floor and starting a round of free squats, his unruly, jet black hair flapping up and down. Despite his Uzumaki chin and general facial structure, his byakugan clearly marked him as a Hyuga. "It's pointless! A waste of valuable time. It just gets messy again the moment you get back into bed. You shouldn't be so helpful Kusumina. It makes you look like a pushover."

Kusumina stopped and stared at him. "Just because I like to have a clean bed doesn't make me a pushover!"

"No... But doing everything that anyone asks you to does!"

Kusumina stomped her foot. "It does not."

Jiraiya smirked. "Oh Kusumina, will you be a good girl and make dinner? Oh Kusumina, will you please sweep up? Oh Kusumina could you help me with the homework? Oh Kusumina, could please run down to the store? Oh Kusumina, please watch Sasuko for a minute." He bent down, placed both hands on the floor and then kicked his legs up into a handstand.

"I am not a pushover!" She said with finality. Kusumina marched over to her vanity and starting the hundred brush strokes she daily gave her long brown hair. It had started out almost as blonde as her father, but was slowly darkening as she got older. She pointedly avoided looking at her brother in the mirror, and focused on herself as she brushed. Her pale silver eyes stared back at her from the looking glass.

Jiraiya hated being ignored. "Want to make a bet? An easy hundred ryo?"

Her first instinct was to say no... But allowance day was several weeks away… and a hundred ryo would be quite the fancy lunch at Ichiraku Ramen… or maybe a simpler one for two people… "What is the bet?"

Jiraiya grinned as she asked. "I bet you can't go the whole day without doing something someone else asks you to do."

Kusumina narrowed her eyes. She had long since learned that her brother was not above rigging a challenge, even between family members, when money was on the line. "Not fair... If sensei asks me to do homework, I'll have to do it. You won't trap me there."

Jiraiya jumped back to his feet. "That's not what I'm getting at... You are always doing other people's jobs for them. I want to see you go the whole day without someone else taking advantage of your good will."

"But what if they really need help?"

"Helping a little old lady cross the street or rescuing a kitten from a burning building or other heroics is okay... Is it a deal? Will you try it?"

Kusumina folded her arms. It sounded easy enough… now to keep him from cheating. "Fine, but no money."

"No money?"cried Jiraiya. "That's…"

Kusumina held up a hand to silence him. "I will bet you a lunch at Ichiraku's that I can go the whole day without being a pushover." They shook hands just as the door to their room opened.

Naruto came in smiling. "Ah, good Kusumina you're awake. I need you to watch your brother for bit while I go help your mother with something."

"Good morning little brother," She said cheerfully. As Kusumina reached out for Sasuko, Jiraiya loudly cleared his throat. She glanced at him quickly and then turned to Naruto. "Why do you need me to watch him Father?"

Naruto looked puzzled "I told you, I just need to… help your mother with something for a little bit. That's all." Through the open door, the sounds of the shower starting up could be clearly heard.

Kusumina looked confused. "What do you need to help Mother with in the shower? Is it important?"

Naruto's face turned bright red. "Um..."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Helping dad with pervy things is not important enough," he said to Kusumina.

"Pervy?! What? I..." Naruto looked from one twin to the other.

Kusumina lowered her head. "I am sorry Father. I swore an oath that I would only help those in dire need today. I am afraid your request doesn't meet the requirements."

Naruto turned from one twin to the other. "Okay… I have no idea what is going on here, and to be honest, I don't care. I need someone to watch Sasuko right now. Jiraiya... It's going to be you." Sasuko climbed down out of Naruto's arms and padded over to Kusumina.

Jiraiya folded his arms. "Sure... I'll do it… for the right price."

"I'll pay you 300 ryo in exchange for watching him for next twenty minutes."

"Make it six hundred and you'll have a deal."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "In a minute you'll be doing it because your Hokage made it an A-ranked mission."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes in return. "Gee Dad…that's really unfortunate. Because if something like that was to happen, I would have no other choice but to inform the Hokage's wife of the mysterious collection of instant ramen hidden inside the large decorative urn in our sitting room." Jiraiya's grin would have frightened a shark. "Since the Hokage's doctor expressly told him he had to cut back on his ramen intake… I simply cannot imagine what such a hoard could be doing in our house."

Just as Naruto opened his mouth to retort, Hinata called out from the shower. "Naruto-kun... I need you." Naruto shut his mouth with a click.

"Fine." he muttered. "600 ryo."

Jiraiya smiled, and pointed at his Kusumina. "And another six hundred for my assistant here."

"WHAT?!" Naruto bellowed.

"Naruto-kun... Could you please wash my back?" Hinata's voice floated musically down the hallway.

Naruto looked distracted for a second. "Fine... Okay." He turned to go.

"And we want to go out to dinner at Ichiraku's." Jiraiya said.

"Fine..."

"All we can eat..."

"Fine..."

"...Every night this week." Jiraiya grinned.

Naruto turned. "My son, I am leaving now before bankrupt me… I'm coming Honey!" He called as he ran down the hall.

Jiraiya turned to his siblings, a cocky grin plastered all over his face. "And that, my dear Brother and Sister, is how you make a deal."

"Daddy promised me ice cream." said Sasuko.

Jiraiya lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "Shoot... I should have held out for more!"

* * *

The Uzumaki-Hyuga family breakfast table was experiencing a quiet lull. The mad scramble for the food had settled down. Hishyota was chewing slowly in between yawns. Jiraiya was shoveling in as much food as his mouth could handle before making an attempt at swallowing. Kusumina was daintily using her chopsticks to take small bites, and yet somehow she seemed to be eating faster that Jiraiya was. Sasuko was using his chubby hands to stuff handfuls of rice in his mouth, and occasionally rub it in his hair.

The only two members of the family who were not concentrating on eating were Naruto and Hinata. They kept giving each other dreamy smiles, purposefully brushing past each other, and occasionally giving the other a gentle caress. Once as Naruto got up to get an extra serving bowl of rice, he leaned in and gave his wife a quick kiss.

Hishyota, who had been sleepily watching this back and forth, finally let curiosity get the better of her. She kicked her brother under the table and hissed. "What is up with mom and dad this morning?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Trust me..." he whispered back. "Unless you want to be scarred for the rest of your life, you do not want to know the answer to that question."

She stared at her parents again as Hinata fed Naruto a piece of fish from her chopsticks, and then leaned into his ear and whispered something that made him blush. "Well then what took mom so long in the shower this morning? I have a mission in twenty minutes that I had to get ready for, and now I'm going to stink!"

Jiraiya pursed his lips with an evil twinkle in his eye. "Remember that aforementioned life scarring incident? Well, it involves Mom, Dad, the shower, and something so incredibly pervy that dad promised to take us out for ramen every night this week if we watched Sasuko for twenty minutes...

"Eww."

"Alright everyone," said Hinata, sitting straighter in her chair. "I plan on leaving tomorrow for the monthly clan meeting. This month we are going to the resort town where your grandfather retired to. Since your Uncle Neji will be attending as well, and your Aunt Tenten will be away on a mission, both of your cousins will be staying with us while I am away.

"Woo-hoo!" yelled Jiraiya, throwing his arms in the air. "Party time!"

Hinata's eyes narrowed. "It most certainly is not 'party time'. I expect you all to behave while your cousins are here and show them that you can all be good hosts."

"Yes, mother," said Kusumina.

"Is Hishyoni staying with us too? Or does she have a mission?" Hishyota asked in that flat, disinterested way people use when they are pretending their question isn't important.

"Nope, she will be right here," said Naruto. "Try to be more polite to Hishyoni-chan this time okay?" Hishyota didn't say anything. Both her parents knew full well that her cousin Hishyoni was a hyper-competitive, overly assertive jerk who had it out for her since the day Hinata picked out a similar sounding name for her daughter. But of course, nobody ever cared about what Hishyota's problems were… She was just expected to suck it up and deal.

Hinata cleared her throat. "Jiraiya and Kusumina, even though your cousins will be here I expect both of you work extra hard on your school work. Just because we have visitors is not an excuse not to try your hardest."

"But Mom," groaned Jiraiya. "What kind of hosts would we be if we just did homework all the time?"

"The kind that gets good grades, do you understand me?" Jiraiya opened his mouth to protest but his twin elbowed him.

"Yes mother, he does." Kusumina said.

"Now meals..."

Naruto interrupted her. "I thought that maybe we could just go out to Ichiraku's for dinner for a few nights until you got back..."

"Now dear, you know Sakura said you should cut back on the ramen, you need to start eating healthier."

"But I've already given up on the instant ramen cups, and she did say Ichiraku's wasn't too bad."

Kusumina chimed in. "Plus Father already promised he would take us there."

Hinata smiled. "Alright, just promise me you won't let your father eat more than one bowl."

"What? Only one?!" objected Naruto.

Hinata ignored him while the children snickered. "Now there is one other thing," Hinata continued. "Sakura will also be heading out with us to visit the fifth Hokage, who is vacationing in the same resort. So while we are gone I also expect you all to be good neighbors and help the Uchiha clan if they need it." She stopped to glare meaningfully at her son. "This also means no pranks on them."

"I have no idea what you are referring to," said Jiraiya. "And besides, no one can prove anything."

"Be that as it may, I don't want to hear about any problems when I get back is that understood?" Sasuko laughed out loud, and everyone turned to look at him. He had upended his rice bowl on his head.

"I'm the rice-kage!" He shouted. Hishyota, Kusumina and Jiraiya all giggled.

Hinata sighed. "Dear, would you be so good as to clean him up?"

Naruto looked up from his breakfast. "What? Oh no buddy, what happened?"

"I want to be the rice-Hokage when I grow up, Daddy."

"Hmm… a worthy goal, but right now let's get you cleaned up."

As Naruto and Sasuko left the table, Hinata leaned forward. She looked at each of her children. "I want each of you to promise that you will help out your father while I am gone. He always tries to be the best father he can, but there are times when he has to be the Hokage first. When the village needs its Hokage, it is your job to help him… Do you understand?"

"Why do you always have to bring this up Mom?" grumbled Hishyota, brushing her long dark bangs out of her eyes. She was the spitting image of her mother at thirteen, but while she looked like a younger version of Hinata, her personality was quite different."We're not stupid, we can follow orders."

Hinata pursed her lips together. "They are not 'orders' Hishyota… they are the duties and responsibilities that come with being an..."

"Being an Uzumaki-Hyuga… Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," interrupted Hishyota. "How we're so 'special'… That still doesn't explain why you feel the need to remind us every single time you leave!"

Kusumina spoke up. "Sister… You know why. Three years ago when Mother was pregnant with Sasuko… You remember, don't you?"

Hishyota stared down at the table and clenched her fists. "Yeah… I remember. I remember everything." She stared at her mother. "I remember you lying on the ground. I remember Dad crying as he frantically tried to help stop the bleeding." She turned her glare to her brother and sister. "I remember you two screaming, and I remember the guards dying one by one… and I remember thinking…" Hishyota clamped her jaw shut and turned her head away.

Kusumina reached out for her sister's hand. "I remember too Hishyota. I remember that you helped to save us. I remember that you were so brave…"

Hishyota looked back down again. "Why do we have to be this way? Why can't things in our life just be… normal?"

Hinata stood up from her chair and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Hishyoni, you were born into one of the noblest families in Konoha. Your father is the Hokage. Our family will be affected by many things that are outside of our control. But we are still a family, and no matter what happens we will be there for each other."

"Yeah Sis," grinned Jiraiya. "As bad as all of that was, it all worked out in the end didn't it?"

Hinata sighed. "As far as you three need to be concerned, yes everything worked out… Politically… not so much. When you are older you will understand."

"When I'm older I will understand…" Hishyota said, mocking her mother's tone. She glared at her mother as only a Hyuga can . "Fine… But, when will you understand, huh? Maybe I can't take living like this! You have no idea what it's like to…" She abruptly stopped her rant as Naruto and Sasuko returned to the kitchen.

"All clean!" said Sasuko beaming.

"Well, I think we are all about ready to start our day," said Naruto smiling. "I promised Sasuko that I would take him into work with me this morning. Does anyone want to walk with us? We could have an Uzumaki-Hyuga family parade!"

"Yay! Parade!" cheered Sasuko.

Naruto looked around the table. "Hey, why all the glum faces?" He noticed everyone centered about Hishyota. Four pairs of pale grey Hyuga eyes were studiously avoiding him. "Is everything okay? Do you need to talk to me about anything?"

Hishyota ran the back of her hand across her eyes. "Everything's fine Dad. Everything is just fine." She pushed herself away from the table. "I'm meeting my team soon. Moegi-sensei doesn't like it when we're late." Hishyota hurriedly gathered up her pack and started to leave. Naruto put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. "What is it Dad? I said, I have to get going," she said testily.

Naruto smiled in a sad way. "I just wanted to tell you to… do your best. I want you to know that I am proud of you."

"Whatever." Hishyota shouldered her pack and headed out the door.

* * *

Hinata put her arm around Naruto as he sighed and let his head drop to his chest. "Why does it always feel like I'm always doing the wrong thing when it comes to her?" he mumbled.

Hinata hugged him tighter. "It's just a phase she is going through. She is growing up and trying to figure things out on her own. She still loves you. She just needs to separate herself from your influence. Everyone rebels from their parents."

"You never rebelled like that growing up."

Hinata smiled and kissed him. "No… I just went against the wishes of my father and my entire clan. I disregarded the opinions of every adult in the village and fell in love with a clumsy orphan boy that everyone thought was a monster." She laid her finger on the tip of his nose. "And every morning I wake up happy that I did."

Naruto smiled his old smile again. "Thanks." He said, kissing Hinata's forehead. "Alright everyone… let's get ready to go!" He turned back to her. "Do you want to walk with us?"

Hinata smiled, but there was a brittle edge to it. "I'm afraid I… why don't you three go on ahead. I'll clean up quickly first."

Naruto smiled back and nodded. He pulled her into a tight comforting hug and kissed her forehead. "All right I'll see you later then. I love you."

"And I love you." She watched as Naruto gathered up Sasuko and helped him put on his sandals. He called Kusumina and Jiraiya over to him. As they all walked down the front path, Naruto turned once and waved to her. Then they turned on to the main road, and she could not see them anymore.


	3. Chapter 2: Around Town part 1

**Chapter Two: Around Town.**

"So… What are you two going to be covering in your class at the academy today?" Naruto asked to Jiraiya and Kusumina as they walked beside him. Sasuko was wearing the Hokage's hat and bouncing on his father's shoulders.

"Today is going to be chakra focus and control. Then after lunch I believe we will have kunai and shuriken practice." Kusumina shuffled down the street. "Uncle Ko said he could help us with our byakugan training in the afternoon, so we may be a little late coming home."

Jiraiya gave his father a sly sideways look. "Hey Dad?" Naruto grunted. "While we are on this topic… Why are we still in school? I mean, let's be honest here, both Kusumina and I are miles ahead of most of the genin who have already graduated. What is the point in staying?" He gave a little innocent shrug. "On the other hand, if you could see your way to let us graduate and go out on missions, we could learn real life skills, field discipline, start building a reputation for ourselves…" he looked up at his father with an angelic grin. "Earn heaps of cash," he mumbled in an innocent, offhanded way.

Naruto smiled. "You can wait to take the graduation exam when you are twelve. That's the law isn't it?"

"It didn't used to be," grumbled Jiraiya. "It used to be that anyone could graduate early. Uncle Kakashi graduated when he was only five! He became a chunin when he was six."

Naruto shook his head. "That was a different time and a different situation. We were at war. Everyone who could fight was needed to fight… and probably too many children were pushed into being ninjas too early." He ruffled up his son's hair. "Granny Tsunade decided that no matter what, twelve was the age for everyone to graduate the academy."

"Yeah, but it's a stupid rule… I'm way more talented than those other guys!" Jiraiya folded his arms. "I've got better things to do than waste my time in school!"

Naruto chuckled sarcastically. "I'm surprised at you Jiraiya. I thought you'd be begging me to stay at the Academy longer so you could keep conning your classmates out of their hard earned allowances."

Jiraiya didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed. "Hah! Nothing but chump change! The real money is in…Mmmph!"

Kusumina kept her hand over her brother's mouth. "I believe that what Jiraiya meant to say is that there we are only two among several of our classmates who could already be accomplished genin, if we were but given the opportunity. Wouldn't Konoha on the whole benefit from changing such a law?"

Naruto sighed and reached out for his daughter's hand. He gripped his son's shoulder. "I'm going to share some knowledge with the pair of you that took me more than thirty years to learn… Don't be in such a hurry to grow up. Life has a bad habit of making people grow up fast and in unpleasant ways long before they should. Relax and enjoy it while things are easy."

"Enjoy it?" Jiraiya looked incredulous. "Relax?! You are telling us to relax? Didn't you spend three days without sleep trying to learn the rasengan?"

Naruto blinked. "Who told you about that?"

Kusumina cleared her throat. "Tsunade-sama might have mentioned it in passing."

Naruto laughed. "I didn't think she remembered that."

Jiraiya scoffed. "She might be old, and bad at cards, but the lights are still burning bright in that belfry… Man, does that lady know when to grab the money and run," he said admiringly.

"Wait…You went out gambling with Granny Tsunade?" Naruto asked with a scowl.

"I'll have you know, we were playing for educational purposes only," Jiraiya said with a disdainful sniff. "But enough about me… we were talking about how the hero of Konoha, famous for his tenacity, wants his own children to slow down and take things easy. Quit trying to change the subject!"

"Alright, here's what I should have said… are you listening?" Jiraiya and Kusumina nodded. "How about you Sasuko?"

"Listening ears turned on Daddy!"

"Okay, What I meant to say is train hard, and learn harder. But, don't lose sight of the fact that there's more to life than just being a shinobi. You've got to balance things out. Don't go looking for ways to make your life harder. They will show up on their own."

Kusumina tilted her head and studied her father's face. "May I ask a question?"

"Sure."

"What is bothering you? Is it Hishyota?"

Naruto looked surprised. "What?"

Kusumina continued. "Mother always tells us stories of the hero of the village who never gives up, the Hero who never goes back on his word. You never quit when you were growing up, despite the fact that everyone told you, you should. You never gave up on your dream." Kusumina paused and looked her father in the eye. "Why are you trying to tell us to give up on ours?"

Naruto gave a small laugh. "Heh. You are as insightful as your mother, did I ever tell you that?"

"Changing the subject again," muttered Jiraiya.

Naruto glared at him before he continued. "I guess I am a little upset about Hishyota. I feel like… I'm constantly letting her down. I made a mistake as her Dad and as the Hokage and I think, she feels like she is paying for it. And sometimes…" he sighed, "I feel like a really bad parent."

Kusumina held his hand. "That is not true! You are a wonderful father. You do your best in everything. Hishyota is just having a hard time right now… that is all."

Jiraiya put both his hands behind his head and started walking again. "She complains a lot, but she'll get over it Dad. She is strong. You should believe in her." Naruto raised his eyebrows in surprise "What?" Jiraiya asked.

"Huh. You are right. I should definitely trust in her more."

"Of course I'm right," Jiraiya said cockily.

Naruto shook his head and then looked around at the neighborhood. "We're close to the Uchiha house. Does anyone want to stop by and see if they want to walk to the academy with us?

* * *

The intruder squirmed under Sasuke's tight grip. "So…" he said in a frigid voice, thick with the undercurrent of promised violence. "You think that you can trespass on Uchiha clan property, run amok in my home, and steal my precious treasures." His eye twitched. "For these crimes your life should be forfeit."

"Squeak," said the chipmunk as it tried to wriggle out of his hand.

"However," Sasuke said, his lips turning into a cruel smile. "I have a much more terrible punishment in mind…"

"Squeak?" said the chipmunk shaking.

"Chyrio!" he called towards the house.

A little girl with dark blonde pigtails came running out. "Daddy!" She ran up and grabbed his leg. She stared up at him, her dark onyx eyes speckled with flecks of green.

"I have a surprise for you," Sasuke said, hiding his hand behind his back.

"Ooh! What is it?! Gimmie gimme gimme!" She jumped up and down with excitement.

He knelt and held out his hand. "I found a new little friend for you." Chipmunk and little girl stared at each other.

"Squeak?"

"Oh, thank you daddy! I am going to name her Princess Puffypants! She will be Mister Whiskers' new best friend! I know just what I am going to dress them up as too! I have two fancy pink dresses and two little crowns that will make them look so pretty!" Chyrio held the chipmunk tight in two hands and carried her inside.

"Squeak!?" screamed the new Princess Puffypants in terror.

"Remember it's almost time for school!" Sasuke called after his daughter. "Don't take too long playing with your new pets."

"Oi, Sasuke!" called a familiar voice. Sasuke turned and saw Naruto waving to him outside the front gate. Sasuke turned from the tomato patch in his garden and went to let him in.

"Hi Uncle Sasuke!" shouted Sasuko, riding atop Naruto's shoulders and still wearing the Hokage hat.

Sasuke opened his mouth in mock surprise. "Oh, it's you Sasuko. I thought the sixth Hokage suddenly turned into a giant!" Sasuko giggled.

"Very funny," said Naruto. "We happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to see if you had anyone in the house who wanted to walk to the academy with us."

"There might be. Last time I checked I thought I had some children who should be getting ready for school." Sasuke led them to the front door, removed his shoes, and slid the door open. The dull roar of the Uchiha clan getting ready in the morning filled the outside air. Stepping inside, Sasuke called out. "Sakura, we have guests!"

A growling Sakura greeted them at the entrance to the kitchen. "Sasuke!" she snarled. She was still in her pajamas, a hastily donned robe tied over her bulging belly, her pink hair a chaotic haystack. "How many times have I told you that we have more than enough rodents in this house!? Seriously, what was that, number sixty? And on top of that… now you're bringing in guests with no warning?! I mean, I haven't even had a chance to…" Sakura paused when she noticed who their visitor was. "Oh… it's only you Naruto… Here hold the baby." She dumped her youngest, Fugawari, his pink hair and smiling face covered by a mess of thick green goop, unceremoniously in Naruto's arms. "See if you can find something to clean him up with. He managed to get into my study and started finger painting with an experimental antifungal ointment I received from the Hidden Mist." There was a crash and a scream of frustration from upstairs. "Sasuke, you need to go up there and tell Mibuki he needs to stop teasing his sister. She's going to hurt him again if he doesn't."

Sasuke sighed. "I'll handle it."

"And while you are up there tell Hana to hurry up. Breakfast is getting cold!" She took a deep breath and turned to Naruto. "Someday you will have to teach me the shadow clone jutsu. I need the extra pair of hands around here." She pushed her hair out of her face and smiled at the visiting Uzumaki-Hyuga children. "Sasuko! How did you ever get so big! What are you eating?"

"Yummy Ramen!" Sasuko shouted.

"That one is your son alright," Sakura said with a twinkle in her eye. "Kusumina dear, you look so lovely. Is that a new skirt? It looks fabulous on you."

"Thank you Sakura-san."

Sakura turned to Jiraiya. "And you Jiraiya, you look so handsome this morning."

The eleven and half year old buffed his nails on his shirt. "Yeah that's me… I have to beat the ladies off with a stick."

Sakura and Sasuke's eldest son, Ichisui barreled into the room, frantically looking this way and that. Naruto couldn't help but stare at the young chunin. If you studied his face long enough it was possible to pick out the blend of Sasuke and Sakura's features, but at quick glance he could easily pass for the ghost of his dead Uncle Itachi. "Mom! Have you seen my shuriken holster? I have a B-rank mission to go on this morning! I can't go without my… Oh!" He stopped in his tracks when he saw Naruto watching at him. He bowed, low and formal. "Good morning Hokage-sama. I am honored that you would visit our home on this fine day."

"You don't have to grovel, Ichisui, it's not like he doesn't come by three or four times a week." Hana, the next oldest Uchiha child, clumped down the stairs, her black, gothic style cloak billowing around her. Her perpetual frown twitched upward a bit as she noticed her older brother stiffen at her remark. She shoved roughly past him, swept her cloak aside and sat down at the table.

Jiraiya went a little bug eyed at the very short skirt and midriff-baring blouse that she chose for her outfit this morning. "Woah…" he muttered.

"If you are looking for your shuriken holster Chyrio has it. Last I saw, she was talking about using it as a bed for her chipmunks," Hana called casually over her shoulder as she poured herself a cup of tea.

"Please excuse me Hokage-sama." Ichisui bowed one more time and then ran upstairs screaming, "Chyrio! Keep your stupid chipmunks out of my stuff!"

Naruto looked confused. "Chipmunks?"

Hana sighed. "It's something my dad came up with. He has been at war with the chipmunks that sneak into his garden and eat his tomatoes for years. But Chyrio completely freaked out when he set out traps for them. So now, when he catches them, he hands them over to my little sister, who dresses them up, wheels them around in a baby carriage, plays with them in her little chipmunk houses, set up these huge squeaking song and dance numbers and basically torments them in far crueler and stranger ways than even Morrino Ibiki could come up with. Every so often, there is a massive breakout and they all escape. But, by that time they have been so traumatized by my little sister that we never see them again. So my dad is happy and Chyrio is happy… more or less." At that moment, Chyrio came bounding down stairs clutching tightly to two little balls of fluff in her little hands.

She held out her hands to them. "Look everyone! Do you remember my little friend Mister Whiskers?" In one hand was a depressed chipmunk wearing a frilly pink tutu, and having a large pink bow tied around his head.

"Squeak!" he said, resigned to his fate.

"And here is his new bestest friend in the whole wide world… Princess Puffypants!" She opened her other hand, but not too far, for Princess Puffypants was making a mad scramble for freedom. "Aren't they adorable!? I love them so much!" Chyrio gave both rodents a tight squeeze and bounced off to show her mother.

"Wow… that was scary," said Jiraiya with the shudder that all preteen boys have in the presence of too much frothy pink lace.

"That was nothing," said Hana. "Two weeks ago she held the "Royal Wedding" of Prince Whiskers and Princess Puffball. It was supposed to be a three hour ceremony."

"That sounds very... creative," said Kusumina, trying to be polite.

Hana turned to look at her, her midnight black irises made all the darker by the thick layers of mascara she wore. "While my sister was serving out 36 tiny plates for all the guests at the wedding reception, the best man, Lord Humpty, gnawed a hole underneath the altar." she said in a flat deadpan. "Thirty six small rodents dressed in tiny tuxedos and pastel poofy dresses ran squeaking around our house and out into the street. There was a ceremonial procession of visiting dignitaries from the Land of Grass traveling down the lane that day... They saw the aforementioned horde of well-dressed chipmunks heading towards them and panicked. They dropped sedan chairs, instruments, banners, and ran screaming out of the road. It took everyone an hour to convince the ambassador for the Land of Grass that it was safe to come down from the tree he was hiding in. Our neighbors called in the ANBU in to investigate."

Jiraiya was trying really hard not to laugh. "That is really... tragic."

Naruto looked bemused. "Huh... The ambassador told me he was late because he was attacked by wild animals on the way here. I see he was almost telling the truth." He had left a somewhat cleaner Fugawari sharing his blocks with Sasuko in the corner. Sasuke, Ichisui, and Mibuki finally came back down stairs and sat down at the table. Sakura started to bring out the various bowls, when Sasuke jumped up.

"Let me do that. You sit and rest. He placed a hand protectively across Sakura's pregnant stomach. He helped her to a chair and kissed her forehead. "Naruto, Kusumina and Jiraiya, please join us. Sit and have some tea at least."

Everyone was almost finished eating. Sasuke was clearing away an empty plate when Naruto leaned back with his cup of tea and said. "Wow Sakura, you look immense! The next member of the Uchiha clan must be due any day now huh?"

There was dead silence in the kitchen. All of the Uchiha children froze in mid chew and stared at Naruto. There was a crash as the dish Sasuke was holding fell to the floor and broke. "Are you saying… I'm fat, Naruto?" Sakura quietly asked in a cold, chilly voice.

Naruto pushed himself back from the table, remembering far too late how the changing hormones put Sakura's legendary temper on a hair trigger. "No! No. No. Not at all. I was just trying to say…You are so big, that… I mean… um… Are you sure it isn't twins? Because when Hinata looked like that we had… Jiraiya and… Kusumina?" He finished in a very feeble voice.

A muscle twitched in Sakura's cheek. "Ichisui dear, please give your mother a kunai. I'm going to nail the Hokage's ears to the table with it."

"Please excuse my father Sakura-san," said Kusumina in a rapid fire burst of words, as she jumped up from her seat and bowed deeply. "He has the coarse manners of warrior. I am sure what he meant to say was that you are positively aglow with impending motherhood. He is amazed at your grace in carrying such a precious treasure and he wishes nothing but health and happiness for both you and your family."

"Yeah… That," said Naruto timidly.

"Wow, Sis," whispered Jiraiya. "Remind me to take you along the next time I have to talk my way out of staying after school."

Sakura took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her face broke into a smile. "Thank you dear." She turned back to the Hokage and her smile evaporated. "Naruto, you should definitely take this young lady along with you the next time you need to negotiate with another head of state."

"Heh. Yeah, she definitely has better manners than I ever will."

"Chyrio's chipmunks have better manners than you do, doofus… and a better sense of self preservation," muttered Sasuke. The head of the Uchiha clan turned and glanced at the clock. "Alright, everyone who is going to school today needs to get moving right now!" he bellowed.

Sakura sighed as pandemonium ensued. There was a mad jumble of children, dishes, and flying food. "I wish he wouldn't do that," she muttered to herself, took a deep breath and took control of the situation. "Shannaro!" she bellowed and everyone froze. With a steely gleam in her eye, she rose and began to give out orders. "Ichisui, please stop stuffing rice into your mouth. Is your gear ready for your mission?"

"Yes Mother," he said indistinctly through a mouthful or rice.

"Good, then you can help out by brushing and braiding Chyrio's hair. Chyrio, come here for a minute sweetie," called Sakura. Chyrio and her rodent bounced back to the table.

Ichisui looked up. "What? I don't know anything about braiding hair!"

"Unless it's Hishyoni Hyuga's braid," said Hana softly in a little sing song voice. "He keeps one of her old hair ribbons under his mattress."

Ichisui turned red. "Mom! Hana's telling lies!" he shouted with his mouth full.

Hana's face was a mask of pure innocence. "Oh? It wasn't Hishyoni's hair ribbon I saw you taking out the other day? Whose was it then? It was freaking creepy the way you were smelling it."

"He doesn't smell it," mumbled Mibuki as he wrote furiously with a pen across a small scroll. "He kisses it… but only for inspiration. He's writing another love song to her you know."

"Shut up!" yelped the oldest Uchiha son, coughing and spraying food across the table.

"Both of you, leave your brother alone," said Sakura wearily.

"I will take care of Chyrio's braids Sakura-san," said Kusumina, desperately trying to restore order. "If you will come into my beauty salon Chyrio-san I will be right with you." The young girl giggled and sat.

"Hana, you weren't planning on going on your mission today looking like that, were you?" Sakura asked looking at her daughter's outfit with a frown.

Hana frowned right back. "As a matter of fact Mom, I was. Is there something the matter with what I'm wearing?"

"As a matter of fact there is… It's a little… revealing for a ninja mission isn't it?"

Hana exhaled sharply and rolled her eyes. "It's comfortable and practical Mom. I have seen the pictures of you from that mission of yours to the Kingdom of the Crescent moon, you know. This is no worse than that!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "First of all my skirt was never that short. Second, what will everyone think with you dressed like this?"

Hana shook her head. "Don't be so old fashioned. Everyone dresses like this, mom. Nobody thinks anything of it!"

"Nobody huh?" Sakura turned to Jiraiya. "Jiraiya here has been trying not to stare at you ever since you came down stairs. So… Mister Uzumaki-Hyuga... be honest now… What first comes to mind when you look at my daughter's charming wardrobe?"

Jiraiya's face turned bright red. For once, he was at a complete and utter loss for words. "Um…" Was all he could manage to say.

"Mom!" yelled Hana.

"I rest my case." Sakura smiled.

"Fine," said Hana, as she stomped back upstairs.

Sakura turned to her third child. "Mibuki, your job is to watch Fugawari. Do not, I repeat, do not let him eat any bugs this time."

"Yes Mom," said Mibuki pushing his glasses back up on his nose and walking over to Fugawari and Sasuko. He sat down on the floor and went back to scribbling in his notebook.

Putting both hands on the table, Sakura pushed herself out of her seat. "Sasuke, I need to get dressed and ready for work. Can you take care of the dishes and cleaning up?"

"Yes dear." Sasuke rose and put on an apron.

"Wow Sasuke, you look like such a proper housewife." Naruto snickered. "Do you have a little French maid's outfit to go along with your apron?"

There was an ominous creak on the stairs as Sakura heard his snicker and turned. Her gaze was like staring into the frigid heart of a glacier. "Naruto… If you have time to laugh, you have time to help him!" Her voice cracked like a whip.

"But…"

"No buts! Get that broom and sweep up!" There was a moment of hushed silence. "I said now, Hokage-sama!" Sakura bellowed. She stood there staring at Naruto as he picked up the broom and started cleaning dejectedly. Then she turned imperiously and marched up the stairs.

"Hey, doofus," said Sasuke conversationally. "I know for a fact that Sakura does indeed have a little French maid's outfit. It might be a little on the small side for you, but if you ask her nicely, I'm sure she'll let you borrow it."

"Shut up jerk."

* * *

With everyone helping, getting ready took very little time. Sakura came back downstairs, her hair orderly, dressed in her official Konoha hospital uniform. Once again, everyone gathered in the kitchen. "All right," she said, surveying her children like a general reviews her troops. "Everyone take a lunch with them."

There was a groan from Mibuki. "Do we have to?"

Sasuke smiled. "Don't worry, I made them, this time," he whispered. There was a noticeable relief from the Uchiha children as each grabbed a bento. Sasuke picked up the last one, walked over and gave it to Sakura. In exchange, she put her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Remember, I'm covering the late shift at the hospital tonight dear. And tomorrow, I have that plan to go visit Tsunade-sama for a few days. Are you up for handling things by yourself until I get back?"

"Hmp. I can handle anything," said Sasuke with a smirk.

Sakura smirked back and touched his nose. "That's the exact same thing you said right before you had to change your first dirty diaper… and you came crying to me."

Naruto butted in. "Actually Sasuke, Hinata is going away tomorrow for the monthly Hyuga clan meeting. I'll already be having Neji and Tenten's kids over tomorrow night. If you want to, you could bring the Uchiha clan by… We'll make an even larger party out of it."

There was a clatter as Ichisui dropped his bento. "Hishyoni will be r-right next d-door?" he stuttered. "Father, surely we can go? I mean… it is our sworn duty to help the Hokage… isn't it?"

"Is it our duty to help the Hokage? Or is it our duty to stare at Hishyoni-chan all night?" Ichisui blushed. Sasuke sighed. "We will see." He rolled his eyes and muttered to Naruto. "Sheesh, spare me from teen drama."

Naruto shrugged. "I've seen worse. Last year Hishyota spent a week in her room crying about some boy."

"Oh? Who was it?"

"I have no idea. She wouldn't tell me. She still won't. After her week of tears was up she was off mooning over another one." Naruto looked sideways at his friend. "Do you have anything you need to take care of this morning?"

"No, why?"

"Come with me," Naruto smiled. "I'm bringing Sasuko into the office this morning. Why don't you bring Fugawari? They can play together; while we lounge around like the old timers we are and reminisce."

Sasuke made an ironic smile. "Doesn't the Hokage have better things to do than to talk about the past? Besides, I'm not so sure the Hokage should be seen so much with me."

"Why not? You are my friend. Can't I spend time with my old teammate?"

Sasuke glanced away. "Politics doofus… A lot of people in this town still call me a traitor… and a monster."

"Heh." Naruto laughed. "I've been called a monster before."

"Yes, but they also call you a hero."

Naruto's eyes flicked to Sasuko, where he sat playing with Fugawari. He smiled and clapped his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "So are you, Sasuke, so are you. Come on… I insist… it will do you good to get out of the house."

Sasuke smiled again, a little more genuinely this time. "Come on everyone! Apparently, the Hokage needs an escort to accompany him to work… Are there any Uchihas here feeling up to taking on this dangerous A-ranked mission?"

Chyrio and Fugawari jumped up and ran to their father yelling "ME! ME! ME!" Sasuke scooped them up with a short laugh and carried them out to the front hall to help them put on their shoes. Sakura came up behind Naruto and touched him very lightly on the arm.

"Thank you Naruto," she said quietly. "While I'm away… keep an eye on him for me, will you? Sometimes… everything just gets to him."

Naruto smiled and watched Sasuke toss Fugawari in the air as he squealed. "Don't worry Sakura. He'll be fine. He is strong… stronger than ever I would think. Your family is what makes him that way." He picked up Sasuko, called to Jiraiya and Kusumina, and headed out the door with the revived Uchiha clan.

Across the street, hidden in the shadows, a figure watched them go.

* * *

As they were walking, Jiraiya nudged Mibuki. "So did you figure it out yet?"

Mibuki shook his head, his black, swept back hair rustling. "Not yet, scaling it down was the easy part. It's getting the multiples sealed away that's giving me trouble. I haven't figured out how that can work yet."

"But the one shot works?"

Mibuki nodded. "Oh yeah it works great!"

Jiraiya smiled. "I can't wait to try it out." He rubbed his hands together eagerly.

Kusumina suddenly appeared beside them. "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothi-" Jiraiya started to say, but Mibuki interrupted him.

"It's a special project that I've been working on with your brother. Do you want to see it?" he eagerly asked the girl with a hopeful grin.

"I'm sure she doesn't..." Jiraiya was interrupted again.

"I would love to see this project," Kusumina said smiling.

Mibuki blushed. "Well you know how the explosive tags work right? I've been working on altering them so that instead of releasing an explosion they can release whatever has been sealed in the tag."

"Like a summoning scroll?"

"Almost, but on a much smaller scale... if you want to do the summoning jutsu on a scroll you need to place your hands on it directly, or you need to use some blood to activate the summon right?" Kusumina nodded. "Well, the explosive tag can be set on a delay, or set to a tripwire, or just set to activate and release the explosion. So what we were wondering is would it be possible to seal and release other stuff from a tag..."

"Okay that's enough!" said Jiraiya, prying Mibuki away from his sister. "We've got a really cool thing going here Kusumina, and we don't need you sticking your big nose in it and nerding it up."

Kusumina narrowed her eyes and looked suspiciously at her brother. "This is all leading up to one of your pranks isn't it?"

Mibuki deflected the question. "Actually it's a very interesting subject of study. I've learned a lot about many scroll techniques and a bit about sealing and summoning as well. Do you want me to demonstrate?"

"A demonstration would be perfect!" Kusumina said, brushing past her brother.

Jiraiya hissed at him to stop, but Mibuki did not listen. "First you simply need to focus some chakra into the tag, just like you would to activate an exploding tag." He reached into his pocket and peeled off a tag that was marked with a blue spot in one corner. "Then we just affix the tag to something." He stuck it to a nearby tree. "And... Release!"

Naruto and Sasuke, curious as to what was going on had stepped over to look at the tag. The released tag spewed forth a forceful stream of water, which sprayed them both. Naruto and Sasuke looked wetly at each other for a moment in surprise. Then back to Mibuki.

Sasuke growled at his son. "Mibuki!" Mibuki flinched back with an ashamed look on his face.

Jiraiya stepped forward in front of his friend. "It was my idea Dad; I had this idea for a really cool prank, and needed help with the more technical stuff. So I told Mibuki that it was a project for school and I asked him to give me a hand. Sorry Sasuke-san… Sorry Dad."

Naruto burst out laughing. "You have nothing to be sorry for. That was really clever! A water trap! Where did you get the idea for that! What else have you figured out for them to do?" Water dripped off his chin. "And does anyone have a towel?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "So far all we've managed is small stuff."

Mibuki spoke up. "We've figured out how to do the elemental stuff pretty early on: water, air, fire, lightning, earth were okay. From there we moved on to other things like paint and oil."

Naruto looked concerned for a moment. "I hope you were careful using the fire and lightning tags."

Mibuki sighed. "Well, the fire tag doesn't explode like an exploding tag; it just sort of bursts into flame and burns for a while. The lightning tag works the same way; it zaps you for a minute or so. It's a shock, but it's not enough to really hurt someone. Water and air were really easy to figure out, and pretty much self-explanatory. The earth tag is just weird."

"Weird how?" asked Naruto.

"Well, it sort of transposes the dirt underneath into the air." Mibuki said.

When Naruto looked confused, Jiraiya explained further. "It makes a hole under the tag, by blowing the dirt up into the air, so you kind of fill in the hole again."

"It could be useful if you needed to bury something fast, or make a hole in a wall," added Mibuki.

"We did manage animals," Jiraiya said eagerly, relieved that he wasn't going to get into trouble… again.

"Animals?" said Sasuke with mild interest.

"Only really small ones," said Mibuki, his face radiating honesty.

"How small?" prompted Sasuke.

"Spider sized," muttered Mibuki.

"And what happened to the spider tags?" asked Sasuke.

Mibuki looked down at his feet. "I tested them this morning," he mumbled.

"Oh, where?" asked Sasuke knowingly.

"In Hana's room."

"I see now why she was so upset this morning," said Sasuke.

"How many of the tags worked?" asked Jiraiya.

"Well that's the good news, all seven of them worked fine."

"Including the big hairy one?"

"Especially the big hairy one."

"Enough," said Sasuke in a stern voice. "You are free to… experiment all you want. I want two promises from you. First, you will be very careful using and testing these tags; I don't want to hear about anyone getting hurt. Second, these tags will not be used for pranks, jokes or tricks on anyone who is not suspecting it…" He stared at Mibuki. "Especially your older sister. Is that understood?"

Mibuki looked at his feet. "Yes Dad," he mumbled.

"Good," said Sasuke. "Now let's hurry, we don't want to be late." He strode off in the direction of the school.

Naruto leaned down to Mibuki and Jiraiya. "Can you… give me a few of those tags?" he whispered.

Jiraiya looked askance at his Father." What do you want them for Dad?"

Naruto looked embarrassed. "Oh, you know… stuff."

Jiraiya looked thoughtful. "100 ryo."

Naruto put his hand in his pocket. "Well, that's not too much."

"Each."

"WHAT!?" Naruto yelled.

There was a rumble of running footsteps as a large cloud of dust approached. A shinobi in a skintight green jumpsuit skidded to a stop in front of the group. He was pushing a stroller, and had a baby carrier strapped to the front of his chest. "Ah, our instincts were good Toko. We have managed to find the Hokage. Now we can deliver the message that was entrusted to us!"

"Yay!" said the toddler in the stroller, clapping her hands.

"Good morning Hokage-sama!" said Lee, giving a short bow. "I'm sorry to interrupt your morning walk, but I was asked to deliver you a message."

"Hi Lee, you don't have to be so formal you know," said Naruto. "We've known each other for years."

"Ah, but it is part of the shinobi's code to show proper respect to those in a position of authority." He leaned over the stroller and spoke to the toddler. "Remember Toko, Respect and honor are important when one becomes a shinobi."

Toko made a tiny thumbs up with her hand. "The power of youth!" she shouted.

Lee laughed and returned the thumbs up, his smile wide. "Good job my daughter!"

"Passing on your habits to the next generation I see?" said Sasuke.

"Ah, good morning to you as well Sasuke-san! How is Sakura-san doing? Has Uchiha number six arrived yet?"

"Not yet. Sakura is doing fine. How is the new little one doing?" He leaned forward to look at the baby asleep in the baby carrier.

"Ah, Kiyo is perhaps a bit too full of… youthful energy. He has not yet learned that it is preferable to sleep at night. I thought that if I took him out with me on my morning run that it would allow their mother a few added hours of rest."

Sasuke smiled. "Heh. I remember that stage... Don't worry it will pass."

Lee smiled back. "That is true you have had lots of practice. I trust that the Uchiha clan is well?"

Sasuke shrugged. "As well as can be expected."

In the baby carrier, Kiyo stirred and made a distressed cry. A suspicious odor wafted through the air. A concerned look crossed Lee's face. "Um… I believe you will have to excuse me for a moment. I think I need to attend to Kiyo."

"Kiyo made a poopy. He does that a lot," said Toko with a serious look on her face. "Challenge Daddy!"

Lee smiled. "You are right Toko! We should make a challenge out of this. What is my fastest time for changing a diaper?"

"I count to twenty five."

Lee gave another big thumbs up. "I will change Kiyo in just twenty seconds. With my eyes closed! Only using one hand! If I fail I will finish the rest of my run on my hands!"

"I think failing that is punishment enough," muttered Sasuke.

"Hey Lee," called Naruto. "Before you go and… Do that… You said you had a message for me?"

"Oh, that is right. Konohamaru asked me to inform you that an emissary from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire is here. He said it was regarding important business." Lee took a small blanket from the back of the stroller and spread it on the ground. He opened up the baby carrier and lay Kiyo down on the blanket. He gurgled happily. Lee took out a clean diaper and laid it beside her. "Alright Toko… Now watch me closely, do not let me peek or use my other hand. Can you do that?"

"Yes Daddy!"

"Alright everyone," said Naruto loudly. "Let's give them all some space." The group started to walk away.

"Aww… But dad I wanted to see if Lee-san could do it," said Jiraiya in an amused tone.

"Trust me on this son," said Naruto. "When Lee tries something, he gives it his all. You do not want to be around him when he's racing to change a full diaper with his eyes closed with one hand. The potential for disaster is too great."

"I think it would be hilarious," said Jiraiya. "The mess would fly everywhere."

"Yes," said Naruto emphatically. "Think about that for a second. If the phrase 'flying baby poop' doesn't strike terror into your heart, I don't know what else will."


	4. Chapter 2: Around Town part 2

Naruto sighed as he looked at the academy. After Konoha's complete destruction during the invasion of Pain, the subsequent rebuilding of the Leaf village had updated many of the traditional buildings. Gone was the haphazard, panicked, added on look of the old main building of the Academy. The new academy building was a gleaming modern rectangle. Naruto felt a pang of nostalgia every time he looked at it.

Sometime after the new building was put up, he had entered the grounds late one night and attached a swing to one of the trees. It was after that small touch that he felt a sense of that old Academy he remembered returning to him.

"Bleah," complained Jiraiya. "Another day of meaningless study. Seriously Dad, I don't understand why we need to learn half of what they teach in here."

"Heh, I used to feel the same way," Naruto grinned. "Then one day I realized how much I really didn't know. Man, did I wish I paid better attention back then. "

"When was that Father?" asked Kusumina.

"About sixty seconds after I became Hokage. An ambassador at the congratulatory ceremony wanted to renegotiate one of the minor treaties we have with the Hidden Waterfall village, and I had no idea what anyone was talking about. I nearly agreed to cut in half the price we set for all of our caravan protection contracts for the trade route that passes through their country. If Shikamaru hadn't caught on to what he was trying to do and saved my bacon..."

"Man, that was such a drag that first year trying to clean up every little mess you made." Shikamaru slouched up and nodded to Naruto. Then he turned to Jiraiya and Kusumina. "Your dad may be one of the strongest ninja in generations, but in that first year... he screwed up so many times I was amazed the Leaf village was still standing."

"Hey! Shikamaru! Naruto! Sasuke! How is everyone!" howled a loud voice. There was a skidding of claws and frantic barking as scruffy looking man led a pack of five dogs up to the school. The largest of the dogs had a young rider that slid off his back as he stopped.

Kiba strode up and slapped Shikamaru on the back. Shikamaru winced. "Good to see you guys! I guess it's the men of Konoha's turn to make sure that the children don't decide to play hooky today." He turned to the young girl standing in the pack of panting dogs. "Tsudemi! Come on over her and give your old man a chance to brag about you to all his friends!" She padded over to the group of adults, with a young puppy following at her heels.

She stared at the grownups with her golden eyes. "Hello," she said in a shy voice.

Kiba tousled her red hair. "Look at her, only nine years old but growing like a weed. She's going to be taller than I am, make no mistake."

He grabbed at another man walking his son in through the main gate. Both the man and his son wore coats with collars covering most of their faces and sunglasses. "Hey Shino! How's it going? Bring the little bug over here and talk with us for a while!"

Shino brushed off Kiba's hand. "I would gladly reminisce with you at some other time. However, right now Mako and I must proceed to the office... Why you ask? Because, this morning I have to meet with his teacher… and the principal."

Kiba laughed. "In trouble again is he? I swear, the kids these days get into more mischief than we ever did."

Shino sighed. "Principal Iruka wants to talk about the number of fights Mako has been getting into lately. I wish the boy could keep a cooler head." Mako scowled at his father.

"So the bug wants to be a tough guy huh?" Kiba looked Mako up and down. "Good for you kid! Never let anyone push you around kid. You have to earn your respect." He draped a huge arm across Tsudemi's shoulder. "Don't be so hard on him Shino… Did I ever tell you about the time that three little punks tried picking on my daughter? Ha! She made them all run home crying for mommy!"

"Dad…" mumbled Tsudemi, embarrassed.

"That's my girl," said Kiba, bursting with pride.

"Hey Shino, I hate to bring up business right now, but when you're done could you come find me?" Shikamaru asked. "I want to go over a couple of anomalies I saw in the long range patrol reports."

"Of course… But now if you will excuse me." Taking Mako by the shoulder, Shino marched him into the school.

"That reminds me, where is Shikasu today?" asked Naruto.

"Eh, he's around here somewhere," said Shikamaru with a disinterested shrug. "He's almost ten years old. He knows when it's time to get to class."

* * *

The schoolyard began to fill up with children. Kusumina, Jiraiya and Mibuki took Sasuko and Fugawari off to play on the playground while their fathers talked about small inconsequential things. One by one various other parents made their goodbyes and watched as their children went off to start the school day. Several of them waited around the main gate, keeping an eye on things or sharing a quick bit of gossip with one of the other parents.

Kiba pulled Tsudemi away from it all, off to one side of the gate and went down on one knee in order to brush her off better. "You make sure that you and Akakaru do a good job in school today okay? I've pulled another long range patrol tonight. There are leftovers in the fridge if you need them, but I'll try my best to be back before it gets too late tonight okay?" He kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you when I get home."

"Okay Dad…" Tsudemi mumbled again clearly uncomfortable with her father's display of concern.

"Akakaru, you be good girl today as well. Make your Grandpa proud." Akakaru barked an affirmative, and she and Tsudemi walked up to the academy.

Kiba watched them go and slowly walked back to Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru, who were still talking. Shikamaru noticed Kiba staring after Tsudemi. "When she grows up she's going to be the spitting image of her mother," he said. Kiba made a sad smile.

"I'm glad about that," he tried to joke. "If she looked like me she'd be really ugly." His voice hitched.

There was an embarrassed pause. "How are you… holding up?" Sasuke asked in a quiet voice.

"I'm a little better after three years, but mostly," he sighed, "I'm still trying to get by one day at a time."

"Is there anything you need Kiba?" asked Naruto. "You just need to let me or Hinata know…"

Kiba waved him off. "I got all I need right there," he said pointing. "Tsudemi is the reason I get out of bed in the morning," said the Inuzuka man with a sigh. "Other than that… just time I guess. The patrols help me keep busy you know?" He rolled up one of his sleeves. "I got her name and face tattooed on my arm, right next to Akamaru, that way at least she'll always be with me."

"That's a really good likeness of Karui," said Shikamaru. He hesitated for a second, as if he was considering the appropriateness of a question, and then asked "Do you… keep in touch with anyone from the Hidden Cloud village?"

Kiba sniffed. "I get the occasional polite letter from her old teammate, Omoi… But we never got along that well. I think he resented our whirlwind romance. Every couple of months or so Killer Bee sends Tsudemi a copy of his latest rap single. Why?"

"Oh, well… I was just… wondering how Tsudemi is handling it all."

Kiba smiled again. "She is a tough kid. I would bet that she is even tougher than her old man." He whistled to his dogs who trotted up. Kiba stretched and took the lead of the pack. "I got to get going guys. Duty calls. Later!" With that, he and the pack moved off.

"What's really going on Shikamaru?" asked Sasuke confidentially.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Patrol anomalies? Kiba's contacts with the cloud village? You're working on something aren't you?"

Both Sasuke and Naruto were staring at him. Shikamaru frowned and then shrugged. "I don't know yet… I'm looking for data."

"What sort of data?" asked Naruto.

"Temari was asking me the other day why the Fire nation was changing its ambassador to the Wind nation…. And that was the first ever I heard about it. I hope you don't mind Naruto, but I sent a letter to the Daimyo on your behalf asking him about it and… I received no reply. Then I got another earful from her about some strange rumors from the edges of the Land of Wind. There's been talk of unknown groups of shinobi sighted on our shared border, thefts of ninja tools and supplies, bandits that are displaying a high level of ninjutsu training... Just yesterday Temari asked me on behalf of Gaara if everything was alright between our villages."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "Gaara is worried?! Gaara knows that there is an unbreakable bond of friendship between our villages. I would never damage the peace we have forged together!"

"Calm down Naruto," smiled Shikamaru. "You don't have to convince me or Gaara of that bond… After all, I'm married to his sister. But," he said, frowning, "If there is any truth to these rumors I'm hearing about, then we have two major problems." He held up two fingers. "First, who are these mystery ninjas and what are they after, and secondly, and in my opinion, the more troublesome one… why haven't we heard anything about this either from our own patrols or from the Daimyo's office?"

"Speaking of the Daimyo," said Naruto, "I've got an emissary from him waiting for me right now. I think it would be a good idea if you joined me for this meeting. What do you think?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Dealing with official types is always such a drag, they never give you a straightforward answer, but I guess it can't be helped. We might as well see what we can pick up from what he says… or more likely doesn't say."

Naruto and Sasuke went to the playground, and gathered Sasuko and Fugawari. Then together as a group, they walked on to the Hokage's office.

Perched on the roof across the street, another dark figure watched.

* * *

"I've got to hand it to Naruto," thought Shikamaru. "He's come a long way. Seven years ago when he first became Hokage, he would have tried to throw these guys out a window. He's showing remarkable restraint."

"… So you see Hokage-sama The Daimyo of the Land of Fire is expressing great concern about the drop in revenue from… your… Hidden Leaf village. Each year brings lower gains and thus a lower return on the percentage paid to the coffers of our great nation." The old man delicately coughed into a lace handkerchief.

Naruto sighed and rubbed his temples. "Look, I don't know why are refusing to listen to me. I'm tired continuously butting head with you and the Daimyo on this topic. We are at peace for the first time in decades. The five great nations and almost all of the smaller ones have non-aggression pacts with one another. We have all negotiated our treaties so that we each have more than enough to support ourselves." Naruto gestured out the window. "Yes, the income of the village has slowly dropped over the last few years. But what about the other sources of income from the Fire Country? How much more do the farmers produce now that their fields aren't being burned? How much more do the craftsmen manufacture now that their shops are not being destroyed? How much more do the merchants make now that they don't have to hire as many guards as they used to, or when more goods get to their intended destination because their caravans aren't being raided?"

The older ambassador frowned. "There is much more at stake than just money Hokage-sama. I remember when the Fire nation was the strongest of all nations. Our enemies would tremble with fear at our strength. What has happened to our prestige?"

"I would much rather be happy in this world surrounded by friends, than be lording over enemies, always fearful for the next attack," said Shikamaru, cleaning his fingernails with a kunai. "Personally I've seen enough of war."

"Yes... Nara-san. You are well renowned for being very... cautious." The old man's lips twitched in a smile.

Shikamaru laughed. "Heh, I think you mean to say I'm a coward, right?" He went back to cleaning his nails. "I'll be the first to admit it, I find fighting to be too troublesome to make a habit of it... and yet... I served in the fourth great ninja war. I watched many brave men and women die trying to protect the people of this land. I saw unspeakable horrors on the battlefield." Shikamaru smiled. "And yet... I did not see you... So, if I am a coward... what does that make you I wonder?"

The old man's face flushed crimson, his mouth turned into an angry slash. But before he could speak, Naruto raised a hand and spoke to Shikamaru. "Shikamaru please, I am certain that our honored guest meant no insult to you." Naruto turned to the old man. "Please accept my humblest apologies. However, Shikamaru brings up a valid point. While conflict may be profitable in the short term, its long-term cost far outweighs the benefits. Look there..." He gestured to a corner of his office where Sasuko and Fugawari sat playing with his paper, ink, and brushes. "During war they pay the future price. They pay it in fear, in a lost childhood, and if they are unlucky enough, they pay it in blood. You do not know what you are suggesting gentlemen. Our world is in a legendary period of prosperity right now. I will not jeopardize it just because you want to return to the days of glory."

The senior ambassador opened his mouth one more time as if to speak, but he shut it quickly when the young man closed his fan quickly with a snap. "Hmmm..." said the young man. He had a long delicate face, pale skin, and long black hair. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of tinted glasses. "You have given us much to consider Hokage-sama. We will report what you have said to the Daimyo and we will ponder your wisdom."

Naruto studied the junior ambassador. "I have had the… distinct pleasure of dealing with ambassador Hanzo before," said the Hokage, gesturing at the older man, "but I don't believe we have met … may I ask your name?"

"I am known as Daikiro, Hokage-sama."

"And your family name?"

There was a long pause. For a moment, Shikamaru though the young man wasn't going to answer. "Just Daikiro, Hokage-sama. I came to the Daimyo's household as a foundling child. Through hard work I have been recently attached to the Daimyo's diplomatic retinue."

"Well, Daikiro... It is an honor to meet you. I am sure we will have many productive discussions."

"I am certain of that Hokage-sama," Daikiro said giving a small smile. "In fact I believe that it may be the right time to have one of them… right now." Naruto leaned back in his chair, a forced smile on his face, as the junior ambassador continued. "I have had reports from many trusted sources of bands of thieves roaming the borders of the Fire country. They seem intent on attacking other nations, but mysteriously they do not attack within our own borders. I have heard of towns being sacked, outposts destroyed, even military storehouses emptied. Yet what we have not heard about are what actions you are planning to take against these ruffians. Now why is that?"

Naruto frowned. "I have no answers for you at this time. To tell you the truth, we have only recently found out about these bandits ourselves."

Daikiro tapped his closed fan in the palm of his hand. "Well, I should not have to tell you about how this lack of information appears to an outsider. Perhaps the Hidden Leaf village skill set is waning?"

"I have an inquiry of my own to make ambassador," said Shikamaru, jumping into the conversation with narrowed eyes. This was beginning to smell like a set up. He needed to change the focus of the discussion. "Why have we been cut out of the loop for even the most basic announcements of changes made by the Daimyo? I had to discover about the change in the ambassador to the Nation of Wind through my wife on her last visit home. Should we include the Daimyo on our list of intelligence gathering targets?"

Hanzo coughed. "That was a mere formality… The previous ambassador, Takumi Watari, has unfortunately passed away from a sudden illness. A sudden suspicious illness I might add, that he happened to contract in the Hidden Sand village."

Daikiro snapped open his fan again and wafted air across his face. "It was such a shame to lose such a good man. He was exceptional at gathering information. It was such a loss to us that he died before he could send back his latest dispatch. I can only imagine what he might have discovered that someone would feel it was worth his life to silence him."

"And once again our discussion turns back on this familiar path..." Naruto rubbed his face with his hands wearily. "Look, we have treaties with all the major villages right?" Daikiro smiled faintly and opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto motioned him to silence. "Let me guess... You were about to say that a treaty is worth only the paper it's written on." Daikiro gave one curt nod with his head. Naruto smiled coldly. "As I said earlier, I tire of having this same discussion over and over again." Naruto sat up straighter in his chair. "Even if there were no treaties between the shinobi nations ensuring the peace I would still trust the other Kage not to attack us. Do you understand why?"

"Please Hokage-sama, enlighten me."

"When we fought the fourth great shinobi war, we realized that those 'enemies'… we weren't that different from them. Those 'evil' ninjas from the other villages... they fought beside us, they shared our food, shared our jokes, shared and our stories. We died protecting them, and they died protecting us. We became friends… In many cases, more than friends. Do you know how many shinobi from other villages now live here in the Hidden Leaf village because they are in a relationship with someone here? Do you know how many ninjas who still owe their allegiance to the Hidden Leaf village have settled elsewhere to raise a family?" Naruto spread his arms wide. "What possible reason could the Hidden Cloud or the Hidden Sand have to attack us? They would be attacking their own people. Why would we want to do the reverse?"

"May I say Hokage-sama; I am very impressed by your faith that all other villages desire peace as much as you do," The silver haired man rasped. Naruto threw his hands in the air and slumped back in his chair. He muttered something under his breath. "I didn't quite catch that Hokage-sama?" Ambassador Hanzo inquired.

"I just said that Shikamaru had a matter of his own that he wanted to discuss with you while you were visiting, and I see no reason not to bring it up now." Shikamaru grinned. He had caught the last part of Naruto's mutter, which sounded suspiciously like "... stubborn, stupid old fool."

"Yeah, I wanted to discuss the lack of cooperation and the lack of intelligence sharing that has been happening with the Daimyo's own personal guard. If I were a more polite man, I would ask if we had done something to bring us out of favor with the Daimyo. However, since we are all busy men here, I am just going to ask... What the hell do you idiots think you're doing?" the older diplomat's eyes widened in shock at Shikamaru's statement, but Daikiro just smiled faintly and nodded his head. "You may not like us, you may not agree with us, but that is no reason to put us and yourselves at risk by keeping us in the dark. If you have information, why the hell aren't you sharing it?"

Daikiro stepped forward. "A valid question… Simply put, we do not know who to share it with."

"I would think the Hokage would be a damn good place to start," said Shikamaru sarcastically.

"Would it?" Daikiro paced in a small circle, his hands clasped behind his back. "From our perspective the Hokage has shown that his desire to trust… outsiders has made him quite blind to threats aimed toward the Leaf village." He stopped pacing. "External threats... and internal ones as well," Daikiro glanced over his shoulder to where Sasuko and Fugawari were playing. Seated next to them, his back leaning against the wall, was Sasuke.

"Now, I know you aren't insinuating that Sasuke Uchiha isn't trustworthy," Naruto growled. "Because I would consider such an insinuation, to be a slight on my honor... and I am afraid that I would have to ask you to step outside to settle that matter."

"Nevertheless, I must insist." Daikiro smiled. "If it makes you feel any better, just consider this information to be "top secret" and the fewer people that know about it the better."

Naruto slammed both hand on his desk and stood up slowly. "That man," he said, pointing at Sasuke, "has paid thrice over for any crime he committed, as far as I am concerned. He has earned my trust and my respect. He has saved my life, the lives of my wife, my children, and the lives of nearly everyone in this village today from complete destruction. I trust him with my life. If you think that I will stand here while you insult him in this manner..." There was a cry from the corner. Naruto turned his head and saw Sasuko looking at him, frightened at his rage.

"Hokage-sama," said Sasuke, getting up slowly and brushing himself off. "I think I will take Sasuko and Fugawari outside to play for a bit. The fresh air out there will do them good." He took each of them by the hand. "Come boys, let's feed the fish in the Koi pond, maybe I'll get you a snack."

Hanzo sneered as they were leaving. "Hmpf. The infamous Sasuke Uchiha reduced to a nothing more than a nursemaid." Sasuke stopped and caught his eye. The old man tried to stare him down, but had to look away. Sasuke smiled.

"You should be thankful I am a nursemaid these days," said Sasuke in a calm voice. "The old Sasuke would have carved out your liver and made you eat it." He closed the door quietly behind him with a click.

"Are you going to allow that monster to insult a person of my stature like that?" the older diplomat huffed.

Naruto smiled. "You are right. I should suggest to him that he should cut out your lungs instead." Naruto's smile vanished. "Maybe then you will learn not to waste your breath being an idiot."

"It was a grave mistake for you have unsealed his chakra. That man has proved time and again that he is a dangerous, unstable monster. If you continue to allow him to walk around unchecked like that he is liable to kill someone," said the silver haired man grouchily.

Shikamaru saw Naruto take a deep breath, ready to shout something back, and cleared his throat noisily. Thankfully Naruto got the message: don't waste your time trading insults with these people. Just make them get to the point. "He has earned my trust and my thanks. His debts are paid. That man is a hero, even if everyone else refuses to acknowledge it." Naruto said with finality. He turned to Daikiro. "Well? Will you kindly tell us this top-secret information?" he asked, his voice dripping sarcasm. "Or would you need to peek behind the curtains first to make sure no one is hiding there and listening?"

Daikiro bowed his head. "My message is simple Hokage-sama. The enemy has infiltrated your village. The enemy is here as we speak, and his goal is your death and the destruction of the Hidden Leaf Village." Daikiro started pacing again. "Do you see our problem now? We do not know whom we can trust here."

"Let's start at the beginning," said Shikamaru. "What proof do you have to support your claims?"

Daikiro stopped and stared at him. "The complete breakdown of communication between the Daimyo and the Hokage for starters. As you yourself have said, not a single one of our messages has reached you… don't you find that unusual? Personally, I find this be quite… telling of some form of enemy action. With all these foreigners, living in the Leaf village it is impossible to know who is an enemy agent. If indeed it even is an outside enemy agent."

"Meaning?" asked Naruto.

"Come now," sputtered the older man, waving at himself and Daikiro, "do you really think that we two are the only ones who object to your tenure as Hokage?" Hanzo grinned humorlessly. "Do you truly believe that you are loved by every last person in the Leaf village?"

Daikiro sighed. "What my esteemed elder should be trying to say with more tact is that you have traitors in your midst." He reached into the fold of his sleeve and pulled out a Konoha forehead protector. "This was found in the remains of an attacked garrison in the Land of Rice Paddies."

"May I?" Asked Shikamaru with his hand extended. He took the forehead protector and examined it closely. "It's either one of ours or a very convincing forgery." He looked up. "I could take it to ANBU headquarters, see if they can figure out whose it is?"

Naruto nodded. "Please do." He turned back to Hanzo and Daikiro. "I don't pretend that I am universally adored, but I find it hard to believe that any shinobi from the Leaf village would be carrying out attacks on other nations against orders."

Daikiro shrugged. "I do not claim to know the whole truth. I can only tell you how we have interpreted the evidence. You yourself say that the patrols from the Leaf village have not turned up anything suspicious. What better place to hide attackers than in plain sight, as the patrols themselves?"

Naruto nodded to Shikamaru. "While you are at ANBU headquarters getting that forehead protector examined, could you please have a quiet talk with Kakashi-sensei? Tell him it's probably nothing, but I want him to go over the mission dossiers of every border patrol for… oh, the last three months or so."

"Sure thing. I'll ask him if he has heard rumors about strange shinobi hanging around Konoha too. "

Daikiro smiled. "Ah yes rumors... I was hoping that when we finally met, you might be able to confirm this most troublesome one."

"More bad news?" smiled Naruto. "Let me guess... The Demon Moryo has once again risen from Hell, and once again we need to stop his thousand year kingdom."

"Laugh while you can boy," snarled the older diplomat. "We're telling you this for your own benefit."

Daikiro waved Hanzo to silence. "What the senior ambassador means to say is that this is but the faintest whisper of a rumor, but we were so troubled by it, that we felt it our duty to tell you."

"So tell."

Daikiro nodded. "This last but most disturbing piece of news concerns a small but very powerful group of mysterious rogue ninja. We have not had any concrete proof of their existence, but we have heard this tale from so many different sources that we fear it might be true. It is a tale of cruel, brutal warriors that perform dark rituals to create a powerful elixir that gives them the strength of many men. The rumor specifically states that they are currently few in number, but slowly growing. They are described as being vicious and without mercy." Daikiro took a deep breath. "I report this to you because I know of your personal stake in this. I am beginning to fear that the Kurokaze has not been destroyed as we have all hoped. I worry that the band is very much alive and appears to be gaining strength."

"The Black Wind? That bunch of maniacs are still alive? Impossible!" said Naruto. "They were crushed three years ago when they attacked this village. Sasuke killed their leader in a duel!"

"It appears they have a new leader," Daikiro said softly. "Do you recall how much they prize strength and savagery in battle? They choose their leaders in a trial by combat, a trial that always ends in death. The rumor is that they praise this new leader of theirs as the heir to Orochimaru. They also state with pride that he is the last of the Akatsuki. Does that sound like anyone you might know?"

* * *

Sasuke, Fugawari and Sasuko walked around the pond pointing out their favorite fish. Fugawari liked a huge, pale white koi with golden spots. It was always hungry and would follow you around the pond with its mouth poking above the water, begging for food. Sasuko liked a large, but lean orange koi that was prone to leaping out of the water to catch a tasty bug. Sasuke's favorite was a small black koi with a single dark red spot on its back. It would just sit and wait, almost invisible in the dark water, except for its spot. When something sparked its interest, it would flash to that side of the pond. The small black koi would make a fine shinobi, Sasuke thought.

After watching the fish, pulling both boys out of the mud, playing a game of tag, getting Sasuko unstuck from a thorn bush, climbing trees, and getting Fugawari down from a branch where he was trapped. Sasuke decided that he and the boys needed a break. "I think I'm just about ready for a snack," he said patting his stomach and pointing to a pushcart that was serving up rice balls and hot, skewered shrimp. He watched as a happy couple was served up a tray, thanked the owner, and walked off. "Do either of you feel like eating anything?

"Yes please!" yelled both Fugawari and Sasuko. They laughed as they both ran to the cart as Sasuke sauntered up behind.

"Daddy, can we have dango please?" asked Fugawari.

Sasuke smiled. "Only one, and only after you eat some lunch." He turned to the owner of the cart. "Could I have one adult helping and two smaller helpings for the boys please?"

"I'm sorry sir; I think I have just run out."

Sasuke looked confused. "Really?" He pointed to the couple that had just left. "There seemed to be plenty when you made their order."

"I'm sorry… Uchiha-san," said the proprietor in a cold, pointed voice. "I have just run out... of everything."

Sasuke clenched his fist. So it was going to be this way was it? He cursed himself under his breath for being foolish enough to think that no one would recognize him. "That's… too bad… I guess we will have to find our lunch somewhere else."

"Daddy… I'm hungry," cried Fugawari in a pleading voice.

The proprietor had turned his back and was intent on ignoring them. Sasuke knew he should walk away. If he was by himself, he would have left without another word... anything to deny amusement to the watchers. However, he wasn't alone, and his son was the one asking. Sasuke forced himself to swallow his pride. "Do you by any chance have dango, or any other small snack left? Not for me… but for the boys?"

The shopkeeper gave Fugawari and Sasuko a disgusted look. "I believe I made myself clear, there is nothing left for any of you… Take your monsters and leave."

The world seemed to slow down and took on a grey flickering quality as his sharingan involuntarily activated. Sasuke found himself fighting to control the sudden urge to overturn the lunch stall and repeatedly slam the vendor's face into his supposedly empty food tray.

There was a sharp Tak-tak on the paving stones as someone tapped a cane in impatience. "I am so sorry to contradict you Huradi-kun," said a smooth, calm voice from behind the cart owner. "But I believe that if you check the covered cooking tray to your left you will find more than enough rice and shrimp to make two adult and two children's meals." Kakashi leaned over the proprietor's shoulder and smiled at him behind his mask. "Don't worry… we all forget things as we get older. Sometimes I'm amazed that I remember to put my pants on before heading out to work… It's a shame isn't it? Getting old?"

"Hatake-san," said the vendor, making a nervous little bow to the commander of the ANBU.

"Still... it beats the alternative… at least that's what the Third Hokage used to say. That will be two adult, and two children's meals… please." As the lunch seller reluctantly opened the tray, Kakashi waved away Sasuke's wallet. "Don't worry Sasuke; I'll treat you and the boys... It's the least I can do for a former student." Kakashi paid, and everyone headed over to a shady spot under a tree. Sasuke followed, balancing the four trays.

"Boys, I want you to say thank you to Kakashi-sensei here," Sasuke said handing out the trays. Both Fugawari and Sasuko mumbled a hurried thank you through full mouths. Sasuke handed a tray to Kakashi, then leaned back against the tree and started to eat himself.

"I'm impressed Sasuke," said Kakashi quietly, toying with a skewered shrimp. "It looks as though... Fatherhood agrees with you."

So... Kakashi had noticed how close he came to lashing out at that idiot with the lunch cart. Sasuke chewed and swallowed. "It is the most difficult thing I've ever done. It's also the most rewarding." He picked up another mouthful. "How is your family doing Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hmm? Well enough, I suppose. Anko has been… restless since she retired from active duty. She insists redecorating the house every few months, but at least that's less… disruptive… than some of her other hobbies."

Sasuke nodded. "And the twins?"

Kakashi slowly shook his head. ''The girls… well, they just turned seventeen. So of course they know better than their father and don't see any reason why they should ever listen to him." Kakashi sighed.

The head of the Uchiha clan smiled. "Hana's only twelve, but I'm beginning to see a little of that. How's the leg holding up?" asked Sasuke pointing to the cane.

"Oh this?" Kakashi lifted up the cane. "The leg is fine, just a little twinge when it's cold. I only keep the cane for that added bit of dignity it gives me… Your wife is quite the surgeon you know."

"Heh, I know." Sasuko and Fugawari finished gobbling up their lunch and asked if they could go play. Sasuke nodded the affirmative and watched them go. "So is this… just a social visit?" he asked Kakashi once the boys were well out of earshot.

"Of course it is… I don't get to see you as much since your probation was lifted… again."

Sasuke's face grew hard. "Yeah."

"Sasuke," Kakashi put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "I, for one, am glad you came back to us. Don't let these small-minded fools get you down. If they thought about it for a minute, they would be glad you were back with us too." Kakashi looked up. "It looks like something interesting is happening." He pointed.

The entrance to the Hokage's office could be seen from the base of the shady tree. Sasuke and Kakashi watched as the door opened and the group of ambassadors, followed by Shikamaru and Naruto left the building. They bowed to each other, and said a few words. Then the ambassadors got into their sedan chairs and left. Shikamaru saw Sasuke and Kakashi by the tree and headed over to them, the Hokage in tow. Naruto could be heard swearing indistinctly on the breeze.

"Sounds like it was a most productive meeting," said Kakashi, using his cane to get up.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" called Shikamaru. "We were just talking about how we needed to see you."

"Why do I always feel like I need a bath after I talk to diplomats?" grumbled Naruto.

"I take it the meeting went well?" Sasuke asked, standing up and brushing himself off.

"We have a lot to discuss…" started Shikamaru, but Naruto interrupted.

"Those arrogant bastards would have me believe that the Leaf village is filled with traitors, that every other village has some secret plan to attack us the moment we show a hairs breadth of kindness or decency, and that you," he pointed at Sasuke, "are consorting with demons and are planning to eat all our children." Naruto threw up his hands in the air. "What the hell is the matter with people?"

Kakashi nudged Shikamaru. "What happened?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Apparently the Daimyo has picked up some intelligence that they interpret as indicating we have traitors in the village… Oh, and that the Kurokaze is still around,… and Sasuke is their new leader."

Sasuke snorted in derision. "Well, that's something I haven't been accused of yet."

Kakashi frowned. "I think we should go back to my office and discuss this."

"Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto, "you can't be saying that you believe them are you?"

"Naruto, their conclusions they are coming to may be completely wrong, but if there is even the smallest grain of truth to the information they have gathered, then there is a threat to the village that needs to be examined further… in private." He coughed in a pointed way. There was an uncomfortable, drawn out silence as Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sasuke all stared at him. "I think a meeting of the Hokage's small council is in order… Can you all come?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Konohamaru is busy with a trade delegation from Hidden Rain until this evening, but I don't have anything going on I can't wriggle out of."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. "School is almost out," Naruto said. "Let me drop off Sasuko and Fugawari with Kusumina and Jiraiya, and then we will head right over."

Kakashi nodded. "Please hurry if you can. I don't like the sound of some of this."


	5. Chapter 3: After School

**Chapter Three: After School.**

There was the muted clamor of a ringing bell. A virtual tidal wave of children shoved the main doors to the Konoha Ninja Academy open and poured out on to the front field.

"Hey Aiko!" cried one girl as she ran to catch up with her friends. "What are you going to do after school?"

"Hi Masami! Tamiko and I were planning to go to the new sweets shop that just opened. Do you want to come with us?"

"That would be great! My big sister told me that they have this new raspberry jelly dumpling that is just amazing."

"Shh!" hissed Tamiko. "Not so loud! Tubby over there will hear you, and then she'll run over and eat the whole place out!" All three friends laughed behind their hands at the large girl who was walking by. Tamiko gave Aiko a nudge with her elbow "Hey Inoji!" the girl called out. "Come over here! We want to ask you a question."

Inoji lowered her head, so that her long blonde hair covered her face. Pretending she didn't hear them, she plodded past them and over to the school gate. Aiko frowned. "Hey… she didn't even stop to say hello... That's so rude." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and put a hand on one outthrust hip.

Masami smirked. "Maybe she's too busy thinking about what she's going to have for dinner."

Aiko smiled a mean smile. "I don't care. Walking by like that and ignoring us? She must think she's better than us. We need to go teach her a lesson. Come on." The three girls jogged up behind Inoji, and then surrounded her. "Hey Fatso," said Aiko. "We asked you to stop and chat with us for a bit. What's the matter chubby? Is there grease blocking your ears?"

Even though she towered over the other girls by a good ten centimeters, Inoji just looked down at her feet. "Hi Aiko, Masami, Tamiko," she mumbled. "I don't have time to talk. My mom and dad need my help at the store this afternoon."

"Oh, I bet you love that don't you? All the free ice cream and candy you can stuff into your greedy little mouth," said Masami. "Why don't you ever bring any of it around here to share with your friends?"

"That's not how it works. My mom says I'm not allowed to eat anything unless I pay for it," Inoji said quietly. She started walking toward the gap in the circle between Aiko and Masami. "Sorry, but I really have to go, my parents need me there."

Aiko and Masami linked hands. "You're not going anywhere," said Masami. "You were very rude to us earlier. I think you owe us something in return."

"Yeah," said Tamiko. "If you want to get out of here on time, you better promise that you'll bring us back some ice cream."

"Guys..." whined Inoji. "I can't do that. My mom will find out when she does inventory and she'll get really mad... Please, just let me go."

Masami smiled. "If you do this for us, we'll let you eat lunch with us tomorrow."

Inoji backed up. "I really can't guys. I'll get in trouble."

Tamiko grabbed Inoji's arm. "Oh you're going do it alright... You'll do it or we'll… we'll…" there was a slight pause Tamiko struggle to come up with the worst threat she could. Her face brightened. "We'll tell everyone you like Mako the bug boy."

Masami laughed. "Yeah! We'll say you want to kiss him and feel the bugs squiggle all over your tongue."

Tamiko leaned towards Inoji. "Maybe we'll tell everyone that you like to eat his bugs!"

"Eww!" laughed Masami with a high pitched squeal.

Aiko smiled a mean smile. "So…that will be one chocolate, one red bean, and one mango."

Inoji shook her head again. "I can't," she whispered.

Aiko's smile faded into a frown. "You can and you will! You will take that ice cream for us, and that will be just the start! You'll do whatever we tell you to… or else, for the rest of the school year, we'll make your life miserable."

Aiko gasped as a hand grabbed her hair and twisted her head around. "Tell you what, how about I make all your lives miserable right now?" A pair of yellow eyes with slitted pupils bored into hers. "Go pick on someone else Aiko," snarled Tsudemi Inuzuka. "Beat it, before I scratch up that pretty face of yours."

Tamiko started towards Tsudemi, but a low growl stopped her. In front of her stood Akakaru with her fur bristling. The Inuzuka girl gave Aiko a shove and sneered as she stumbled back toward her friends. "What are you waiting for?" Tsudemi sneered. "Get lost."

Aiko stood up and dusted herself off. "I don't think so."

Tsudemi cracked her knuckles. "Oh? You're looking for a beating today? Great!"

Aiko smiled. "Go ahead you ugly bitch. Hit me… I dare you." Tsudemi hesitated, and Aiko laughed. "See? I know how much trouble you are in here for fighting. I know what Principal Iruka told your dad. One more fight for you and you've had it right?"

"Yeah," said Tamiko, waving away a wasp that was circling her head. "Why don't you go ahead and fight us? We'd love it if you got kicked out."

"The school would certainly stop smelling like a wet dog, that's for sure," smiled Masami. She pulled at a bug that was stuck in her hair.

The three girls advanced on Inoji and Tsudemi. "In fact," said Aiko in a low voice, "maybe we should just start a fight with you right now... That way we can watch you get kicked out. After all, everyone would believe us if we said that you started it." She stepped towards Tsudemi, her fist raised. Suddenly she yelped and rubbed at her arm. "Something bit me!" she yelled.

"Youch!" wailed Tamiko frantically slapping at her leg. "Wasps! It's wasps!" A cloud of the insects started to ominously orbit the three girls.

Masami screamed. "It's caught in my hair! It's stinging me!" The three girls suddenly had a hard time standing still. Frantically waving their arms and brushing at their bodies, they fled from Tsudemi and Inoji.

Tsudemi turned her head this way and that. "Alright Mako, where are you hiding? I didn't need your help you little pipsqueak. I could have handled all of them on my own."

"I never said you couldn't you know," said Mako, perched in a tree next to a large paper wasps nest. "I have the utmost confidence in your abilities."

Tsudemi looked sideways at him. "I thought principal Iruka said you were getting in too many fights yourself these days? Didn't I see your dad here this morning? Aren't you worried you will get in trouble?"

"Get in trouble?" Mako hopped down from the branch he was sitting on. "Me? I am as innocent as a newborn babe. I was just sitting here meditating quietly when a huge swarm of _Polistinae_ _humilis_ just poured out of the nest and went for them. I don't think I have never seen paper wasps to behave that aggressively for no particular reason before." He rubbed his chin as if deep in thought. "Hmmm... but I suppose it might possibly have been the shampoo they are using… This might require further study."

Tsudemi punched him on the arm. "Learn to lie better. You're not fooling anyone, Bug-boy."

There was an embarrassed cough from the bullied girl. "Thanks Tsudemi... Thanks Mako... You guys really shouldn't be sticking your necks out like that for me all the time." Inoji scuffed the ground with her foot. "I mean, really, you guys could get sent to detention again… or worse..."

"Well, we wouldn't have to keep doing this if you would just haul off and slug them sometime Inoji," snapped Tsudemi with a frown on her face. "I mean seriously. Do you think that any of those jerks would keep making fun of you like that if you just stood up to them once in a while? One punch in the face will show them who's boss."

Inoji covered her face. "I can't do that Tsudemi. I'm not like you."

Tsudemi turned and stood right in her face. "What's that supposed to mean?" she growled. Inoji cringed and took a step back.

Mako stepped in front of Tsudemi and gently pushed her back with both hands. "Hey, hey, hey… calm down you rabid mutt. She's not trying to insult you, she just saying she wishes she had your confidence that's all. Right Inoji?"

"R-right," stammered Inoji close to tears. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you."

"Hmph," sniffed Tsudemi. "Yeah… well… don't make a habit out of it." She tried to turn, but Mako held on to her.

"Okay," said Mako. "Now it's your turn."

Tsudemi shook her head in confusion. "What?"

"You have to apologize to Inoji now."

"WHAT?!"

Mako sighed. "You completely flew off the handle at Inoji here, when all she was trying to do was pay you a compliment. Seriously... You don't see anything wrong with that?" The Aburame boy shook his head. "You need to apologize."

Tsudemi sputtered, but Mako patiently lifted an eyebrow and waited. Finally, Tsudemi took a deep breath and muttered. "Sorry."

"For what?" prompted Mako.

"For being a touchy jerk today… Okay? Does that make you happy Bug-boy?"

"As happy as I'll ever be around you… Rabid mutt." Tsudemi shoved Mako hard, but she was smiling as she did it. The smaller boy turned to Inoji. "Don't let it bother you too much Inoji. Sometimes she just forgets what manners are... Are you cool with that?"

"Um… Of course I am," said Inoji smiling nervously.

"Good," said Mako stepping into a line with them. "We freaks should stick together, you know?" Akakaru barked once in agreement. Then she leapt up and rode on Tsudemi's shoulders.

As they walked up to the main gate, they heard someone making a huge protest. "But Dad, I can't watch the baby now!" Jiraiya gestured to the group of boys around him. "We were just going to start a soccer game!"

"Hey," said Inoji. "Isn't that… the Hokage?"

"Hmm?" Tsudemi looked up. "Yeah, that's him. He was here this morning."

"I wonder why he's visiting here?" whispered Inoji, in an awestruck voice. "Do you think something important is happening?"

Mako snorted. "He's probably just making sure that Kusumina and Jiraiya are still the most popular kids in school," he sneered. "With their dad being the Hokage and their mom being the Head of the Hyuga clan, everyone around here just kisses their ass."

Akakaru barked something to Tsudemi and the Inuzuka girl started laughing. The small dog jumped down off her shoulders, trotted behind Mako and promptly started to sniff his rear end. "Arrg! Get off of me you dumb mutt!" he yelled, trying to push her away. Akakaru dodged his shove and started to sniff him again. Mako howled in frustration. "What did she say?" he asked Tsudemi.

"She asked if you were upset because you wanted ass kisses too. Then she offered to sniff your butt if it would make you feel better," she said giggling.

"That's not funny," said Mako his face getting red. Again, he pushed at Akakaru.

Inoji was trying to hide a smile behind her hand. "You have to admit Mako-kun, it is a little funny," she said.

Mako frowned. "I suppose." He turned to look at the dog. "Aren't you done yet?"

A burst of smoke filled the schoolyard. Everyone stopped and stared. Standing next to Naruto was a toad as big as an ox. Jiraiya paid it no attention, "You're being unreasonable here! I said I can't do it!"

"And I said, I'm really sorry, but I need you to watch Sasuko now! That was your last chance." Naruto turned to the toad. "Gamakiro, please escort both of my sons back to the Hokage's residence, if you would be so kind."

Sasuko jumped up on the toad's back. "Yay! Froggy ride!" he yelled.

Jiraiya folded his arms. "I told you Dad, No! I'm busy. I'm not doing it. Go find Kusumina."

Naruto leaned forward to look down at his son. "She's doing extra research in the library right now trying to figure out some new jutsu… You are just playing soccer... She wins."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. "Don't forget Dad, I know what is in the urn at home."

Naruto sighed. "I'm sorry son, really I am." He turned to the toad. "Gamakiro, bring them home." A huge tongue snapped out of the toad's mouth and wrapped up Jiraiya. The boy had just enough time to scream once before the toad bounded into the sky.

Far above, Sasuko could be heard shouting, "Wheee!"

Naruto adjusted his jacket, tipped his Hokage hat to all the children watching and said, "Please excuse me everyone." Then he leapt off into the trees.

Tsudemi shut her mouth. "Well, I guess you were wrong Mako. It doesn't look like he was here to make sure everyone is kissing Jiraiya's ass… unless that frog was slipping him the tongue."

"Eww!" said Inoji.

"That…" said Mako grinning gleefully, "was the coolest thing ever."

"Hey! You three!" One of the boys who was in the process of organizing the soccer game trotted over, he had a large wrapped bundle slung across his back. "With Jiraiya gone, we don't have enough people for even teams. Do you guys want to play with us?"

Mako and Tsudemi looked at each other. "Us?" asked Mako hesitantly.

"Sure," said the boy. "If all three of you play we will still have even teams. He turned and looked at Inoji. "Wow… You're really tall and have a long reach."

"Sorry," mumbled Inoji.

"Naw… that's a good thing! We can put you in the net, you look like you have the makings of a great goalie! I want you on my team!" he said with a smirk.

The tall girl stared at him incredulously with her mouth hanging open, until Mako gave her a nudge. "What's that you're carrying across your back?" Inoji asked shyly.

"This?" He pulled it off. "It's a puppet. My uncle gave it to me for my birthday. I'm learning puppet ninjutsu. It's really cool." He stopped and looked at Inoji a second time. "This is going to sound corny but… Have we met before? You look… familiar."

"I… don't think so." Inoji looked down at her feet.

"Well, my name is Shikasu Nara. It's nice to meet you." He held out his hand. Inoji mumbled something. "I'm sorry," Shikasu said. "I didn't quite catch that."

"I'm Inoji Akimichi. It's nice to meet you." she said flinching, waiting for the teasing to start.

Shikasu tilted his head. "Akimichi… Is your dad by any chance Choji Akimichi?"

Inoji nodded once. "Yes."

"That explains it then!" Shikasu smiled hugely. "Man… this is so great! My dad used to be on the same team as your dad and mom! I have heard all the stories… Well, most of the stories… Or at least all the ones that my dad says aren't too troublesome to tell. This is too cool!"

Inoji stared at him. "Wait… Your father is Shikamaru Nara?"

Shikasu grinned. "Yup!"

One of the other kids waiting to play soccer called out "Shikasu! Are you coming or what?"

Shikasu waved back, and then he turned to Inoji. "We have got to hang out sometime. I so want to hear what you know about what my dad did when he was younger." He grabbed her hand and she blushed. "Come on guys, we can talk later! Let's go play." He ran, still pulling her hand, back to the soccer circle.

Mako and Tsudemi looked at each other. "Inoji has a boyfriend," Mako said quietly in a little singsong voice.

Tsudemi punched him on the arm again. "Shut up." She looked down the field to where Shikasu was excitedly introducing Inoji to the other kids. "So… should we… join her?"

Mako shrugged. "I think I'll pass… I hate running around." Tsudemi nodded, then grabbed his arm and started pulling him down the field. "Hey, what gives?" he shouted.

"I decided you are going to play with us anyway. Besides," said Tsudemi, "didn't you just say us freaks should stay together?"

* * *

Sasuke paced around Kakashi's office in the ANBU building. "Well… this is just great. Once this rumor gets out I can only imagine what the village elders will to do to me." He ran his hands through his hair. "I should just leave now," he mumbled. "Save everyone the trouble of banishing me… again."

"Nobody is banishing anyone," said Naruto soothingly. "You haven't been convicted of anything."

"Besides," said Shikamaru leaning against the wall. "We have to consider the possibility that this rumor was generated specifically to take you out of the picture." He pointed at Sasuke. "Let's assume for a minute that this rumor is true. You were the one who killed the Kurokaze chieftain the last time they attacked. You were instrumental in stopping them from destroying the Leaf Village. If they have managed to revive their clan, and I'm not saying they have… I could see why they wouldn't want you hanging around."

Kakashi leaned on his desk. "Shikamaru has a point Sasuke. The elders may not like you, but even they will admit you are one of the strongest shinobi in the village and a valuable asset. If there is a threat to the safety of Konoha, I am sure they will want you here." Kakashi sat back in his chair. "What bothers me more is that its looking more and more plausible that we have been infiltrated."

Shikamaru frowned and nodded. "Yeah, that one is troublesome… Unfortunately, it looks like we have been compromised at a fairly high level. I don't know how else we could explain the missing messages from the Daimyo and the tampered patrol reports."

"Spies?" asked Sasuke.

Shikamaru shook his head. "The whole point of spying is to find out what the other guy doesn't want you to know… not to jump up and down and shout 'Ha-ha! Look at me! I can screw with your security!' If you go around stealing messages and changing documents, sooner or later someone is going to notice."

Naruto looked pensive. "Is it possible that this whole thing is just a… a… I dunno, a hoax? Something to distract us while they make a move elsewhere?"

Kakashi looked at the ceiling. "Setting up something like this would take a lot of time and resources. I would find it hard to believe this is a mere diversion"

Shikamaru nodded agreement. "It's within the realm of possibility, but highly unlikely. But until we have more data, we can't draw any conclusions; we can just talk about probabilities and past experiences."

"Well, I guess we just need to get more data then." Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Can you assign a few of your most trustworthy captains to this?"

"I had a feeling you might want them, so I sent out the summons before we started this meeting. You can give them the orders yourself." Kakashi stood up, walked around his desk and opened his door. "Please, come in," he said to the figures outside. "Hokage-sama, may I present to you Captains Fukuro, Koumori, and Neko." The three ANBU shinobi entered, and knelt before Naruto, their faces masked by an owl, bat and cat respectively.

Naruto folded his arms. "Captains, we have heard rumors of a grave threat to the Leaf Village. We believe that the Black Wind clan is once again building up strength. I hope I don't have to tell you how dangerous that would be if they returned to full power." He rubbed his eyes. "What is more is that we believe the village has been infiltrated and that the infiltrators are trying to suppress information from reaching the village." The ANBU officers looked at each other. "I shouldn't have to tell you three that this mission is top secret." He held up three fingers. "I want three things from this mission. First: discover the infiltrators identities and notify Kakashi Hatake of their identities and placements in the Leaf Vllage. We will then decide if they should be arrested, or simply fed false information. Second: Find all information you can on the Kurokaze clan. I want to know their strengths and their locations if possible. Finally," he said dropping the third finger, "I want all the information you can find on this new ambassador the Daimyo assigned to the Hidden leaf… his name is Daikiro."

The Owl mask looked up. "Hokage-sama, do you wish us to work as a team for this or do you want us to be running three missions side by side, all solo?"

Naruto motioned to Kakashi to answer. "We need this information as fast as possible, but we also need this to be kept quiet. This will be difficult with the potential security leaks. I was thinking that each of you would start off working on your own, and then as the need arose, and we cleared other people, we could add more members to your squad."

Koumori sat back, and looked up . "Commander Kakashi, I request to be sent to gather information on the Black Wind."

Kakashi shook his head. "Sorry Koumori-san. I know you would like the opportunity for revenge, but the answer is no. You are much better suited for infiltrating the Daimyo's court and gathering the information on Daikiro. You Neko-san, are our best long range scout, you will look for the Kurokaze."

"Yes sir!" said the cat masked ANBU.

"That leaves the infiltrators. Fukuro, that will be your mission. Find them without alerting them that they have been found." Kakashi sighed. "It's tough I know but if anyone can do it, it would be you."

"Thank you sir," said Fukuro. Kakashi dismissed the three ANBU operatives with a wave of his hand. In a flash, they were gone.

"What happens now?" asked Naruto.

Kakashi shrugged. "Not much we can do right at the moment. We wait for something to turn up."

Sasuke turned to Shikamaru. "Hey Shikamaru, given the information we have right now... If you were planning an attack on the Leaf Village would you do it sooner or later?"

Shikamaru frowned. "According to classic military doctrine, the infiltrators would strike at their targets just before the main force is launches their assault, sowing discord and confusion. Assuming the Black Wind clan is the main force… well, last time they were around; they razed every farm and small village within a mile of their march. Assuming they will do the same thing, we should have a couple weeks' worth of warnings." Sasuke relaxed. "But," Shikamaru continued, "something bothers me here… In the past the Kurokaze didn't use anything beyond brute force tactics. Infiltrators just isn't their style."

"You suspect there might really be a new leader for the clan?" asked Kakashi.

"Well, Daikiro did mention that rumor that the new clan head was calling himself the heir to Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. What if this isn't the Daimyo's usual anti-Sasuke propaganda?" Shikamaru glanced at Sasuke. Sasuke was pointedly staring at the floor, his face impassive.

"Sasuke," Naruto said gently. "Everyone here in this room is your friend. No one here is accusing you of anything. You are the one person in the Leaf Village who is in the best position to know anything about anyone who was in either Orochimaru's organization, or the Akatsuki. We need your help."

Sasuke took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Orochimaru didn't like to have the different branches of his organization being… friendly with each other. He feared they might rise up against him. He wanted his lieutenants competing for his favor, trying to best each other, and they did… often fatally. People under his command either hated him or worshiped him. However, even those that worshiped him… never trusted him… and with good reason. All that mattered to him was his research. Whether his people succeeded or failed didn't matter half as much as the knowledge he gained. People flocked to him looking for power, but there was always a price. He never cared what the price was as long as he could learn some new fact." He shook his head, as if he was trying to fend off an old memory. "He was a heartless man who kept secrets within secrets within secrets."

Sasuke exhaled sharply and looked up. "So… could some trusted hidden lieutenant of his have survived and become the new head of the Kurokaze clan?" Sasuke shrugged. "Sure… but I don't know why he could have been hiding all this time. I'd have bet we would have heard of him long before now. As for the Akatsuki connection, all the primary members are dead. The ones that were raised during the fourth ninja war, are dead again. Again, as in the case with Orochimaru's organization, there might have been some lieutenants left somewhere, but where they are now… is anyone's guess." He looked sharply at Kakashi. "I know I keep asking you but, you're sure Kabuto is dead? He would be the obvious one to pick with ties to both groups."

Kakashi nodded. "Unless his body managed to grow a new head, yes… I'm sure he's dead."

Sasuke shook his head. "Then I don't know. I'll let you know if I can come up with something. But right now…"

Shikamaru nodded. "That's all right Sasuke. It's probably just some egotistical bully wanting to sound like the biggest, meanest, monster in the world." He sighed. "I should probably get going. Does anyone have anything else?" When no one said anything, he started to stroll out the door. "Let me know when you get anything new."

Naruto and Sasuke said their goodbyes to Kakashi and left as well. Naruto looked at his friend. "Sasuke, are you going to be okay?"

Sasuke was clenching his fist so hard he was shaking. "I… just really need to hit something right now." He looked up at Naruto. "Do you feel like having a friendly sparring match?"

Naruto grinned. "Loser buys the beer?"

Sasuke smiled a small confident smile. "I hope you brought your wallet because after this morning, I'm going to need a lot of beer."

* * *

Naruto panted and rubbed a sore spot on his ribs. "Dammit! Sasuke, where the hell did you learn that?"

Sasuke grinned. "I was fortunate enough once to catch Lee once when he was practicing drunken fist. I borrowed that one from him."

"Ouch… That was impressive." Naruto picked up two water bottles and tossed one to Sasuke. He opened his, poured half of it on his head, and then drank the other half. Sasuke sipped his. They both sat in silence for a moment.

"Thanks for the 'friendly' sparring match," said Naruto sarcastically.

Sasuke smiled. "Heh, you're welcome. Your doctor said you needed more exercise and suggested I try to talk you into it."

"Gah, I become the Hokage, and Sakura still finds ways to pick on me." Naruto lay back on the grass. "We could make it more challenging… How about we can use ninjutsu next time?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No thanks. Sage mode versus Sharingan is enough excitement for me." He sighed and idly picked at a few blades of grass. "Besides, I can just hear the rumors now… how the monstrous Uchiha dared to attack the Hokage with ninjutsu."

"Sasuke…"

"I know… You are my friend… You trust me… Blah blah blah. I've heard it all before." Saskue sighed heavily and seemed to sink inside of himself. "Sometimes Naruto, I just get… so sick of it, you know. What do I have to do to get the people here to forgive me?"

Naruto frowned. "Some of them never will… but some of them are idiots." He turned his head and watched his friend sitting in the grass all hunched over. "I think the more important thing Sasuke… Is that you have to forgive yourself."

Sasuke took a drink. "Yeah. That might happen… Some day." He leaned back against a tree. "But what are we going to do now? Kakashi sensei is right, I can feel it... Something bad is coming, and part of their plan seems to be getting me out of the way."

Naruto put his arms behind his head. "If Sakura weren't busy making Uchiha number six, I'd suggest we get team seven back together and start training. Man, we could handle anything."

Sasuke smiled. "We did make a good team, even if it was just me saving your sorry butt most of the time." Sasuke stood up and stretched. "Well, it looks like I just kicked your ass again Hokage-sama. How about those drinks doofus?"

"What?! Excuse me? You have never came close to kicking my ass… Ever! You jerk!." Naruto did a kick pop up from the ground to his feet. "That was just the warm up! I hope you are ready for round two, because here it comes!"

* * *

The Konoha Emporium was the premium hangout spot for all ages in the Hidden Leaf Village. It had several indoor/outdoor cafés, the largest market in Konoha, a small area for temporary vendor stalls, a pharmacy, an arcade, and a considerable number of more permanent stores where various trades people maintained a residence.

The Emporium itself was the brainchild of Choji and Ino Akimichi. They purchased the land piece by piece, maintained the area, managed the rents, and personally operated the café, the market and the pharmacy. They worked very hard at it. Two years ago, some of the students at the Academy happened to give the Emporium a new name. To Ino's ire the name stuck.

"Seriously Choji?! Why on earth would you want to name the café that?" Ino stomped her foot at the base of the ladder.

Choji aligned the sign on the hooks attached to the crossbeam. "I don't see the harm in it. The younger half of the Leaf Village already calls the Emporium 'the Pig Pen'. Now at least when strangers come looking for the best café in Konoha, we'll have a sign that fits the location's motif." He hung the slab of wood and climbed back down the ladder. "There," he said moving the ladder out of the way and putting an arm around his wife. "I think Sai did an excellent job designing and painting it don't you?" There, flapping in the breeze was a broad wooden plaque picturing a pig with butterfly wings. "The Flying Pig," intoned Choji. "It's certainly a name that sticks in your memory."

"It's insulting is what it is," grumped Ino.

Choji hugged her tighter, and smiled. "Look at it this way… a noble, hard working pig soaring on the wings of a butterfly, what better a symbol for all this, which we have worked so hard on?"

Ino sighed. "I suppose," she muttered grumpily. "You really don't see anything offensive with it?"

Choji looked at it hard, and then shook his head. "Nope. I don't see anything wrong with it at all." He looked sideways at Ino and smiled a little. "Besides, I know how much you hate being called a pig. So I figured if I just came out and took the whole pig theme thing for the café, it would give you the opportunity to name your pharmacy whatever you wanted. You can't have two stores called the same thing in the same place… It's far too confusing."

Ino looked up at her husband in a new light. "You are so sweet." She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. "I wonder what I should call the pharmacy." She said slipping an arm around his side. "The Sweet Flower maybe?"

"That has a nice ring to it," said Choji. "Do you want me to ask Sai to make another sign?"

"No… let me think about it a little more." She took a step away from him and peered around his bulk. "Say, have you seen Inoji? She was supposed to help me with the store after school."

Choji shook his head. "No, but I'm sure she just got distracted by something. She'll be along soon."

Ino frowned. "Well she'd better hurry. She's going to be late."

Choji smiled. "Relax Ino, it's not the end of the world if she is late."

Ino turned on her husband "Choji, I am not going to have this discussion again. Learning the responsibility that comes with having a job is important. I started working in my mother's flower shop when I was seven, and it taught me all sorts of things."

Choji held up his hands. "Yes dear, I agree. I am just… asking that you think about giving her a little leeway every now and then, that's all. She's not as social and popular as you were growing up. I want her to have a chance to make friends without us putting more restrictions on her. Do you understand?"

Ino sighed. "That girl… I don't understand what her problem is. She won't stick up for herself. She just needs to get out there with some confidence! Show a smile or two! Laugh! Tell a joke… and people will flock to her." She shrugged. "It doesn't help that she is always with that Mako and Tsudemi. Those two are so wild it's amazing that anyone will have anything to do with them at all."

Choji touched her chin and brought her face up to look at his. "Some of us don't make friends easily. I know where she is coming from." He sighed and brushed a lock of hair away from Ino's face. "For better or worse, she looks like an Akimichi. I had to grow up with everyone making fun of the way I looked too. It was hard for me to make friends as well, but I found some. It just took time, and understanding."

Ino leaned into him. "You are the most kindhearted person I know. I love you for it." She stood up. "Alright, I promise I will try to be easier on her."

Choji smiled and kissed her. "Thank you my love. Speaking of work... I have to get back to it. The afternoon rush will soon be here." He kissed her one last time. "I will see you after we close." Choji tied up his apron and went inside the café.

Ino smiled gently and brushed a hand through her hair. As she turned to head back to the pharmacy, she saw a breathless but grinning Inoji come running up to her.

"Mom… Mom… I'm sorry I'm late," she said panting.

Ino felt the frown overtake her face. "Just where have you been young lady? You were supposed to be here half an hour ago?" she said sternly. To her surprise, Inoji grinned at her.

"I was playing soccer, Mom! The other kids invited me to play soccer! There was this boy, Mom! He said I looked like I'd be a really good goalie! He invited me to play!" Inoji was breathless and blushing slightly.

Ino raised her eyebrows, and gave her a faint smile. "Well, I'm glad you had fun sweetie. Why don't we head inside and you can tell me all about it."

Ino unlocked the door to the pharmacy and Inoji darted right in. "It was so cool, Mom. I was walking home from school, and these mean girls were picking on me, they said they were going to spread mean rumors about me all over school unless I took a bunch of the ice cream from the store and I gave it to them. Then they were like, all going to beat me up." Inoji pulled off an apron from behind the counter and put it on.

"Hold up a second," said Ino, "These girls said what? Who are they? I'm going to talk to their parents."

"No Mom! You can't do that! You don't have to... Please? It's all taken care of. You see all of a sudden Mako and Tsudemi came up and were all like, "Hey she's our friend, beat it!" and they chased away the mean girls."

Ino sighed. "Well, Honey I'm glad they helped you, but… I'm… not sure they really are the best friends for you... I mean..."

"I know Mom, I know. You think that they are a bad influence. But Mom, they are my friends. Now would you stop interrupting? I'm getting to the good part." Inoji eyed her mother.

"I'm sorry sweetie. Please go on."

"Thanks Mom." Inoji opened her mouth, and then shut it quickly. "Where was I?"

"Mako and Tsudemi chased away the mean girls."

"Right... Thanks." Inoji smiled at her mother. "So then Mako and Tsudemi and I were all like, 'Nobody likes us... Everyone thinks we're freaks' and stuff like that. When all of a sudden this boy comes up and is like, 'Hey come and play soccer with us!' and we're all like 'who us?' and he come right up to me and is like 'you look like you'll be really great as a goalie.' and is all 'Hey don't I know you from somewhere?' and you'll never guess! He knows us! His name is Shikasu Nara! His dad was your teammate! Shikasu thinks that you and dad are the coolest shinobi ever! How come you never talk about him?"

Ino's smile froze in place. She reached out and held Inoji's hands. She took a deep breath. "Inoji, I'm really glad that you made a new friend. I'm sure that Shikasu is a very nice boy, and… he is right. His father and your father and I were all on the same team; team Asuma so very long ago..."

Inoji bounced up and down with joy. "This is great! He so wants to meet you! Apparently, his dad had all these stories that he won't talk to him about... You can tell him right?"

Her mother's smile drained away. Ino shook her head. "I'm sorry sweetie... I think… it's better if we don't talk about any of that… In fact it's probably for the best if you just stay away from that Nara boy from now on." Ino said quietly.

"But Mom..." Inoji started to say, just as the bell to the shop door rang. Both Ino and Inoji turned and bowed at the customers.

"Welcome to the Konoha Emporium pharmacy!" they said in unison. "How can we be of service?" A sheepish looking Naruto and Sasuke, covered with scrapes, cuts and bruises, limped in.

"Hey Ino!" said Naruto grinning. "We're going to need a big bottle of aspirin, a box of small bandages, a tube of that antiseptic stuff, two ace bandages, and um… three ice packs."

"Four," grunted Sasuke, testing his weight on his left knee.

"Better make that four ice packs," said Naruto smiling. Sasuke elbowed him. "Ouch! Oh, Uh... So… Akimichi-san… is there any way we can... avoid mentioning this little purchase to our wives?"

* * *

It was a beautiful afternoon. Konohamaru Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and let the warm sun light lovingly caress his face. The meeting with the delegation from Hidden Rain had gone surprisingly smoothly, they had readily agreed to sell Konoha a shipment of their latest model of high powered computers without the slightest bit of hesitation… They didn't even gouge the price… much.

He took a sip of his tea and basked in the success of his village... his namesake. The peace was doing wonders for the economy. Things which, back when he was a kid, were so expensive that only the government… or maybe a Hyuga… could afford one, were now becoming common place to the ordinary citizen. There was even a burgeoning tourist trade starting between the shinobi villages. Where once, going to another village meant stealth, sabotage and violence, these days it could just be a vacation. Why, just looking around the plaza right now, he could spot shinobi from Mist, Sand, Rain and Stone wandering around in broad daylight, rubbing elbows with Leaf citizens and haggling with the shopkeepers. His grandfather the Third Hokage, would have never believed this!

The Hidden Stone kunoichi, whom he had been surreptitiously watching, turned suddenly, her eyes meeting his. Undaunted, Konohamaru just gave her his best roguish, good natured grin, and lifted his teacup in a salute to her. To his immense delight, the kunoichi smiled back, and winked.

"Oh yeah," thought Konohamaru to himself, as he took a huge swig from his cup. "Peace is a wonderful thing."

"I don't understand why the Hokage keeps that guy around," grumbled Asuma Junior under lowered brows.

"Hmm?" Konohamaru looked up from his tea. Across the plaza, Naruto and Sasuke could just be seen entering the pharmacy. Konohamaru sighed and shook his head. His 'nephew' was going to complain about this again. In an attempt to deflect this never ending argument, he looked up, and pretended to be studying the new café sign. "The Flying Pig huh? I like the name. It's catchy."

"Seriously, I just don't understand how he can stoop to associating with that guy. He's a monster."

Konohamaru stirred his tea. "What do you think of the name?"

The young man jerked with a start. "Huh? What was that Uncle?"

Konohamaru pointed up. "That name. The new name of the café… What do you think?"

The young man squinted up and smiled a half smile. "The Flying Pig... Well, I guess Akimichi-san had enough and decided to make it official. It's as good as any other I guess."

Konohamaru drained his tea. "I like it. Choji-san always had a good sense of humor." He waved for one of the servers to come by.

"So Uncle, I answered your question... Why aren't you answering mine?"

Konohamaru sighed. Here we go. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted any advice of mine on the subject, I thought you were just venting your spleen as usual."

The waitress bounced over snapping her gum between her teeth and primping her hair. "Sarutobi-san, is here anything I can get you?"

Konohamaru smiled at her. "Another pot of tea would be wonderful Miss… Miss...I must apologize, I can never tell the pair of you apart... Which one of the stunningly beautiful Fang twins of Konoha are you again?"

She giggled and smiled at him. "I'm Chirosu. Hebisu is working the counter today." She turned and looked at the young man. Her smile grew wider, and she blushed slightly. "And can I get you anything Asuma-kun? Anything at all?"

The young man shrugged, his broad shoulders straining the Konoha flak jacket he wore. "More tea is fine... Thanks." Chirosu smiled at him again, and skipped her way back to the counter.

Konohamaru smiled at his nephew. "I think you might have a secret admirer over there." He turned to look over at the counter. Both of the twins, mirror images of each other, were whispering and stealing glances at his table. "Maybe even two of them."

Asuma shrugged. "Whatever."

"Whatever? Did you just say whatever? Two gorgeous girls over there are practically begging you to ask them out on a date and all you can say is whatever?" He paused as one of the twins came by with a fresh pot of tea. As she placed it on the table she leaned over and purposefully brushed up against Asuma. Then she flounced away. Konohamaru pointed after her. "What would you call that?"

"I call that, my uncle desperately trying to change the subject." Asuma slouched back in his chair.

Konohamaru sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I just don't want to have this discussion again. We both know that neither one of us is going to change any minds. So can't we just sit and have a nice quiet cup of tea? Have a nice family time?" He poured for each of them and picked up his cup. "So… how's your mother doing?"

Asuma toyed with his cup angrily. "She's fine. She misses my father every day. Do you remember my father? I don't. I never got the chance to meet the man. From what they tell me he was a tall guy, had the same name as me, and was killed by the Akatsuki." He fixed Konohamaru with a glare. "It's funny, you know, I might almost expect someone like my Uncle to understand why I would resent a former member of the same group so much..."

"Sasuke wasn't a member of the Akatsuki then."

"No, he wasn't. He wasn't a member when Pain came and destroyed the entire village either... In fact he only joined when the Akatsuki was about to conquer the whole world. I wonder what that says about him? Maybe they were not evil enough for him until then?"

Konohamaru was about to answer when a piece of decorative molding next to his chair hissed. "Psst! Hey, Konohamaru-sensei!" Asuma jumped, and Konohamaru smiled at his nephew's surprise.

"Well,well, well… if it isn't Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga. Dare I ask what you are doing sneaking around here?"

"I need to know if my dad is around here."

Konohamaru looked across the plaza. "He just went into the pharmacy. Do you want me to get him?"

"No! I want you to tell me when he's gone... My leg fell asleep trying to stay like this."

Konohamaru smiled at his nephew. "Jiraiya is one of the more talented students we have at the academy. He is especially good at the disguise technique." From across the plaza, the pharmacy door opened and then shut. Sasuke and Naruto, chatting quietly to themselves, and looking less banged up, headed off down the street to the nearest bar. "It looks like they are gone now," said Konohamaru.

"Whew!" exhaled Jiraiya. He lowered the sheet that was disguising himself and Sasuko as part of the wall. "That was close." He looked down at his younger brother. "See what you and your ice cream fixation almost made me do?"

Sasuko grinned and waved at Konohamaru and Asuma. "Hi Konohamaru-san. Hi Asuma-san!" he chirped.

"Hi Sasuko," said Konohamaru. "You are getting so big these days! What are your parents feeding you?"

"Ramen!" he giggled.

Konohamaru laughed "Of course! What else!" He lounged back in his seat. "So, what brings the pair of you out this afternoon?"

Jiraiya sighed. "Apparently, in his infinite wisdom the Hokage promised my brother here an ice cream this morning. My brother may forget many things: like wearing his pants when we have company, or that you aren't supposed to eat worms, but one thing he never forgets is when someone has promised him a treat." He shrugged. "So it's up to me to make good on my father's promise." He grabbed his little brother's hand. "C'mon Sasuko, let's see how much ice cream you can stuff in your face before I have to open my wallet." He bowed to Konohamaru. "Konohamaru-sensei." He gave a smaller, slightly ill at ease, nod to Asuma. "Sarutobi-san."

Sasuko resisted Jiraiya's pull. "I'm named after Uncle Sasuke you know," he said to Asuma.

Asuma looked uncomfortable. "Really?" he said.

Jiraiya pulled on his hand again. "Sasuko... Forget it. Let's just go."

Sasuko remained firm. "He ran away from the village when he was young. He was really mad at everyone. He did some bad things. He had bad friends. Then one day my dad found him and told him to come back to the village because he was making everyone sad, and he did. And he married Aunt Sakura. Then he wasn't so mad anymore and he was really sorry for all the bad things he did. I'm really glad he came back."

Jiraiya gave a nervous grin. "Sorry, we didn't mean to overhear... I was just looking for a good place to hide... Come one Sasuko…. we aren't even supposed to be out here."

Asuma had a waxy look on his face. Konohamaru spoke up softly. "Sasuko-kun... Why are you really glad he came back?"

Sasuko gave him an exasperated look. "You know why Uncle Konohamaru! Because Uncle Sasuke saved my Mommy and me when I was still in her tummy. Then he chased away all the bad guys, because my daddy was too sad to." Sasuko turned to Asuma. "I'm sorry you're mad at him. He did do bad things a long time ago, but he's trying really hard to make it better now. My dad says more people should give him a chance. You should give him a chance." He tugged on his brother's arm. "Jiraiya, I want ice cream now!" He pulled him into the store.

"Uhm... like I said, I'm really sorry," said Jiraiya as he was dragged inside.

Asuma sat in silence. Konohamaru drained his tea, and refilled his cup from the teapot. Holding the fresh cup in both hands, he blew on it to cool it. "Your father, was a brave, friendly, understanding man. He believed that everyone in the village carries within them the Will of Fire, and that we can pass it on from generation to generation. Shikamaru once told me that his dying words were to protect the next generation, and build for them the best village for them to grow up in. He believed that the children of the village were our most precious resource. I like to believe that when he said that to Shikamaru, he was thinking of you." Konohamaru blew again across his tea, raising a cloud of steam. "You asked me 'What was the Hokage thinking?' Well, I won't pretend to know another person's mind." He took a sip. "All I can tell you is what I was thinking that day… and what convinced me."

"It was three years ago, on the day of the final matches for the Chunin exams. The Black Wind clan was sweeping across the Fire Nation. Many people believed that we should postpone or cancel the exams because of that. Naruto disagreed. He said, 'The moment when we are most afraid is precisely the moment when we should show our solidarity with the other nations.' We were on high alert. Looking back, if we knew then what we knew now, we would have canceled it all together."

He drank from his cup. "The Kurokaze, the Black Wind clan, we thought they were just a large group of bandits at first. Then we decided that they were mutinous soldiers. No one we ever sent in to infiltrate them ever came back out. We could map their movements, but we could not learn their secrets, and what we needed to know was their secrets." Konohamaru looked at his nephew. "Have you ever seen their secret weapon? Have you seen the 'demon's blood'? If you pour it into a glass, it looks like a dark red wine. It has the smell of roast meat seasoned with exotic spices. It makes one's mouth water. At least until you find out it is the liquefied flesh and chakra of the dead. It grants one unimaginable power, but it has a price. It ties your mind and your will to whoever performed the ritual to produce the demon's blood. Back then it was the clan chief of the Kurokaze." Konohamaru shuddered. "I have heard it said that an old grandmother could kill an ox with her bare hands after a sip of demon blood… and from what I saw that day, I can tell you that is not much of an exaggeration. Can you imagine what power this would give someone with ninja training?"

Asuma didn't say anything. He was staring into his own teacup, so Konohamaru continued with his story. "There were twelve candidates for chunin that year. There were going to be six matches at the start. Do you remember how nervous you were at your chunin exam? Do you remember how hard you trained and looked for something, anything that would give you an edge? Someone very clever, very quietly approached each of the candidates and offered them an elixir that would give them limitless power."

"The demon's blood?" asked Asuma.

Konohamaru nodded. "That's what the autopsy reports concluded. Twelve ambitious students, the best in their classes from Leaf, Sand, Stone, Cloud, Mist and Rain, each of them gave into temptation, and upon drinking the demon's blood, each of them became an agent of the Black Wind."

"How does that work?" asked Asuma.

Konohamaru shrugged. "As far as I know we are still trying to figure that part of it out. But remember how our intelligence said that the clan was a mix of rogue ninjas or rebelling soldiers?" He shook his head. "Most of them were just ordinary people. People made incredibly strong, and tied to the Kurokaze clan chief's will and his crazed blood lust. That was how they recruited, and it was also how they brought a huge army to our gates before we even noticed."

Konohamaru took a moment to study his 'nephew'. He didn't like reliving this story… there weren't many in Konoha who did, but if it would help Asuma to change his attitude…

He took a deep breath. "Naruto and Hinata were in the Hokage's box, along with Hishyota, Kusumina and Jiraiya. Hinata was huge; she was probably seven, eight months along with Sasuko. Naruto greeted everyone, made the usual speech about unity, friendship between the villages, and maintaining honor. Then he started the first match. I think it was a Leaf shinobi against one from the Stone village. I remember remarking to the kunoichi next to me that they were both incredibly powerful."

"Didn't anyone notice anything was wrong?" asked Asuma.

Konohamaru shook his head. "It didn't seem like there was any foul play at first. The candidates weren't fully under the control of the blood yet. They seemed... normal. Unbelievably strong yes, but like regular kids… Trash talking, grandstanding, making huge mistakes due to nerves..." He took another sip of his tea. Konohamaru's eyes unfocused and he leaned back in his seat. "It started off being such a nice day…"


	6. Chapter 4: Konohamaru's tale: part 1

**Chapter Four: Konohamaru's tale: Black Wind, Fire and Steel**

It was a great match. Both of the prospective chunin were giving it their all, and everyone in the arena was cheering the pair of them on. I was in awe of their speed and the power of the jutsu they were tossing back and forth. I turned again to the kunoichi next to me. "It looks like we have an exceptional crop of genin this year."

Suddenly, the alarm sounded. The ringing bells pierced through the hubbub of the crowd. The noise slowly died away as everyone looked up in bewilderment.

The next sound was a rumbling crash, as the main gates of the Leaf Village were slammed shut. Agents of the Black Wind had tainted the wells of three nearby hamlets with the demon's blood. There was a dust cloud boiling down the main road as a howling mob of three hundred battle-crazed villagers charged the Leaf Village. Those brave shinobi manning the gates shut them, barred them, and died defending them. Fifteen deserving names for the Hero's monument in the cemetery.

As the horde attacked the gate, the Kurokaze chieftain finally exerted his influence over the twelve candidates for chunin. I didn't notice it at first. Like everyone else I was shoving my way to the far side of the arena, trying to get a view of what was happening at the gate. I heard a sharp explanation from the kunoichi next to me, and saw her staring down at the stadium floor. The two genin participating in the match had collapsed, writhing in the dirt, grunting and shrieking in agony. A hush spread through the crowd as more and more people began to take notice of what was happening right in front of them.

I felt myself shiver as the genin slowly stood back up, their veins writhing under their skin like maggots, their tongues hanging limply from their mouths, and their eyes a deep red from all the burst blood vessels in them. The proctor ran up behind them, probably to see what had happened. The girl from Konoha sent him flying with a casual backhanded fist. The pair of them stood there, their gazes sweeping over the crowd as an uneasy silence fell over the stadium. Then they charged.

They leaped up the wall and cut their way into the spectators. They left a trail of blood, screams and corpses in their wake. There was brief struggle as each contestant was surrounded by five ANBU members. The one from the Leaf Village was subdued but only after killing two ANBU and wounding a third. The genin from the Hidden Stone Village killed three of the ANBU after him, but not before one of the ANBU landed a powerful blow on him that knocked him out of the bleachers. He crashed back down to the floor of the arena.

There was pandemonium in the stands. People were panicking, the injured were screaming, but more shinobi had recovered from the shock and had joined the ANBU. I was among them.

We were trying to calm the crowd, help the wounded, when we heard this evil laugh. You wouldn't expect that a single laugh could have been made out in the midst of all that chaos... but, you would have heard this one. It chilled your soul.

It came from down it the arena. I looked and there was the genin from the Hidden Stone Village. Both his legs were clearly broken, but he stood on them anyway. He stood there and laughed at us. There must have been at least fifty shinobi from all different villages staring at him in disbelief… we were chunin, jonin, ANBU, veterans of countless missions and wars... and we were terrified of this little genin with two broken legs who was chortling as if someone had just told him the funniest joke in the world.

It was then that the other ten chunin candidates scrambled up over the wall and into the seating area. With a blood-curdling scream, they charged into us. Twelve genin attacking fifty of the most skilled ninja in the world. The boy with the broken legs ran back up the wall as if his wounds did not bother him at all. He bowled into the two ANBU holding down the Leaf genin, and she resumed the slaughter as well.

The battle crazed potential chunin showed no mercy to anyone in their path. Shinobi, the wounded, civilians, children... all were cut down. Twelve of them against fifty of us, and they were wreaking unimaginable amounts of havoc. They were stronger, faster and worked perfectly together.

We couldn't use our ninjutsu because of the crowds, although thankfully they were slowly clearing. We were also hindered by one other thing; we didn't want to kill them. These were children from our villages. I remember one jonin ranked kunoichi from the Hidden Cloud Village screaming and pleading with one of the genin who wore the same headband. I found out later she was the boy's older sister. He didn't even blink as he ran her through. A handful of bold medical-nin who had taken the day off to watch the chunin exams swarmed the few genin who we managed to… well, I can't honestly say 'subdued', so I guess 'temporarily held down' will have to do.

The medics quickly administered sedatives and started a field examination. They tried to determine if there was any way to fix whatever had happened to the candidates. They were slaughtered. I saw one 'captured' chunin candidate sit up and rip out a medical-nin's throat with her teeth.

It was Naruto who turned the tide.

There was an explosion of smoke and an orange blur. Hundreds of shadow clones swarmed into the fray. "Get them down into the arena!" the clones yelled. They clustered around each of the candidates, buried them under sheer weight of numbers. For every clone the candidates destroyed there were three more ready to take their place.

Once a candidate was immobilized, they were each hit with a well-placed rasengan, each strike blasting them back, down into the arena. Those that were blasted down soon rose again and tried to get back out. We all fought, trying to keep them on the stadium floor. Many of the civilians who were there to watch the matches owe us their lives. Slowly we were winning, but they would not yield.

The cawing of crows filled the air; a huge flock had been summoned by Aoba. They spiraled into the sky, casting a thousand shadows over the dirt floor of the arena. The ground writhed as if covered by a thousand black snakes as Shikamaru's shadow paralysis jutsu grabbed everyone on the testing ground. The Naruto clones disappeared, and the black shadows grew stronger and thicker about the struggling chunin candidates.

Hinata was dressed in pale blue that day. Her fancy gown flapped about her as she calmly jumped down into the center of the arena. The closest of the struggling genin snarled and strained to get at her, but the shadows held them tight. Hinata didn't flinch as she settled into the classic juken pose and activated her byakugan. The nearest chunin exam finalist received a rapid series of finger strikes to the chest and head. There was a violent burst of energy as the chakra flow surging through him was suddenly dammed up, and burst out through his chakra pores. A platoon of other Hyuga followed her lead, charging in amongst the genin. One by one, they collapsed and lay still.

I looked up. You could hear the battle for the main gate of Konoha all the way back to the arena. There were screams, the clash of metal on metal, and every so often, a grinding crash as something huge impacted the main gate. Naruto was staring in the direction of the gate his fists clenched in fury. "How could they do this?" he roared. "How could they do this to our children?" He spun and addressed the ragtag force of shinobi who had stayed behind in the arena instead of fleeing the horror..

He asked for twelve volunteers to help carry the genin. He said he was sending them to Konoha Hospital. He wanted the genin kept alive and cured if possible. He asked the remaining shinobi to go with him and reinforce the main gate. Hinata walked over to him and laid a hand on his arm, gesturing at herself and then to the gate. They had a brief yet heated discussion.

I was forming up the mixed company of shinobi into a likely combat formation when Naruto pulled me aside, and for the first time that day, I saw that he was nervous. He told me he was going to send Hinata, his children and five ANBU acting as an escort back to the Hospital along with the unconscious genin. His voice grew much quieter as he put a hand on my shoulder, looked at his family and told he had a much more important mission for the man who might one day succeed him.

When I protested, he shook me by the shoulder. "I need to know they're safe," he insisted. He glanced up again as the main gate jumped on its hinges. "No matter what happens, promise me you'll take care of them."

I nodded. "I'll do my best Boss."

He quickly hugged each of his children and kissed Hinata softly. The fear left his eyes then. "Let's go!" he said sharply and led the way to the gates. That diverse force of shinobi from all nations, followed him down the Avenue of Merchants, straight to the main entryway to Konoha.

Our little party started moving in the opposite direction, towards the hospital, but I kept glancing behind, He arrived there just as there was a huge cracking noise and the beam holding the gates shut, splintered in two. There was a savage howl from the other side, and the attackers pushed the gates open. The first wave of crazed farmers had now been reinforced with a second wave consisting of bandits and mercenaries. Kusumina screeched and flung a hand across her mouth as the horde bore down on her father and the reinforcements. I watched the cloud of battle envelop them. I took a single step towards the gate, but Hinata stopped me with a hand on my arm.

She smiled at me. "Trust in them," she said. "We have our own mission to complete. We need to keep moving." She breathed out slowly, one hand on her belly.

I asked her if she was okay, and she nodded yes. "I'm just not used to running with this extra weight. I'll be fine." She focused for a moment and turned on her byakugan. "Stay close to me," she said to the children, "We will have to move fast." We closed ranks and ran.

We were about six blocks away from the hospital when we were ambushed.

The attack at the main gate was a diversion within a diversion. The first wave was unskilled people, unnaturally strong and crazed with blood lust, but not skilled at fighting. The second wave at the main gate was made up of bandits, thugs and soldiers. Again, unnaturally strong and crazed, but much more skilled at combat. While that main attack was taking place, the clan chief of the Kurokaze sent his prized warriors over the walls of the village to wreak havoc in our rear. He had sent in six platoons of ninjas of the Black Wind clan. We encountered two of the platoons, six shinobi, drugged on demon's blood.

When members of the Black Wind clan fight under the influence of demon's blood, they wrap their faces and mouths with black scarves, to keep their tongues trapped in their mouths, so they do not bite them off during battle. For every battle a Black Wind shinobi fights in, the clan provides him or her with an added six inches on the scarf. Once the whole head is wrapped the remainder of the scarf then wrapped around the rest of the body, according to clan custom.

Hinata was able to give us about thirty seconds warning. "We are being pursued!" she said urgently, her byakugan scanning our surroundings. "There are six of them and they are moving very fast!"

"Which direction?" asked one of the five escorts. His ANBU mask turning this way and that in anticipation.

They are approaching... from all sides," Hinata said, stopping. She pulled her children close to her. "I want you to form a defensive circle on my position. Hishyota, you keep Kusumina and Jiraiya as close to me as you can." She looked at the rest of us. "Drop the genin at my feet, I will do what I can to protect them. Let the enemy get close to me, then counterattack. Understood?" We all nodded and prepared for battle.

One second we were alone on the street, the next, there was a loose ring of enemies around us. The six shinobi surrounding us looked like mummies, their long black scarves wrapped around their heads, chests and arms. I swallowed. We stood there staring at each other for a heartbeat. Then in a blur of motion they struck. I never saw anything move so fast. I took a tremendous blow to the stomach and was knocked flying. Anyone directly in their way was beaten in a single blow. They were converging on Hinata, her children and the pile of unconscious genin.

She smiled. "Lion's Rotation!" she roared. She spun and released chakra. Unlike the typical kaiten, the version Hinata used did not push everything away. It caught it and held it within the chakra sphere she generated. Huge paws of chakra with claws extended snapped out of the sphere and bound each shinobi tight. The six Black Wind shinobi were caught struggling there. While they hung there in mid-air, it was a simple matter for her to strike each one a mighty blow with her lion fist technique. Since she was holding each one, she could aim where each enemy shinobi would go precisely. Each one crashed in the vicinity of one of our unhurt ninjas, who were trying to protect her.

The first to move was a jonin from the Hidden Mist Village. He was wielding one of those ludicrously monstrous swords that they prefer. He spun, and with a battle cry, rammed it straight through a Black Wind shinobi's belly, and deep into the wall the Kurokaze shinobi had crashed into. The Hidden Mist ninja then tried to pull his sword out for a second blow, but it stuck fast in the wall.

I watched as the Black wind shinobi reached out with one arm and pulled himself along the blade. With his other hand, he seized the Hidden Mist ninja by the throat. There was a loud crack, and the Hidden Mist ninja went limp.

I avenged his death. I have no memory making it, but suddenly I had a rasengan in my hand. I jumped up on that ridiculous sword and ran down its length. I thrust my rasengan into the Black Wind shinobi's face, and held it there, grinding away through cloth and skin and bone. His skull cracked and dissolved into a fine red mist. I turned and saw another Black Wind shinobi with stone encasing his legs, trapped in some earth style technique. He drew back one fist and pummeled the stone encasing his legs, causing it to crack. A second shinobi joined him, trying to free him. I breathed out my burning ash cloud technique. The one who was free jumped out of the way in time, but the trapped one was caught in the detonation.

"More of them are coming! Many more!" yelled Hinata. Of the seventeen Ninja who were escorting her, there were six of us left standing. Three of the Black Wind shinobi opposed us. Behind them was a billowing dust cloud, and the sound of thousands of rushing feet.

"Gods...The Hokage failed," muttered a wolf masked ANBU. She settled into a low juken stance, a mirror image of Hinata's. Next to her, a Hidden Cloud ninja was singing quietly to himself. I asked him if that was really necessary right now.

"My father always used to tell me that music was the best thing to lift your courage." The Hidden Cloud jonin's left arm was a ruin of torn flesh and dripping blood, but he clutched his katana tightly in his right hand. "When I was little, he would tell me the story of how the first Raikage was ambushed in a mountain pass by an army of shinobi from the Land of snow. It's said the Raikage started composing his own death song during that battle, shouting out the lyrics as they came to him. His voice brought down the mountainside... the avalanche buried him and his attackers but it spared the village." He smiled at the memory. "Papa loved that ballad. He used to croon it all around the house, whenever he was working on something."

I readied a kunai in each fist, and looked quizzically at him. "Is that what you were humming just now? The First Raikage's requiem?"

He grinned. "Hell no… I can't stand that depressing stuff… That was a drinking song! It's about meeting a shy little woman who, when she's taken home, turns into a dragon between the sheets!" He took a breath, glanced back to make sure the children couldn't hear him and quietly sang: "...Oh, her teeth on my neck, and her claws in my side, a lot more was damaged than my manly pride. For nothing I did, and nothing I tried… could hope to extinguish her fires inside!"

Have you ever met someone and known almost instantly that you could be friends? It happens frequently in war... and far too often it does not end happily.

The horde of the second wave was visible now. There were hundreds of them charging forward. The three remaining Black Wind shinobi glanced at each other and nodded. They blurred towards us once more. We braced ourselves for the end.

Hinata's byakugan widened in shock. "Down! Now!" she commanded. She flung herself over her children, bearing them to the ground and covering them with her own body. There was a high-pitched whine keening through the air. It was so shrill that my teeth started to buzz in my skull. Without hesitation, I dropped and pulled down the Hidden Cloud ninja. I rolled over and looked up in time to see a Black Wind shinobi disintegrate before my very eyes. A burning wind lashed my face and eyes as a white-hot mass of chakra scythed the air overhead. I was deafened by its passage, but I saw Hinata's lips mouth out "Naruto..."

The wind release rasenshuriken had decimated the ranks of the second wave.

When it was clear they could not hold the intruders at the gate Naruto simply fell back and let them pass him. Then entering Nine Tails chakra mode, he launched a rasenshuriken right into their rear that carved it's way up the wide avenue. After it passed us, the churning disk of razor sharp energy angled up into the sky, where it detonated with a huge thunderclap.

The street was silent, except for the crash of falling debris. I stood up coated with dust. I reached down and helped up the Hidden Cloud ninja he winced at his arm and looked at the mangled corpses strewn about. "Holy shit..." He whispered.

The female ANBU wearing the wolf mask was on her feet as well. "I knew that idiot wouldn't let us down," I heard her mutter under her breath. She helped Hinata to her feet. "Hyuga-sama, are you alright?"

Hinata nodded, blood streaming down from a gash on her forehead. "I have to be," she said. "We are not finished here yet. Everyone form up on me!" Once again, she activated her byakugan and dropped into her jukken stance. "I count sixty-seven of them still alive." She set her face in a determined scowl. "Protect the children."

The ANBU turned to Hishyota. "You've studied weapons in the academy." She said, more a statement than a question. Hishyota nodded once, her face ashen. "Here." the ANBU handed her a shuriken holster from one of the fallen ninjas. "Make use of these where you can."

I turned to the ANBU and said. "Don't you think she is a little young to be in a battle?" The ANBU stared at me. I remember feeling uneasy at the sight of her mask, splattered with gore, blood dripping from it's muzzle. The eyes of that wolf seemed to bore right through me.

But it was Hinata who broke the tension. "Hishyota dear," she said in a calm voice. "Remember your training, and do your best." Hishyota strapped the holster to her leg. She reached in and pulled out two shuriken. She stood behind her mother.

We began to hear the enemy approach. There was a shuffling down the road. We could hear the clash of steel a few blocks away. There was movement in a pile of rubble to our left. Hishyota flinched and hurled one of her shuriken at the sound. It stuck to the wall of a nearby house. The wolf masked ANBU tilted her head in her general direction.

"Sorry," whispered Hishyota.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," said the ANBU. "Nice throw, you have good force. Next time though, only throw at what you can see. Keep up the practice and we will make an ANBU of you yet." The tension started to build.

"What are they waiting for?" muttered a Leaf chunin with a broken nose.

Hinata slightly turned her head from left to right, scanning with her eyes. "They are trying to hem us in, but meeting resistance." She took a quick glance over her shoulder. "There appears to be an opening in that direction. Can we move the genin?"

The broken nose chunin shook his head. "We don't have enough people. There's no way we could can two each. And if we only carried one them, we'd be hampered to the point we couldn't fight off the next attack."

Hinata frowned. "Well, we are not just leaving them here!"

The maternal instinct can be at times a wonderful thing… or a disaster. I had promised Naruto I would watch out for his family... keep them safe… and that meant getting them out of this war zone.

I gave the Hokage's wife a cocky grin full of confidence that I wasn't feeling. "That's an easy enough fix! If we don't have enough people to carry all of them right now, we'll just have to find some more." I looked at the Hidden Cloud ninja. "This is going to take a lot of my chakra, can you cover me?"

He laughed. "Sure... my calendar is free."

I made the seal and shouted "Shadow clone jutsu!" Making eleven, long term, high endurance clones is a lot for me, I staggered a little bit but recovered quickly. Each of my clones picked up a genin and threw them across his shoulders. I did the same. "I'm ready," I said.

Hinata smiled at me. "Brave, strong, Konohamaru," she said to me, as regal as a queen. "You are doing the village a great service this day." I will admit it, I blushed. But as we all started to run again, the howl started. It started low in pitch and grew in intensity and frequency. Many more voices were added to it.

"What does it mean?" panted the broken nose chunin.

The Hidden Cloud ninja grinned at him. "I would guess it means... Run faster!"

We could see shadowy figures following behind. Worse yet, every now and then a silhouette would appear over the rooftops lining the street. Knives, arrows and spears began to sail at us from the sides and rear. My companions did an excellent job of protecting me and my clones. "They are targeting the genin!" yelled Hinata. Racing feet could be heard behind us. The tip of an arrow caught in my sleeve and would not fall. I ran on.

The swinging arrow made a steady tap tap tap against my flak jacket. The howl behind us was dissolving into growls and snarls as the surviving members of the Black Wind second wave grew ever closer. Suddenly Hinata skidded to a halt. The rest of us stopped as well. Blocking our path were three of the Black Wind shinobi and about twenty of their soldiers. Every soldier was holding a taut bow. The tallest of the shinobi stepped forward and spoke… the first time that any of them had bothered to communicate with us.

"Give us the children," his voice was wet and mushy. "Give us the children, they are ours. They drank the blood. They entered into the pact. They are ours. Give us all the children and we will grant you a quick death." While the tall shinobi spoke, there was a strange murmur from the other soldiers and shinobi all around us. It took me a moment to realize that when the one spoke, all the others spoke as well copying the words as best as they could.

I looked around. On every rooftop and from every alleyway, more soldiers began to fill the street. Many of them carried bows or spears. Those of us that remained huddled closer together. The tall shinobi spoke again. "You are skilled, kunoichi. You and your companions have been worthy foes. But you cannot stop us all. We are legion. We will cover the earth like a black wind. We are the demons who bring about the end. We are death become flesh. The ground we tread on turns to dust in our passing. None shall oppose us and survive. There is no dishonor in acknowledging your time has come. We will have the children. They are ours."

From her crouch, Hinata called back to him. "That is the price you offer us? Death in exchange for abandoning these genin you have tainted?"

The tall shinobi chuckled. "You misunderstand us, kunoichi." He pointed with one hand to Jiraiya and Kusumina. "I meant all are ours."

Hinata stood slowly but proudly. Her hair was matted with dirt and blood. She stared the shinobi in the eye… I know that many mock her behind her back, call her weak, soft, too kind… but at that moment she was a lioness defending her cubs. "My name," she snarled, "is Hinata Hyuga. I am the head of the Hyuga clan of the Leaf Village. I am the wife of the Hokage of Konoha. You are threatening my home, and my people. These children were placed in my trust. They shall never be yours." She clapped her hands together and the air became thick with the release of chakra. "If there is any justice in this world," she snarled. "then my face will be the last you see!"

Her hands blurred through a complicated series of hand signs. There was a sudden, painful change in the atmospheric pressure. The air surrounding us grew heavy with a sudden rolling wave of humidity. Moisture visibly formed on my skin and clouded the steel of my kunai. Hinata's hair stood up with the release of energy. The air began to fog. It grew hard to breathe. In unison, I saw the myriad of warriors opposing us tense, and release their weapons. I had the briefest sight of a cloud of arrows and spears heading towards us.

"Water style! Vengeful hawk Jutsu!" Hinata screamed. The vision of the storm of arrows was blocked by a sheen of water. I looked up.

Hovering over us was a huge liquid hawk glinting in the late afternoon sun. Its crystalline beak snapped eagerly at the flying darts. Every feather on its wings glistened exquisitely. The position of its wings were tied to the movements of Hinata's arms. When she swung her hands down and around her, and the wings of the huge hawk followed suit. The bombardment of projectiles collided with the wings.

Each time one of the hawk's feathers was struck by an arrow, that feather burst like a soap bubble leaving a spray of water to trickle to the ground, carrying that arrow with it. Hinata spun her arms, and another wave of arrows and spears splashed into her shield. By now, the humidity in the air was beginning to affect the bowstrings of the soldiers. They were no longer taut, and began to have less power. The third wave of arrows fired sloppily at us. Many of them just skittered across the ground.

There never was a fourth. Hinata flung her arms wide and quickly extended her fingers. The movement snapped the hawk's wings forward. The hawk loosed two-score feathers that became deadly darts made of water. The spikes drilled into the line of soldiers and shinobi blocking our way. Hinata swept her arms to the sides and rear. Another fusillade of missiles pierced flesh, wood and stone. Bodies flew backwards with the force of the blows, walls crumbled and collapsed. A huge cloud of dust and debris enveloped us and the hawk. Hinata stopped her barrage and all was quiet.

The chunin with the broken nose broke the stunned silence. "Well, that was…"

He never got a chance to finish his sentence. The ground in front of him erupted. The tall Back Wind shinobi burst from the street and plunged a kunai up under his chin. The ground exploded a second time and one of the other surviving shinobi followed him. My shadow clones began to disappear one by one as they were cut down. The ANBU bellowed, "Protect Hinata!" and threw herself in front of the tall shinobi.

A moment later, I saw why. Some of the Kurokaze soldiers were still circling us. They were wounded, bloody, and moving slower than before but we were still outnumbered ten to one, and the only thing holding them back was the slicing wings of the giant hawk.

Inside the tight protective circle of the hawk, the fighting grew more frenzied. The Hidden Cloud ninja and I were doing our best to keep the shorter shinobi occupied. When we could, we would surround him with a combination of his sword jutsu and my clones. We landed a few blows but nothing enough to finish him. One by one, my clones were being destroyed. "He's too fast," grunted the Hidden Cloud ninja. "Can you do something to slow him down?" I nodded. The remaining three clones and I charged.

The shinobi kicked the first clone, spun away from the second, and tried to punch the third. The third clone however was ready and managed to catch him in a wristlock. That gave me enough time, before he could break free, to tackle him around the waist, and bear him down. The two remaining clones and I tried to hold him flat, but he was too strong. He was about to throw us off, when the Hidden Cloud ninja drove his sword through the shinobi's chest and screamed "Lightning-style: Thunder shock jutsu!"

Every muscle in my body screamed with agony. My remaining two clones were destroyed almost instantly, but the Black Wind shinobi still struggled. The Hidden Cloud ninja roared and pumped more electricity through his sword. The shinobi reached out one arm and managed to grab his leg. All three of us were being electrocuted, with the shinobi taking the brunt of the shock. The Hidden Cloud ninja started randomly twisting his sword while it was stuck in the shinobi's chest, and must have hit something vital, for the shinobi stopped struggling and began jerking like the rest of us. The Hidden Cloud ninja released his jutsu, and the three of us collapsed to the ground.

From my position, all I could do was watch in a daze as the wolf masked ANBU dueled with the tall shinobi. He seemed to ignore every wound he received, while she was growing weak with blood loss. A vicious kick to her leg splintered her thigh bone, the jagged end tore through the muscle. The tall shinobi stepped forward to finish her off, and flinched as two shuriken spun through the air and struck him in the chest. Hishyota readied two more and stepped in front of her mother. The Black Wind shinobi seemed to pause and appraise her. "Brave little girl..." he hissed. He reached up, plucked the two shuriken from his torso, and added a handful of kunai from a pouch at his belt. He flung them straight at Jiraiya and Kusumina. They looked into the cloud of steel, grabbed each other and screamed.

There was a ringing clatter, Hinata stood in front of her children deflecting the blades one by one with her jukken techniques. She sunk to her knees gasping as the last one fell to the cobblestones. Her gown was stained bright red down one side.

There was the handle from a kunai protruding from her abdomen. As Hinata was diving to protect Jiraiya and Kusumina, the shinobi had let loose with a second handful of kunai at her mid leap. One of them had struck home.

The water hawk fell apart in a huge sluicing sheet, flooding the street ankle deep. The soldiers howled with bloodlust and charged in among us as the lone Black Wind shinobi threw back his head and laughed. A soldier stood over the Hidden Cloud ninja and brought an axe down sharply into his head. The Black Wind soldiers attacked everyone they came across, whether they were conscious or not. They fell on and slaughtered the genin we had tried so hard to rescue. I saw two of them charge at Hishyota who was standing over her mother, her kunai at the ready. The wounded ANBU launched herself on their backs with her one good leg and sent them sprawling. A third one wielding a huge maul smashed it across her face shattering her wolf mask. Her tanto blade fell from her fingers and skittered across the ground. She pushed herself up trying to get back up to her feet. Her long hair framed her delicate face. In my half stupor, I remember noticiing she was very pretty. I tried to get up, to join the fray, but my arms and legs weren't listening to my brain. The most I could do was rock myself onto my side.

The soldier with the maul raised it for the finishing blow, and then stiffened. The hammer dropped from his twitching fingers. Hishyota had picked up the ANBU's tanto sword and run him through. She pulled it out and clumsily used it to fend off two other attackers.

A shadow fell over me. I looked up to see a soldier, his spear ready to thrust into my throat. I squirmed out of the way just in time to have it pierce my shoulder instead. The soldier grinned, pulled out the spear and got ready to thrust again.

There was a yellow flash, followed by a thunderclap of displaced air. A pair of arms made of burning yellow fire swept the area, flinging soldiers right and left. I looked up. A figure engulfed in yellow flames stood before the tall Black Wind shinobi. An arm of burning charka bound him up tight, and squeezed until his spine crackled.

Naruto in his Nine Tails sealed chakra mode, stood there, staring into the shinobi's eyes as the man who wounded his wife gurgled and choked on his own blood. "You have tried to take that which is most precious to me," I heard him hiss. I had never seen that look in his eyes before. The flames began to burn with an orange hue as red bubbles began to filter through them. He was trembling with fury. "You do not deserve to live." He hissed again. His voice sounded odd, almost as if someone else was speaking at the same time. The Black Wind shinobi's body popped and snapped again and again as the arms, growing more red by the second, squeezed him tighter and tighter.

"Father!" screamed Kusumina. Naruto flinched. "Mother needs you now!" Naruto dropped the crushed shinobi and turned. Jiraiya was plucking at his mother's dress sobbing openly. Kusumina was staring at her father with pleading eyes and tears running down her face. Hishyota was frantically trying to use whatever cloth she could get her hands on to pack around the blood pulsing from Hinata's wound.

Naruto fell to his knees beside her. He added his hands to hers, trying to slow the bleeding. "Hinata... I sensed it. I felt you get hurt… I didn't make it in time." He whispered. His eyes, shocked seemed to take in the surrounding scene for the first time. "Who is... injured?" he asked in a dull mechanical way.

"Over here Boss..." I croaked. "I should be mobile in a minute but that ANBU there is pretty badly off."

I don't think he was even listening. He made three clones. One clone picked up me, one picked up the ANBU and the third picked up his children. The original picked up Hinata gently and brushed her face. Then everything became a blur.

At some point, I passed out.


	7. Chapter 4: Konohamaru's tale: part 2

I came to in Konoha hospital. Someone had dressed my shoulder and put my arm in a sling. I got up off my cot and started wandering the halls, trying to find a way to make some use of myself. The wounded were filling the rooms and lining the hallways. Medical-nin were rushing every which way trying to treat whomever they could. The building shook, and every so often an explosion rattled the windows. Shouts, screams and the clash of steel could be heard filtering in from outside.

The hospital was under constant attack. Ten feet away, surrounded by three medical-nin was Hinata. They had an IV line in her arm. Naruto was next to her on his knees clutching her hand tightly. His hands and the front of his jacket were drenched with her blood. Tears were running down his face, streaking the grime there. "There has to be something you can do!" he insisted in an emotional outburst.

Shizune shook her head, her graying hair swaying. "I am sorry Hokage-sama. She has lost her spleen, her liver and one kidney. There is a massive amount of internal bleeding. All we can do is keep her body going for a little while longer. She is right on the edge. We can pump her full of chakra to keep her from going over, but we can't do it forever. We don't have enough doctors to supply enough chakra to heal everyone."

Naruto looked at her eyes wide. "And... the baby?" he asked.

Shizune just shook her head again. "I'm sorry..." she said weakly.

Naruto's dead dropped, his whole body started shaking. "Isn't there... anyone that can help?"

Shizune shook her head again. "Tsunade could perform miracles, but even she couldn't bring the dead back."

Naruto looked up, an iron hard tightening to his jaw.. "Tsunade might not be able to, but I know someone who's seen it done. The student can surpass the master."

There was a hiss as one of the other medical-nin sucked in a surprised breath. Shizune looked sharply at him, and then turned back to Naruto. "Hokage-sama," she said slowly and patiently, as if she were talking to small child. "If you weren't so upset, you would see the folly of that notion. The village elders have decreed that they were dangerous and could not reenter the grounds of the village under penalty of..."

"The village elders can go fuck themselves!" Naruto screamed. "This is my wife we are talking about!" He stood up. "I need a messenger now!" he bellowed.

An ANBU by his side touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama... We are using every able-bodied ninja right now just to hold the perimeter on this building. We are very hard pressed..."

Naruto grabbed the ANBU by the front of his uniform and lifted him up. "I'm giving you an order!. Understand this!" He snarled, his eyes turning red and his teeth lengthening into fangs. "I will not lose her again! I don't care who you need to ask, or what strategy it is ruining! Find me a messenger! Now!" The hallway went silent at his roar.

That was the second time that day I had witnessed the Kyubi try to break free. For years Naruto had been insisting that the Nine Tails was his comrade. He told me tales of how the demon fox had come to his aid in various battles… earned his trust.

There were very few people in Konoha who looked at the Nine Tails as a friend. Most saw him as the source of the Hokage's power, or as a beast that Naruto kept locked up inside of him. To see the dreaded monster leaking out of their leader… well, it did not comfort the citizens of the Leaf in the slightest.

There was fear flickering on the faces around us. There were enemies outside and a monster within. People were on the verge of panic. Order needed to be kept and for that to happen, Naruto needed to be calmed down. "I'll go," I croaked. I staggered to my feet. I nodded at my throbbing arm. "I can't weave signs, but I have two good legs. I'll find... whoever you are looking for."

Naruto turned to me, relief plain on his face. The ANBU staggered back weakly against the wall when the Hokage released him. Naruto stepped up to me and whispered. "I need you to go to the Uchiha house. Bring Sakura here." I nodded, and turned to go. "Konohamaru..." I looked back at him. "Don't let anyone stop you… Anyone." He turned back to Hinata, and knelt down by her side. He bowed his forehead to hers, and began to whisper to her. I jogged down the hallway and out the front door to the hospital.

I stood in the hospital's front garden trying to get my bearings. I wanted to avoid any major areas of fighting if I could. Two sentries by the main entrance of the Hospital were talking to each other. "...just sitting in there… crying over his wife," one muttered.

"Yeah, we could really use him out here now."

"Some hero, huh?"

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what I could say. This situation was deteriorating quickly, and I didn't have the time to worry about politics. If I lived, I would deal with it another day. I just climbed up the nearest rooftop and proceeded to the west side of town, hoping to find some way over the wall and into the far forest where the banished Uchiha clan had their cabin.

I managed to avoid all the major skirmishes. I did however pick up two pursuers. They were faster than I was in my weakened state, and it became clear that they were pacing me just to wear me out and make me easier prey at the end.

I ducked into an alley, drew a kunai and slipped into the shadows. They stopped at the mouth of the alley and listened. I pressed my back against the wall. One of them laughed a cold chuckle and stepped into the alley. The other waited at the entrance to block any hope I had of escape. The steps came closer I clenched my kunai and got ready to spring.

The mouth of the alley lit up with a bright white light, the sound of a flock of birds filled the enclosed space. There was a short struggle and the smell of burning meat filled the air. The pursuer in the alley spun on his feet and charged the alley mouth. There was a grunt and the sound of a weapon cracking bone. Steel rang as the fight continued. I dashed out from the shadows and saw pair of Leaf ninjas battling a Black Wind soldier wielding a heavy mace. One of the Leaf ninjas was down on the ground with a ruined knee, the other; a shabbily dressed genin was doing his best to hold off the murderous onslaught. The genin was extremely skilled and manage to trap the club between a pair of kunai. He flinched back when the soldier barred his teeth and snarled at him. I kicked the soldier in the back of his knee and drew my kunai across his throat.

I placed my hands on my knees and panted. "Konohamaru," wheezed the ninja lying on the ground. "It looks like this hasn't been your first battle today." Kakashi-sensei's face was pale with pain as he pulled himself up to a sitting position.

I grinned at him. "Absolutely right Kakashi-sensei... Thank you very much for the timely assistance." I nodded to the genin. "A new student of yours?"

"I'm… training him for a friend," he gasped. "I don't suppose you could help me along to the hospital could you? I seem to be having some difficulty."

I looked from Kakashi, to the hospital, to the direction of the Uchiha house. He could see the pain of the decision to be made on my face. "I'm on a mission for Naruto right now... He needs help... Hinata needs assistance... from Sakura."

The genin looked up sharply at the name. "What happened?" he asked. "Why does Aunt Hinata need my mother?"

I jolted and looked back at the genin. He had straight black hair, dark eyes and an honest face. "You are an Uchiha?" I asked. The genin nodded slowly. I looked at Kakashi. "Wasn't training the banished clan forbidden by the village elders last year?"

Kakashi smiled quickly and then grimaced with pain. "Training? You call this training? I was just giving a former student's son some ninjutsu pointers... you wouldn't really call that training, would you?"

I smiled back to him. "Not in the slightest. It's important to distinguish these things." My smile faded quickly. "And the Hokage wouldn't care anyway. Hinata's dying... Naruto insists that the only person who can save her is Sakura. I need to get her now."

"You won't find them," the genin said. "By now they've taken refuge in one of the secret clan hideouts. My father made them just in case the elders... Well, just in case." He swallowed. "You won't be able to find them, but I can... Naruto has always been good to us. Mom and Dad will want to help."

I nodded to the boy. "I don't believe we've been introduced..." I said, bowing to him, this son of the monster of my generation. "My name is Konohamaru Sarutobi, and if you could locate Sakura Uchiha for me I would forever be in your debt."

The boy grinned a wide, pleased grin at me. "It is my honor to be able to assist you Sarutobi-san. I am named Ichisui Uchiha."

"Thank you Ichisui. I will help Kakashi-sensei to the hospital... Please hurry, the Hokage is going mad with grief." Ichisui nodded and in a flash disappeared over the rooftops.

"Mad with grief?" asked Kakashi quietly. "How bad is he?"

I helped him to his feet and put his arm around my shoulder. "I've seen the unchained fox chakra twice now," I shuddered. "It seems like they are keeping Hinata alive for that sole reason. How reliable is the boy?"

Kakashi shrugged. "He has the noblest, most honest heart of anyone I've met. He will do his best to bring his mother here. Whether she will come or not... Well..."

I was silent for a moment. "Yeah... Well let's hope she decides to let bygones be bygones… All we need now is another force of pure destruction roaming the village right now."

Thankfully, we made back to the hospital uneventfully. The attack had spread out from a massive rush to random clumps of violence and chaos. There was a large concentration of Hidden Leaf ninja patrolling a perimeter around the hospital. I handed Kakashi off to a triage unit of Medical-nin and went to find someone in charge. Eventually I bumped into Shikamaru. "Hey," he said grabbing my arm. "I heard he sent you out on a mission to find Sakura... Did you get her?"

I shook my head. "Not quite... I ran in to Kakashi and Sasuke's oldest son. Kakashi was injured so I offered to bring him back here. Ichisui said his parents probably went to ground once the attack started. He said he would get them."

Shikamaru stared at me his head tilted to one side. "I can't tell if that's good news or bad." He shook his head. "They like to say that knowing is always better than not knowing... I guess now we will test that theory." We started walking down the corridor towards the private rooms.

"How is he?" I asked.

Shikamaru sighed. "He's hanging on... by a thread... If you hadn't agreed to this crazy plan of finding Sakura, I'm pretty sure he'd have lost it by now. We've had to separate him away from everyone else, you know. The only thing that's keeping him under control right now is being with Hinata and his children."

He stopped, took a deep breath and opened a door. "Hokage-sama..." Naruto sat at the side of a hospital bed his head bowed. In the cot lay Hinata. The doctors were still there, trying to infuse her body with enough chakra to maintain life. In the corner, Jiraiya and Kusumina sat silently, clinging to each other, tears streaming down their faces. Hishyota stood staring at nothing. "Konohamaru has returned."

Naruto's head jerked up. "Did you get her? Did you find Sakura? Is she here?" Hope was plastered across his face. It crumbled when I shook my head.

"They are in hiding," I said, as hopefully as I could. "The Uchiha clan apparently has a bolt hole for when trouble strikes. I couldn't find it. But I found someone who can." Naruto looked up again. "I met Ichisui Uchiha. He swore he will bring his mother here."

Naruto nodded. He began to rock back and forth a little bit as well. "Good... Good work Konohamaru. Yes... Ichisui is a good boy. He will not fail. I know he won't." He leaned forward to Hinata and whispered, crying. "Did you hear that? Help is on the way. Sakura will be here soon. Don't you worry." Shikamaru and I looked at each other. We bowed to the Hokage and slowly walked out of the room.

Very quietly, Shikamaru shut the door. "Well... That could have gone better... but on the other hand, I guess it could have been much worse as well."

I stopped and turned to him. "You have a plan for this don't you?" I tried to keep the desperation out of my voice.

He looked at me for a long while. Then he shrugged. "Of course I do. I've calculated the optimal strategy given our resources and our position." I waited.

Then I prompted him. "And that strategy is?"

"We run like hell." I stared at him, incredulous. Shikamaru frowned back at me and counted off on his fingers. "We were caught by surprise by a superior force. They have us outnumbered, outclassed, and from what I can tell, no objective other than the complete destruction of the Hidden Leaf village and the death of everyone in it. We have nothing to protect in a stand up fight, and if we try to fight, we get slaughtered. Our most powerful asset," he gestured toward the hospital room door, "is for all intents and purposes insane with grief, and almost as big a threat to our village as the enemy is." He sighed and looked down at the floor. "The obvious solution is to run. If we all run and split up, some of us may live to fight another day."

I looked around the hallway, filled with the injured and dying. "If we run, what happens to them? We can't carry them all. I tried that once today. We would just get caught."

Shikamaru kept staring downward, his shoulders hunched with stress. "I never said I liked the strategy, or that I thought we should do it. I just said it's the logical one. We need Naruto. With him in this fight we have a chance to match them strength for strength." He ran his hand over his face. "The crazy thing is... If Hinata dies... We may have to take him out ourselves just to prevent him from going berserk." He shut his eyes. "I just came from a meeting with the village elders where I had to outline our plan for the Hokage's death... my friend's death, to save the village."

I looked at the door we had just closed. "Well then, we had better pray that Sakura gets here in time then."

An hour later, that conversation was the farthest thing from my mind. The Black Wind clan had found our position at the hospital and was assaulting us in force. Wave after wave of soldiers and shock troops crashed into our picket lines and modified fortifications we had made of debris piled high in the streets. I had shed the sling immobilizing my arm so that I could form hand signs again. Each one sent my shoulder through spasms of agony, but it was either use ninjutsu or be overrun. We were being pushed back little by little. There were only two reasons our lines held. First was that many of our friends and families were in the hospital behind us and we knew that to give up meant the deaths of them all. Second, we hadn't seen any more of the Black Wind shinobi. Thankfully they were absent from this continued attack against the hospital. We had the advantage of ninjutsu to hold off the attackers.

The earth shook and all that changed. "Here come the shinobi," I thought. "This is where it all ends."

The street crumbled under the feet of the attacking soldiers and a huge crevasse formed. Far at the other end of the street a kunoichi had just punched the ground and ruptured it exactly like an earthquake would. She ripped a huge chunk of stone the size of an ox out of the street and tossed it through the ranks of the soldiers. All eyes were on her as she screamed a battle cry, tore a telephone pole out of the sidewalk, and wielding it like a club, charged into the enemy.

Sakura had arrived.

At first glance there were at least two ninja accompanying her, and several children as well. The shorter one held up one hand, which suddenly flared bright white with electricity. I grinned as he stabbed three of the shock troops through the chest. I could recognize a chidori when I saw one. Ichisui hadn't let me down.

"Let them through!" I bellowed. "They're friendlies! Get them through!" We surged forward, trying to meet up with our new comrades.

I didn't recognize the third ninja right away. He didn't seem to be using any ninjutsu at all. He just moved like a dancer, wielding a katana. Every slash left a spray of blood in its wake. I froze as I realized that the whole Uchiha clan had come. The whole clan… including the dark angel of the Leaf village himself… Sasuke Uchiha.

Sakura and Ichisui led the charge. Sakura kicked and swung her makeshift club battering a way through the enemy ranks. Any soldier quick enough to dodge that, was met by Ichisui staying right beside his mother. Immediately behind them was a young girl carrying a small toddler on her back. The toddler was frantically clinging to a large pink stuffed rabbit. I watched a Black Wind soldier spring from an alleyway straight at the toddler. "Don't hurt Mister Bunny!" she shrieked. There was a whirlwind of steel and the soldier fell back, his arm missing from the elbow. Sasuke was bringing up the rear, carrying a small boy. He somersaulted through the air, and the sword flashed again, deflecting a spear aimed at his eldest son. There was a brief bloody struggle as our two sides came together and crushed the Black Wind soldiers between us.

Sakura heaved the telephone pole behind her and it pin wheeled down the street leaving chaos in its wake. She rubbed her hands together. "There... that should keep them from getting too close for a bit." She turned to her daughter. "Hana dear, how's the baby holding up?"

Hana frowned. "We need to find a bathroom. She's been saying she needs to pee for the last ten minutes Mom."

"I need to tinkle!" yelled Chyrio.

"Just a little bit longer sweetie!" Sakura nodded. "Keep holding it until we're not fighting for our lives." She turned to me and smiled. "I understand that you wanted to see me?" she said with saccharine sweetness.

Shikamaru appeared by my side. He nodded to each of them. "Sakura… Sasuke…It's good to see you. We've got a… bit of a situation here, and well... The Hokage asked for you personally."

Sakura raised one chilly eyebrow. "Oh? So now he decides he's good enough to be seen in public with the likes of us?"

Sasuke sighed and placed a hand gently on her arm. "Blossom, please..." He turned to Shikamaru. "I'm sorry. We've been... hard pressed all day." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Plus... You know..." He gestured to her pregnant stomach. "Hormones," he muttered.

"You had better thank your ancestors for these hormones mister. They've been kicking ass all day." Sakura sighed and looked at the hospital. "Let's get inside... It is dangerous out here. Come along children!" she called, and began to herd everyone inside the doors.

A chunin stepped up and blocked her path. "I'm sorry m'am," he drawled, "but council ruling number eighty-three states that all members of your clan, and this criminal in particular are banned from the village and all its surrounding area." He eyed Sasuke. "I've been wondering for a while now if you are as good as they say you are..." He fingered a tanto style sword.

Sakura stopped and eyed the chunin. "The Hokage has summoned me personally. Where I go, my husband goes. Do you really want to be the one who explains to the Hokage why we turned around and went back home?"

The chunin shrugged. "Seems to me," he said, "the Hokage's just about given up right about now. Seems to me his time might be almost over." He looked at her. "It seems to me we might need a new Hokage who doesn't let traitors back into the village."

Sakura clenched her fist tightly. "You are very lucky, I'm in a hurry." Sakura turned and nodded to Hana.

Hana sighed and looked at the chunin. "Excuse me mister?" She asked in a cute little girl voice. The chunin glanced at her and suddenly went all stiff. His mouth opened in terror and he began to shake. Sakura quickly ushered everyone inside.

Shikamaru stared at Hana. "What did you do to him?"

"A genjutsu," she said, her sharingan fading away. "He's giving a report in front of his third year academy class, only in a few minutes he's suddenly going to realize he's not wearing pants." She shrugged. "It's easier than hitting him."

Shikamaru smiled. "Heh... I'll send someone to snap him out of it in a moment." He leaned over Hana. "Good job! You must me a very talented little girl if you can cast a genjutsu powerful enough to effect a chunin!"

Hana squinted up at him. "Don't patronize me."

Shikamaru gave her a surprised glance and took a backwards step before turning to Sakura. "So, Naruto needs..."

Sakura wasn't listening. She was staring at the wounded milling around in the waiting area. "Shizune-san!" she bellowed.

Shizune came running around the corner. "Sakura!" She smiled and hugged her quickly. "You made it! Thank the Gods! We need every..."

Sakura talked right over her. "Modify the triage requirements," she barked. "Anyone who is not critical, gets first aid only. Find anyone who knows the basics and get them doing bandages, splints, sutures, whatever." She strode into the hospital as if she owned it. "It doesn't have to be pretty, just functional. Focus on keeping everyone's insides in and we'll make it look good when we have time later." The people lining the hallways began to stare after her. "Next find an Akimichi."

Shizune looked confused. "Which one?"

Sakura threw up her hands. "Any Akimichi! We'll need food pills, lots of them." She looked around at the wounded. "We're going to need to be doped to the gills dealing with this lot. See if you can get any of the three colored pills as well... If we need to, we can use those as a last resort, in a reduced dosage of course." She turned to stare at Shizune. "Well? Don't you agree?"

Shizune stared at her. There was the muffled blast of an explosion outside. The windows of the hospital rattled as debris rained down like hail. "Who the hell is in charge of security around here?!" Sakura roared. "Someone get a perimeter set up!" She turned to Shizune. "Have there been any incursions into the courtyard?" she asked.

"One or two… They've managed to breach our position twice but we've…"

"Damn," swore Sakura. "I'm going to have to wait on summoning Katsuyu then. She'll need the space, and there's little sense bringing her into the middle of combat when we need her for healing." She sighed. "I'll see to the Hokage, deputize someone to improve the defenses and… What? What is it?"

A wide smile of relief was spreading across Shizune's face. "It's good to have you back Sakura." She bowed quickly and then ran off.

"Sakura, he's right down here," said Shikamaru, pulling her down the hallway to the room where Hinata was.

Sakura stopped, grabbed him and spun him towards the wall. "Just what the hell is going on in Konoha?" she hissed. "Naruto won't be the Hokage for much longer?! Explain!"

"Hinata's dying," I said quietly. "The baby is dead... And Naruto is... well..."

"He's going insane with grief," said Shikamaru. "He's almost lost it three times. It looks like the Kyubi is taking the opportunity to make a break for it. The only thing keeping him together is that he believes you can do something. He thinks you know some jutsu to bring her back."

"He's not listening to reason. He doesn't care who's toes he's stepping on or what laws he's breaking… All he cares about anymore is her," I murmured.

Sakura's face went as hard as stone. "I see..." she said quietly.

Sasuke put a hand on her arm. "Sakura?" he asked in a worried tone.

She shook him off and took a deep breath. "We'd better go in then..." She twisted the knob and stepped inside.

"Sakura! You came!" Naruto sobbed with relief. He leaned in close to Hinata. "She's here! She made it! Everything will be alright now!"

Sakura stepped forward and placed a hand on Hinata's forehead. She closed her eyes to concentrate. Sasuke stepped behind Naruto's chair and placed a hand on his shoulder. There was a moment of silence that stretched into an eternity.

Sakura opened her eyes. "Naruto... I'm sorry but..."

"NO!" he screamed. "No! There is something you can do! You saw how it was done... Chiyo-sama's technique. I want that! I need the reincarnation jutsu. Now."

Sakura looked at her feet. "That will take too much chakra. Don't you remember what happened to Chiyo-sama when she tried it?"

Naruto grunted. "Let me worry about the chakra. You just put it in the right places."

"But that will kill you!"

"I am your Hokage! I'm giving you an order!"

Sakura folded her arms across her chest. "There is nothing you can say that will convince me to obey that order… Hokage-sama."

Naruto looked up at her, his face a cold mask of determination. "Sakura... I'm begging you… this is a once in a lifetime request... Please... If anyone can bring her back... I know you can."

Sakura's mouth dropped open in shock. "Naruto… I..." she stammered.

The door to the hospital room burst open. In stepped the chunin from the entryway, four other ninjas, two ANBU and Akihiro Shimura, the village elder who sponsored the proposal to banish the Uchiha clan from the Leaf village. "That's them!" shouted the chunin pointing.

Akihiro stepped forward "Members of the Uchiha clan. I find you in violation of council ruling number eighty-three." He peered over his half moon spectacles. "The punishment is imprisonment. Or..." he said leering at Sasuke. "For those already under probation... Death." he pointed. "Seize -urk!" A burning claw of boiling red chakra seized him and pushed him straight through the clapboard wall.

"No!" snarled Naruto. "Leave! Now!" His teeth lengthened his fingers grew into claws.

"It's the Nine Tails!" screeched one of the ANBU members. "Take him down now!" Weapons flew, and clattered harmlessly aside as Naruto deflected them with a roar. Red chakra scorched the air across the room and flung the other ninja about as if they were dolls. The children started screaming in terror. Outside in the hallway the wounded were panicking.

Sasuke calmly slid his katana from his scabbard and held it above the back of Naruto's neck. Naruto turned and looked sadly at his friend, then turned back to Sakura. "Please..." he moaned. Under the red chakra cloak, his flesh was starting to crisp and burn away. Three tails were already showing, and a fourth began to emerge. "Please..." he cried, looking between the two of them. "I can't do it without her. End it... one way or another!"

"Sakura!" yelled Shikamaru over the swirling maelstrom. "Either drain off the chakra, or…" He glanced at Sasuke. "Take him out! He's losing control!"

"Sasuke," said Sakura. She motioned him back with the wave of one hand. She stepped forward into the gale of chakra boiling around the room and stood by Hinata's bedside. She smoothed her hair.

Sakura took a deep breath and looked at Naruto. "You are a great husband for her. You have made her very happy. Whatever else... happens… I want you to remember that." She placed both hands over Hinata's chest. "When I say go, place your hands on top of mine okay?" Naruto nodded, tears of blood from his peeling flesh cascading down his cheeks and burning up in the chakra shroud. Sakura took a deep breath, and a cool green energy began pulsing from her fingertips. "Now," she said firmly. Naruto thrust the boiling mass of chakra surrounding his hands down on top of hers.

Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs when the burning red flames first flowed through her fingers. The aura of red chakra pulsed and started to flow up her arms. Sakura concentrated, sweat breaking out on her brow, and slowly the chakra pooled downward into her palms. With a gentle push forward, she eased the chakra inside Hinata's chakra gates.

Hinata's body jumped in the bed. Her arms flailed about knocking over the bedside table. A low guttural moan came out of her mouth.

"Hinata!" Naruto wailed, tears streaming down his face. Suddenly he threw back his head and roared at the ceiling. A burst of dark red chakra surged over his body covering it completely. This dark red chakra flashed past Sakura's moderating hands and surged into Hinata.

Hinata's body had a seizure as this new torrent of energy flowed into her. A turbulent haze of red poured out of her until the whole bed was surrounded with a throbbing, malevolent aura. Her body bent like a bow, her spine popping, until only her head and her feet were touching the mattress. She wailed a high keening wail, almost harmonizing with Naruto's roar.

"Sasuke!" called out Sakura, the skin on her hands starting to blister and char from the maelstrom of energy pouring through them. "You have to slow him down," she grunted. She was biting her lip to bear the pain. A trickle of blood was running down her chin. "I can't… control this... You have to calm him down!"

Sasuke looked at his wife and nodded. He reached into the burning fires swirling around Naruto's body, grabbed his face, and pulled his gaze back down from the ceiling. Naruto's eyes were no longer human. It was like peering into two holes set into the side of a blast furnace. Sasuke squinted against the glare, and pulled him closer. A deep growl formed in Naruto's throat. Sasuke's lips twitched in a small smile, and pulled him even closer. "Hey old friend..." he said in a half whisper. "Come back… We need you to come back… I need you to come back. If you give up now... I will never forgive you."

The blast furnace eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. Slowly, like ripples rolling across a pond, the dark red chakra began to subside in waves. Soon, Naruto was just clad in the plain boiling red chakra shroud. He looked a nightmare though. His skin was burned away, leaving raw red flesh. He smiled at Sasuke with cracked bleeding lips, and gave a small chuckle. "You're stealing my lines now aren't you?"

Sakura began to breathe easier. "Naruto... Don't do that again... I can't control that much at once..."

Hinata had relaxed back onto the bed, and was twitching in random spasms. Naruto looked over at her and sagged. "Is it working?" he asked his voice a husky rasp.

Sakura nodded her head once. "I think so... The only time I saw this done Chiyo-sama used a combination of her chakra and yours... Using the Kyubi's chakra is… different… but Gaara was much farther gone than Hinata is... Give it time is all I can say, but yes... I think it might be working."

An explosion outside rocked the building. "Oh man," grumbled Shikamaru. "Here we go again," he turned to me. "Come on, I need to get a more complete view of the situation here. "Sasuke!" he called. Sasuke glanced up. "Can you make sure… things here stay under control?" Sasuke took a step closer to Sakura and nodded once. Shikamaru motioned for me to follow him and we stepped out of the door.

We walked down the hallway and opened a door labeled 'restricted access'. We climbed up the metal steps and opened the door leading out onto the roof of the hospital. Shikamaru calmly walked over to the side and looked down. "Shit," he swore.

The battle was not going well. An enemy sortie had reached the east wall of the hospital and detonated some kind of explosive there. Thankfully, it looked like the explosive hadn't been placed properly for the damage was all superficial. The real damage was from our picket line being cut in two on that side of the building. Slowly the line was being redrawn, but it was a fierce bloody business that was costing us dearly . "We need reinforcements," he muttered. He looked out across the skyline of the village. There were small pockets of resistance scattered here and there. "We could buy some time if we could get everyone to concentrate themselves here. Heck if we could coordinate them, we could even launch a quick counterattack... maybe get lucky and take them in the rear."

"What do you need?" I asked wearily.

He looked pointedly at my shoulder wound. "You're volunteering again? Haven't you had enough already?"

I sighed. "I'm not going to be the one traveling over there." I spread some of the blood leaking through my bandaged shoulder over my palms, and slammed them both down on the floor of the hospital. "Summoning Jutsu!" I called.

There was a puff of smoke. Standing in the cloud were five small humanoid figures. "Shikamaru, meet Nori, Dori, Tori, Lori, and Ori. Also known as the capuchin brothers." The five small monkeys stared at us and then began to chatter excitedly. "They may be small, but they are the fastest, sneakiest bunch I have ever met." I lowered my voice." They also have a bad habit of stealing anything that catches their fancy. So don't show them anything you don't want to mysteriously disappear."

Shikamaru stared at me and then looked back to the monkeys. "So how do I give them the message?"

Nori stepped forward. "Well, you could try telling us… That usually works."

Ori stuck out his tongue. "Maybe he'd prefer to write it out as a haiku."

Tori frowned and scratched her head in an irritated way. "A haiku? Don't give him ideas. Next thing you know Konohamaru'll be asking us to deliver another love poem!"

Dori did a little soft-shoe shuffle. "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Maybe we could turn it into a song and dance routine!"

Shikamaru sighed. "Great… sarcastic monkeys. This day just keeps getting better and better."

"Listen up!" I called. "This is a critical mission for the survival of the village! Upon completion of this mission, you will each receive one bunch of bananas as a token of my esteem." The capuchins stopped scampering and looked up at that. Quickly they scrambled into a line and stood at attention. "If you can do it without stealing anything, I will give you two bunches of bananas each."

Lori saluted. "In that case sir, you may want to give this back to your friend." She held up a wallet. "It accidentally fell out of his pocket and into my hand while I was just standing here, sir!"

Shikamaru patted his pants. "Hey!" he said.

I sighed and handed the wallet back to him. "Shikamaru here is giving the orders, so listen up!"

"I want messages sent to all Leaf ninja in those three…" he started pointing, then paused to squint at a pillar of smoke rising over in the Inuzuka holdfast, "make that those four locations. Deliver the following orders: Tell them to meet up over there at that restaurant." He pointed to a burning building. "Tell them to wait until everyone has assembled, and then charge hard and fast at the break in our line here." He looked at the monkeys. "Can you do that?"

The monkeys all saluted. "Sir! Yes sir!" they exclaimed.

"I will also add a reward of a third bunch of bananas to whichever one of you completes the mission and can return here first." He returned the monkey's salute. "Dismissed!" he called. There was a blur of motion and the monkeys were gone.

Shikamaru looked at me. "Are they trustworthy?"

I shrugged. "For three bunches of bananas? They'll be willing to take your message to hell and back… Of course, that journey will probably also include swiping everything that isn't red hot or nailed down… but that's a different problem."

"Well I just hope that they make it, and that those ninjas over there are able to assist us. Of course," he smiled grimly, "this plan is moot unless we can scare up some extra warm bodies to hold the weak spots in our line here." We looked back down the roof of the building. The fighting was not in our favor. We still held the front and rear entrances of the hospital, but the fighting on the sides was pressed right against the wall. Shikamaru's eyes darted back and forth, probing for weaknesses, and potential openings.

"I wish I had more to work with right now," muttered Shikamaru. We watched as a superior number of Black Wind soldiers surrounded a small group of our ninja. The battle was fast and furious. A small number of the Black Wind soldiers were cut down, but in the end, all of the ninja on our side were killed. "Dammit," he whispered. Dammit dammit dammit!" He slammed his fist into the chain link fence surrounding the roof. "It's like I'm playing shogi but all my opponent's pawns have been replaced by bishops and rooks," he sighed. "And right now, my bishops and rooks have been taken off the board." He looked at his hands. "I need more powerful pieces. I need Naruto."

He shrugged. "No use wishing for what we don't have. We might as well get back into the thick of things." We turned back towards the exit.

The door to the roof was flung open. The chunin from the entryway stuck his head through the door, saw us and called back. "He's up here Elder!" There was a shuffling from the doorway and Councilor Akihiro Shimura and his crowd of ninja came through.

"Can you believe it Nara-san? That monster dared to manhandle my person! The council will not stand for this treatment! Nor will it stand for this flagrant violation of its rulings. I want to begin proceedings right now to have that beast removed from the office of Hokage!" Akihiro huffed. Several of the ninja's in his retinue nodded their head in agreement.

Shikamaru stared at them wide eyed. Then he threw back his head and laughed. Akihiro looked startled and then frowned. "I fail to see any humor in this current situation."

"I don't believe this… My Gods... you blind, idiotic, egomaniacal old fool," snarled Shikamaru. Akihiro flinched. As did I, I had never known Shikamaru to lose his cool before. "Council proceedings? You want to hold a council meeting, here? On the roof of the hospital, in the middle of a battlefield surrounded by one of the fiercest enemies I have ever seen, while the wounded and defenseless hiding in this building cry out for your protection?" he stalked forward. Akihiro stumbled back a step. "Are you all insane?" he roared.

He spun to the gaggle of ninja's surrounding Akihiro. "I notice a significant lack of wounds on each one of you. I can only conclude that each of you has at this very moment been discharged from the care of the medical-nin, and have promptly come to me for a new assignment. I know this because I can think of no other reason why perfectly healthy ninjas of Konoha would be lounging around on top of this building while their comrades are defending it with their blood!" he snarled. He pointed and arm at the stairs. "Get back down there and defend your village!"

"But..." started an ANBU.

"Mark my words!" growled Shikamaru. "One way or another you will be down there protecting this village. I will throw you off the roof if I have to, but I would prefer it if you take the stairs. The choice is entirely yours!"

The surly chunin stepped forward. "You can't talk to Akihiro-sama this way. He gives the orders around here, not you. Besides," The chunin smiled a cruel smile, "you're a strategist. I think you'd call this situation 'Being outnumbered'."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at him. He took a step forward. "You really want to challenge me? Here and now with the future of the village on the line? If you know what is good for you, you will turn around and walk down those stairs."

"Make me," snarled the chunin. Suddenly his body became stiff and his eyes widened in shock. Shikamaru sneered at him.

"That was far too easy." He stepped forward, closer to the chunin. "Don't bother asking for help from your friends either. They are trapped in my Shadow Imitation jutsu as well."

The chunin just looked at him. "So you are just going to hold us here? Is that your big plan? I know you Shikamaru Nara, you wouldn't dare to hurt your fellow Leaf shinobi." It was his turn to sneer. "You're bluffing. All we have to do is sit here until your chakra runs out."

There was a blur of motion and suddenly there was a monkey sitting on top of councilor Akihiro's head. "Gah!" he shouted in surprise.

"General Nara," said Nori, saluting. "I have contacted the first group you pointed out to us and delivered the message. They said they will meet at the rendezvous point." The monkey looked sheepish for a moment. "However… um... there was this one lady… She said… well she insisted that she needed to see you right away… I told her that you said her orders were to go to the rendezvous point… But, then she said she'd feed me to the weasels if I didn't tell her where you were right now… So I told her…And… Um… can I still get the extra bunch of bananas?" the monkey asked in a pleading voice.

"Yes, you did well." Shikamaru nodded.

"Woo-Hoo!" screeched Nori, throwing his hands up in the air.

A dark shadow floated across the roof. A large fan hovered for a second and then gently descended. A kunoichi and two children gently stepped off, and on to the roof. The kunoichi then picked up the fan and snapped it closed with a sound like a steel trap. She sauntered up to Shikamaru. "What's this, my husband? Deserters?" She smiled a fierce grin. "We of the Hidden Sand village know what to do with deserters. I like how you've tied them up for me," she purred. "It makes it so much easier to cut off the sensitive bits." She pulled a short knife from her belt and tested its edge with the ball of her thumb.

Shikamaru smirked. "I'd like to introduce you all to my lovely wife Temari. She has the unusual reputation of being the cruelest kunoichi in the world. Temari dearest, these gentlemen are associates of councilor Akihiro Shimura, who happens to be standing right over there with a monkey on his head. I was just explaining to them that holding a council meeting with the agenda being removing the Hokage from power in the middle of a battle was a really really bad idea." He cleared his throat. "I was just about to suggest that maybe these loyal Leaf shinobi would like to assist in the defense of this building instead."

"Oh?" Temari sashayed closer to the surly chunin. "Is that all? They just need a little something to convince them to join the battle?" She smiled at them. "That's simplicity itself. I think a single example will be more than enough." She looked over her shoulder at her children. "Karua, Shikasu, make sure you watch Mommy closely my little dears. Try not to look away if you can. This," her voice dropped to a cold whisper, "will be very educational." Her knife point grazed the tip of his chest, and she slowly dragged it down to his groin.

"Shikamaru-sama!" pleaded the chunin, all surliness now gone from his voice. "I wish to apologize for my behavior. I humbly ask for your forgiveness and offer you my services for the current conflict!" he squeaked the last of his words as Temari leaned ever so slightly on her blade.

Shikamaru nodded. "Thank you very much. I accept your apology and your offer. Please report to the duty officer for your assignments." Shikamaru released them all from the shadow imitation jutsu. The ninjas looked around at each other hesitantly. Temari snapped her fan open with a cold click, and grinned at them. They suddenly formed an orderly line and started down the steps. "Oh, if you would be so kind could you also escort councilor Akihiro to a place of relative safety? This battlefield is no place for the likes of him."

There was brief protest from the councilor. "Wait, my medallion... The badge of my office is missing! I must find it!" But Shikamaru waved the ninjas onward and they frog marched him down as well. I stole a glance at Nori, and saw him standing there looking very nonchalant.

Shikamaru smiled at Temari. "As ever, I am glad you showed up when you did." Temari turned to her husband, took two steps, and gave him a ringing slap across the face.

"What the hell do you think you are playing at here Shikamaru Nara?! I was out of my head with worry! That stupid little monkey message was the first we heard of you since we were separated at the chunin exams! Do you know what you put your children through? What you put me through?!" Shikamaru, rubbed the bright red mark on his cheek, and looked at her, stunned.

In the next moment, Temari reached out, grabbed him by the front of his flak jacket and pulled him into her arms. She kissed him fiercely. After a while, he came up for air and gasped. "If you ever do something like that again," she said staring tenderly into his eyes, "I'll kill you."

I coughed politely. Temari glanced at me and then looked back at her husband. "Don't think this is over! You and I are going to have more words later." she said to him sternly.

Shikamaru smiled and kissed her back, gently. Temari's eyes widened in surprise before relaxing. "I missed you too," he said, stroking her hair. He looked at his children. "I'm glad you are all safe. I'll fill you in when we get inside." Another explosion, much bigger than the last one rocked the building. We all staggered on top of the roof. "Check that… Temari, Karua, get downstairs and help out with the defenses. We could use your wind scythe jutsu down there. Shikasu, stay close to your mother and sister and help out where you can." He then leaned into to Temari's ear and whispered something.

Temari looked shocked. "Really?" she said, incredulously, nervously glancing at me and her children. "Are you sure?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Please hurry... I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I need you downstairs right now protecting this building." He glanced at her sideways. "No matter how much I want you to stay with me right now."

Temari tilted her head and smiled her most confident grin. "Hmm. There will be plenty of time for joyful reunions later." She pulled out her fan, and Karua did likewise. "Come children, let us show these Leaf ninjas how much better the Sand is at kicking ass." She blew Shikamaru a kiss and headed down the stairs.

Shikamaru gave a weak smile as they left. "Well, I just gained a bishop and a lance… That's something. We can probably hold out for a little while longer"

"What did you say to her right then?" I asked.

Shikamaru stared out over the chaos in the Leaf village. "I told her this fight is looking hopeless. We are going to try to withdraw from here in an orderly fashion under cover of the counterattack. I told her that if the line breaks before then…" he frowned. "Well, I told her to take the children and run."

We waited for the other capuchin monkeys to arrive. I pulled out a small summoning scroll and released a huge pile of bananas. Their eyes grew huge as I dished out their rewards. Then I dispelled them.

We headed down from the roof in silence. The corridor was much more crowded with wounded. There were many more non-combatants taking refuge on the upper floor as well. "Are more people arriving?" I asked a medical-nin.

She shook her head. "It's getting worse. The attackers are getting into the lower floors through the shuttered windows. As a precaution we are moving everyone higher up." She then hurried off to help a Hidden Grass ninja who was covered with burns.

"That does not bode well," said Shikamaru. "I've done everything I can for right now. Let's hope that counterattack starts soon, because something needs to take the pressure off of our defenses." He glanced at me. "Let's go check on the Hokage."

He opened the door to Hinata's room, and gasped. The flaming red chakra shroud that had surrounded Naruto before now looked like a pale red mist. Sakura's hands were covered with blisters. When we stepped in the door Naruto looked blearily up at us, blood dripping like sweat down his ruined face. "It's working," he croaked. He grinned hugely. "It's working." He reeled like he was drunk and looked up at me. "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you for bringing Sakura here." There was a last little sputter of red chakra. Naruto slowly tilted over, and collapsed on the floor. Sakura gasped and began to blow on and wave her hands in the air. Their children flocked over to them.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, her voice cracking with pain. "Could you please get the ointment in the blue bottle from my bag, and the roll of linen bandages over there?" Sasuke retrieved them and began to treat Sakura's hands.

"So… did it work?" I asked.

"As far as I can tell," said Sakura wincing. "Ouch. Not so tight please," she said to Sasuke. "Hinata is breathing on her own, heart function is more or less normal, the organ damage appears to have repaired itself, and even her wound closed up." She leaned back as Ichisui, Hana and Chyrio embraced her. "For everything else, we'll just have to wait and see."

Kusumina looked up from her father on the floor. "Aunt Sakura? Will Daddy be okay?"

Sakura nodded. "I've seen this a few times. He usually heals up from this pretty soon."

"Good," said Shikamaru. "We are in a bad spot right now. I need Naruto better and fast."

Sakura looked at him. "When I said 'soon', I meant hours at the very earliest. As he is now," she nodded at him with her chin, "drained of chakra… It could be a day or more"

Shikamaru's face fell. "Well that's it then. That was my last hope at a chance of winning. We are going to have to evacuate."

Sakura looked up. "What?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "We are in the process of being overrun. I have a counterattack planned to buy us some breathing room, but after that, we are done. My last move is to evacuate the hospital during the counterattack."

Sakura shook her head. "Can't do it. There are too many wounded who cannot be moved. Hell," she gestured at Hinata and Naruto, "We have two of them right here. We will never be able to get everyone out safely."

Shikamaru looked up. He had tears running down his face. "I know that. I've played through everything a thousand times in my head. It's like I was just telling Konohamaru a while ago. It's like I'm playing shogi and my opponent's pawns are all bishops and rooks," he glanced at Naruto, "all my powerful pieces have been taken off the board." He wiped his eyes. "The fact is, if we want to save anyone… We are going to have to leave somebody behind."

"No." There was a croaked whisper. Naruto had cracked open one eyelid. "No," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Promote a piece."

Shikamaru knelt close to him. "Naruto, I'm talking in a metaphor. I know I was trying to teach you shogi, but this is real life. You can't promote a person to a more powerful one."

Naruto's lips twitched in a smile. "Can too," he whispered. "Right there." He struggled to lift his arm, and let it fall. It pointed at Sasuke.

"Goddamn… Now there's a gambit," muttered Shikamaru in awe.

Sasuke looked up from bandaging Sakura's hands. He noticed everyone staring at him. "What?"

He shook his head after Shikamaru explained the plan to him. "Shikamaru… I don't know if that's a good idea."

Shikamaru stared at him incredulously. "It doesn't matter if it's a good idea or not… It is the only idea we have right now." He made a turning motion with his hands. "Turn around, I'm breaking the seal."

Sasuke stepped back. "I need to think about this." Everyone staggered as yet another explosion rocked the building.

"Done thinking yet?" asked Shikamaru. "The enemy has us outclassed and outnumbered. We can hold our ground against their lower level fighters. But their basic shinobi are far superior to our jonin. I need to put someone powerful into play. I need someone at the Hokage level," he glared at Sasuke. "You once held your own against the leaders of the Five great ninja villages. I need that power."

Sasuke's head snapped up. "That power came from me wanting to destroy each and every one of you," he snarled. "I was willing to murder anything in my way to get my revenge. I didn't care about anyone or anything else." He raised his fist and clenched it tight. "I was strong. I had power." He relaxed his fist and let his arm fall limp. "And I sacrificed my soul to be that way. My strength came from the hate boiling within me." He closed his eyes. "When the council banished the Uchiha clan, the condition for... allowing me to live was that my chakra would be sealed away forever." He looked at Shikamaru. "The penalty for breaking that seal is death. When you sealed away my chakra, my power left, but so did a lot of my hate." Sasuke swallowed. "I'm a different man now. I have people I love. I have a family. But I still wonder… that if my power comes back… How much of the old Sasuke will come back with it?" Sasuke glanced at Sakura and his voice dropped to a whisper. "What will happen to them if the old Sasuke comes back?" he shook his head. "I can't do it. I won't do it!"

"Shit," sighed Shikamaru. "Well that's it then." He pursed his lips. "Can I count on you to help evacuate at least?" Sasuke nodded. "I guess I'll see what's keeping that counterattack then." A deafening roar shook the building's foundation, throwing us all to the floor. When I got up I could hear the sounds of screams and fighting filtering up from the floor below. There was a commotion outside, and the door burst open.

A Leaf genin with a broken arm in a sling stood there. "General Nara!" she shouted, "they just blew a hole in the wall! Soldiers are coming through! Temari-san says the counterattack is a no go! She spied a large group of enemy shinobi at the rendezvous point. She says it looks like the reinforcements aren't going to be coming." A wave of over-pressure made my ears pop. There was a musical waterfall of noise as every window in the first floor of the hospital blew out. "She said she'd hold out as long as she can, but we are in danger of being cut off."

There was screaming down the hallway. The genin spun and deflected an arrow with her kunai. A second later, a Black Wind soldier barreled into her hacking furiously with an axe. I jumped into the hallway and knifed the soldier in the kidney.

There was a battle cry behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a second soldier charging from the other end of the hall. A squirming mass of inky shadow hands reached out from the doorway, grabbed him and snapped his neck. Shikamaru turned. "Well Sasuke? See anything that would change your mind?"

Sakura slid up behind him and embraced him with her bandaged hands. "Sasuke… don't you see? This could be your chance... Konoha needs you." She kissed the back of his neck. "Your family needs you."

"Sakura… I'm…" He exhaled sharply. "You of all people should remember what happened the last time."

"Don't be scared daddy!" said Chyrio stepping forward, holding her toy rabbit in her outstretched arms. "I'll let you have Mister Bunny. Okay? You told me that Mister Bunny always makes people feel better… especially when they're scared… So I'll let you hold him… but only for a little while."

Sasuke looked at the bright pink rabbit in his hands. He turned it over and over staring at it. Finally, he tucked it into his belt. He reached out and ruffled Chryio's hair. "Thank you sweetie," he smiled. "I feel much braver now." He turned at Sakura and said quietly, "Keep the children away from me until you are sure it's safe… I don't know what will happen." He pulled both arms from the sleeves of his shirt and stepped towards Shikamaru. "Alright," he said. "Do it."

Sasuke's back was covered with the intricate whorls and spirals of a complex multi-layered seal. Shikamaru laid his hand against his flesh and concentrated. The symbols shone red and purple as they crawled and retreated across Sasuke's flesh and down into Shikamaru's palm. Sasuke's face was blanched white and sweat dripped down his chin. "Does it hurt Daddy?" Mibuki asked holding on to Sakura's leg.

Sasuke grimaced. "A little bit. Don't worry... it's not too bad."

The ink from the seal formed a little pool in Shikamaru's palm. When Sasuke's back was clear, he upended his palm and let it all spill onto the floor. "Well?" he asked, a little hesitantly. "How do you... feel?"

Sasuke stood with his back to us. He lifted one hand, and then the other, bringing them to his face as if seeing them for the first time. He shifted a little on the balls of his feet, as if he was trying on a new pair of shoes. He placed one hand on the stuffed toy tucked in his belt, and patted it gently. "Okay… I guess," he nodded slowly to himself. "Sakura, can you handle things here?"

She looked at him cautiously. "Of course I can Sasuke." There was a chill in the air. The hair on my arms began to stand up

He nodded again. "Ichisui, Hana, I'm going to need you to take good care of your little brother and sister okay? Will you listen to everything your mother tells you to do?" I shivered.

"Yes Father," said Ichisui. He shuffled back a little; the wintry tang in the air was becoming a palpable force.

"Okay Dad," nodded Hana. She was clutching her mother's hand. The cold was powerful enough to make my teeth hurt. When my breath didn't steam in the air, I realized what I was feeling wasn't actual cold at all. It was Sasuke's chakra slowly building.

"Good," said the Head of the banished Uchiha clan. He looked over one shoulder at us. His eye was glowing red with the power of the sharingan. "I'm going to leave for a little bit, but I'll return." He turned to the door, and promptly vanished.


	8. Chapter 5: Konohamaru's tale part 1

**Chapter Five: Konohamaru's tale: Monsters and Angels; Gods and Demons**

There were shouts of surprise from the hallway. From farther down, there was a short scream, followed by a gurgle and a thump.

Shikamaru and I looked at each other and then hurried out the door after Sasuke. The wounded and civilians were trying to rush past us. We ran in the opposite direction to see what was causing the panic. They were fleeing the body of a Black Wind soldier. His head had been neatly removed from his body and was lying several feet away. We hurried to the stairs. Along the way we passed several more bodies, many wearing the garb of the Black Wind. We reached the stairs and jumped from landing to landing, until we reached the first floor. The sounds of frenzied battle raged beyond the doors to the main lobby.

Just as Shikamaru reached for the handle of the door, the noise abruptly stopped. We froze, and strained our ears, but we could not hear anything. We looked at each other and then slowly, quietly, eased the doors open.

The lobby of the hospital looked like someone had set off a sheaf of paper bombs in an abattoir. Blood and gore was spattered liberally over the floor, walls and ceiling. In one corner of the lobby, behind a barricade of hastily overturned furniture, crouched Temari, Karua, Shikasu, and a handful of other shinobi. Their faces showed a mixture of shock and horror. In the middle of the room was a circle of about forty corpses. Standing in center of that ring, calmly wiping his sword on a scrap of cloth, was Sasuke.

With one smooth motion, he sheathed his katana. He pointed to the barricade. "I found something that's yours," he said to Shikamaru in a flat monotone. He then walked to the main entrance to the hospital, stepped over the broken doors and peered out.

"My gods…" muttered Temari, as she grabbed Shikamaru's hand and limped over the barricade. There was blood running down her calf. "He's some kind of monster. What he just did…"

"How bad is it?" asked Shikamaru, trying to look at her wound.

Temari waved him off. "I'll heal." Her stare was drawn back to Sasuke. "We were cornered. We might have held out another minute or two tops. Then he appeared." She shuddered. "And suddenly... the enemies were all dead." Temari's leg sagged underneath her and she nearly fell. Shikamaru embraced her and slowly sat her down on the floor. He hugged her tight and stroked her hair.

I walked over to where Sasuke was peering out the door. "So... what now? I asked.

"Easy. We hunt them down… We'll need to kill every last one of them." he said as calmly as if he were talking about going down to the corner store.

I shivered. "That could take a while. There are quite a lot of them and they seem to be spread out over the village."

Sasuke smiled a wide smile that showed his canine teeth. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to see if I can make them come to me." He stood up straight and stepped towards the doorway.

"Stop there! Somebody arrest that man!" From a barricaded door, Councilor Akihiro and his group appeared. The councilor was striding purposefully toward Sasuke. "That man has violated the terms of his banishment and must be taken into custody and put on trial at once!" The surly chunin from before stepped forward.

Sasuke casually turned around and just looked at him. The Chunin gasped and sank to his knees. "Dear Gods… The sharingan!" exclaimed Akihiro. He spun on Shikamaru. "What have you done? What have you done?!" he screeched. "You freed the monster! You have doomed us all!"

Shikamaru glared at him. "While you and your guards were hiding in the closet, I was doing my best to save the village. I played the best move I had left."

Akihiro opened and closed his mouth several times in frustration. "I'll see you hang for this!" he sputtered. He turned to his guards. "All of you! Go! Stop the Uchiha!"

His guards looked at each other. "Um… Akihiro-sama?" one of them ventured. "You said we... weren't to leave your side."

"So?"

"Um… So, the Uchiha has left the building." He pointed. We all turned to look. There was Sasuke, strolling calmly into the street. Every so often, he would stop and touch the toy rabbit at his side. The ranks of Black Wind soldiers watched from behind piles of rubble as he walked into the middle of the road and stopped.

"I challenge your clan chief!" Sasuke said in a loud clear voice. "I call him a coward, a fool, and a killer of old women and children. I say he is no honorable man and I dare him to face me!" He stood there and folded his arms.

There was a blur of motion. Four of the Black Wind shinobi suddenly stood there surrounding him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "There are four of you? What, is your clan ruled by committee?"

"Insolent wretch…" slobbered all four shinobi at the same time. "You would need to train for a thousand years before you could even dream of being a worthy opponent for me. These basic minions are all I need to crush the likes of you." They produced a storm of shuriken that flew towards Sasuke.

There was a great clatter of ringing steel. The shuriken fell to the roadside, each of them sliced in two.

Sasuke slid his Katana back into his scabbard. "I'll say it again. I challenge your coward of a chieftain. Will you meet me in combat, or will you continue to hide and send these sorry excuses for shinobi against me?"

The four shinobi roared and charged him. They blurred with speed. Sasuke was faster. One moment he was standing there calmly waiting their charge, the next he was gone. There was a brief flicker next to each shinobi, perhaps a shining flash as the sunlight glinted off of a blade. Sasuke reappeared in the center of the circle of shinobi and thrust his katana into the ground.

He stood there with arms folded as the four shinobi sank to the ground around him. "I will say this one last time! I challenge your clan leader to single combat. Now will you come forth and face me, or will you continue to hide in the shadows, pissing yourself with fear?"

The assembled ranks of Black Wind soldiers began a grumble, which turned into a roar. They drew weapons and charged him. Seeing him outnumbered, I drew my own kunai and stepped forward to help him. Sasuke noticed and threw up a hand. "Stay there!" he shouted.

I didn't listen. I kept running. I took maybe two more steps when my body froze and wouldn't move. "When that man tells you not to move… Listen to him," said Shikamaru. I was trapped in the shadow possession jutsu.

I'm glad he caught me. He saved my life. Sasuke stood there as the horde closed in on him. They charged in closer and closer. Right before they were close enough for hand-to-hand combat, Saskue's fingers flew through a group of handsigns. Then he grabbed the pommel of his sword, and using just one hand, lifted himself into a handstand so he was holding himself into the air just by the hilt of the blade.

"Chidori!" he called out. An immense burst of lightning flowed down the blade of his katana, and poured over the ground. It danced from soldier to soldier, throwing huge sparks into the air. Sometimes the sparks would jump to a wall or back to the street and would ground out, but more often than not they would contact another soldier. A haze of greasy smoke began to block my view, and the stench of burning flesh and ozone filled my nostrils. I turned to retch, and when I turned back the bright glow from the chidori was fading.

Sasuke slowly lowered himself to the ground. He pulled out his katana from the ground and held the flat of his blade up before his face, studying it. His fingers traced the watermarks in the steel. He then closed his eyes, shuddered, and quickly re-sheathed the blade. He turned and walked back to the entrance of the hospital, stepping around the burnt corpses.

He walked up to Shikamaru. "How much time do you think you will need to evacuate the whole hospital?"

Shikamaru was staring numbly at the carnage in front of him. "What?" he asked.

Sasuke leaned closer. "Time! How much of it do you need to evacuate everyone?"

Shikamaru shook his head slightly as if to clear it. "I have to confess, I really don't know. That depends how many more of the enemy are out there."

Sasuke nodded. "I'll get you as much time I can then." He stood up. "I'm going out to try to take back the main gate," he announced, loudly enough that all the clustered shinobi peering out the shattered windows could hear. "My objective will be to hold it for as long as I can. Some of you should stay here to protect the hospital, just in case there are any enemies left inside the village." His hand reached down to brush the pink rabbit. "If anyone wants to volunteer to come with me... I would... appreciate the help."

The gathered ninja clustered together and stared at him. Sasuke lowered his head. "I see," he said quietly.

I cleared my throat and stepped forward. "I'll go with you. I've survived everything this day has thrown at me so far." I grinned at him. "I think I still have a little bit of luck left."

Sasuke nodded at me. "Konohamaru."

A chunin from the Hygua clan stepped forward as well. "I heard you played a role in saving Hinata-sama today... You could use my eyes... I'll come." Sasuke bowed to him in thanks.

Two masked ANBU joined our group, a cat and a crane. "Kakashi-sempai always had faith in you," The crane masked one said by way of an explanation.

Sasuke looked around. "Is that everyone?"

"Wait!" called a voice from the back. A genin with blonde pigtails holding a large fan pushed her way forward. "My family owes you a debt Uchiha-san. Today you saved the lives of my mother, brother and me. I'll go with you."

"Karua!" called Shikamaru. "What do you..." His voice was cut off as Temari clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Quiet," she hissed to him. Temari's eyes grew misty. "Don't you dare take this decision away from her. Our daughter is growing up. She has discovered her honor, and is becoming a fine kunoichi." She turned to Sasuke. "Hey Uchiha!" she snarled. "If anything happens to my baby girl on this fool stunt of yours, I'll dip you in honey, and stake you out over a nest of fire ants!"

Sasuke gave her a small grin. "Nara-san, I give you my oath that your daughter will return to you safely." He looked around again. "Is that it? Six companions to hold the gate?" He dipped his head. "It will have to do." He turned.

"Father?" a voice spoke quietly.

Sasuke stiffened. "I thought I told you to stay with our family."

Ichisui nodded. "You did."

"Well then… what are you doing here?"

Ichisui held his head up and looked at his father. "I wanted to see the legend. All my life I have heard the stories of the great, the powerful, the terrible Sasuke Uchiha. I have heard the tales of the Uchiha clan, but I've never really been able to see what my clan can do... And now, Father..." Ichisui swallowed. "It's like you are here, the man from the stories, except you are leaving to go protect everyone, and... I don't know if you will come back." Ichisui blinked rapidly. "Besides," he smiled. "It's not like I'm not 'staying with my family.' You will be there with me won't you?"

The Head of the Uchiha clan sighed. "Does your mother know you are here?"

Ichisui shook his head. "No."

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "We are going to be in so much trouble when she finds out," he muttered. Ichisui grinned. "Seven of us then?" Sasuke said to himself. "A lucky number." He turned to Shikamaru. "Do you have any... specific orders before we depart?"

"If I was feeling pessimistic, I'd say delay them as long as you can..." Shikamaru shrugged. "I think you've got the right plan for a chance at winning though. Do you think you can take the leader?"

Sasuke smirked. "I should have known that you would pick up on that."

"Pick up on what?" I asked the Uchiha.

"I was originally thinking if I could goad the leader into facing me, I could draw out the one on one combat, give you more time to evacuate, but now it looks like we might have a slightly better option." Sasuke glanced up at Shikamaru. "It sure seems like they are all sharing some sort of consciousness doesn't it?"

Shikamaru smiled back at him. "Cut off the head and anything will die... Is that your thought too?"

Sasuke shrugged. "That's the general plan. I just hope that this 'Clan chief' is the one really calling the shots."

"So like I asked before, do you think you can beat him?" asked Shikamaru.

Sasuke looked away. "I haven't met him yet. I have no idea." He glanced quickly at Ichisui, and then looked back at Shikamaru. "If this looks like it'll start to go badly, I'll make sure I send back the two genin to the Hospital here with a status update."

"Thanks," said Shikamaru, and offered his hand. Sasuke looked surprised, but shook it anyway.

Sasuke turned and walked back to us, his small band. "Alright, here is the battle plan." He drew a kunai and scratched in the dust. We crouched down to look. "There are two stages to our counterattack here, first we have to get to the main gate, then we have to hold it. The formation for stage one will be," he carved symbols in the dust,"first comes the Hyuga, you are our point man. I want you to keep eyes out for ambushes and pursuit. If we run into anything and the fighting gets too hot, fall back to the secondary position. Second is me. If we run into a larger attacking force, get clear fast, I will try to hit them with an area effect jutsu. I want you two," he pointed at the two ANBU, "on the right and left flank. Your job is cover and support. Avoid hand to hand if you can and stick to long range and large area attacks. Finally in the rear will be Konohamaru, Karua, and Ichisui. You three are rear guard. There will be no area attacks toward the front of our formation. If for whatever reason this mission looks like... it won't succeed…" His gaze shifted to the ground. "It will be your duty, Karua and Ichisui, to make it back to the Hospital and report."

He took a step to the side and drew a second diagram. "Once we make it to the gate we will shift our formation to this." He drew a semi-circle and marked spots on the arc. "I'll hold the center. Again I want both of you ANBU on the flanks. Hyuga-san, I want you here in the middle. I don't know what to expect here, so call out everything you see. Konohamaru, I want you as the rear guard. Karua and Ichisui, I want you here in the middle. You are floating on either facing the front or the rear. Help out where you can, just make sure your attacks are clean. Again, if it looks like we are not able to hold the gate... Your job is to get back here and warn General Nara that he has run out of time." He stood up and looked at us all. "Does everyone understand? Any questions?"

The cat masked ANBU spoke up. "Wouldn't it be better to use stealth to get to the main gate? We could ambush anyone who was holding it, and have a better chance of taking it."

Sasuke smiled. "I thought about that, but one of the other things we want is to draw any enemy forces left in the village to us. We want to give the hospital evacuation the best chance it can have. So we," he snapped out a quick series of hand signs, sliced the kunai he had been drawing with across both his thumbs and slammed his hands down on the ground, "…are going to make as big a ruckus as we can."

There was a detonation of smoke. I could see several shapes writhing in the clouds, when they cleared there were seven grey snakes crawling along the street, each a large as a small house. "These are Black mamba," said Sasuke. "Extremely fast. Extremely deadly. Treat each one with respect and care." He turned and bowed to the snakes. "Brothers!" he called to them. "I request your assistance on the eve of battle. Our foes are many and terrible. Your prowess is famed throughout the land. We request that you fight by our side against the foe."

The largest one slithered forward. "Uchiha..." it hissed. "Long has it been since you have summoned us." It tilted its head and glanced at him. "Where do your loyalties lie?"

Sasuke chuckled, a low, evil sound. "I know you well Kore. You do not care for flags or lords." He leaned forward. "The thrill of the chase. The clash of strength. The hunt for prey. This is what you seek." he whispered. Sasuke reached out with one hand. "Join me this day. Ride with us." He outstretched his arms. "There will be enough blood and glory this day to last a hundred years."

The snake lifted its head and gave a hissing chuckle. "And here I heard you were going soft, Uchiha!" He turned to the other snakes and hissed. They crawled closer, one next to each of us. "Today we will feast on prey my brothers!"

Kore leaned close to Sasuke. Sasuke threw one leg over the snake, just behind it's head and climbed on like he was riding a horse. The rest of us followed suit. Sasuke called out commands, and the snakes crawled into the first formation. He looked around at each of us, and then swept down his arm, signaling us forward. The snakes moved.

Riding them was like traveling on a lightning bolt. It was exhilarating and more than a little frightening to be carried through the street on something this fast, sleek, and deadly. Twice we were attacked by small groups of Black Wind soldiers. The snakes charged right through them, hardly even slowing down. Once a trio of Black Wind shinobi crossed our path. There was a brief tussle of darting movements and snapping bites, and once again we were on our way. My confidence began to build as we traveled. "With these new allies," I thought , "we are invincible!" Charging the gate, crushing the enemies in our path, feeling the strength of the snake coiling underneath me with each spring forward, I felt like power incarnate.

We were passing through the edge of the Inuzuka holdfast when all that changed. The Hygua's snake veered suddenly to the right. Lying next to the broken door to a house was the body of a kunoichi with long red hair. The Hyuga chunin started to pull at the head of the snake, as one would reign in a horse. The mamba coiled a mighty loop and tossed its rider to the ground. Its jaws wide, it dove at the corpse.

In a blink, Sasuke was there in front of the snake, with one hand upraised. The black mamba skidded to a halt, a look of surprise on its face. Crouched beside the corpse, was a young girl shivering with shock. Given the young girl's bright red hair and darker skin coloring, I could surmise the corpse was some relative, probably her mother.

"This one is not prey," said Sasuke to the snake. "Turn aside." The snake stared at him coldly and made a calculation. Blindingly fast it opened its jaws and snapped forward at Sasuke.

As fast as it was, Sasuke was faster. There was a flash of sunlight on metal, and the snake vanished in a burst of smoke.

Kore was looking at Sasuke, his head tilted to one side. "Ssso... The rumors are true. You have changed," he hissed. "The old master would have never held us back from such a useless morsel." He narrowed his eyes. "What happened to you while you were away Uchiha?" The large mamba coiled himself as if to strike.

The black mamba I was on smoothly threw two coils around me, effectively pinning me. Its head turned around so it could stare into my eyes. I was suddenly aware that I had been riding two tons of ill-tempered, treacherous death.

Sasuke locked eyes with the snake and drew himself up. "Are you refusing to follow my orders?" he said calmly.

"Whose orders?" hissed Kore, his head weaving forward and back. "The Uchiha I knew was all predator... fierce and cold. You…" the snake drew in a breath, "smell like prey!" he spat.

Sasuke clenched his upraised hand into a fist, and undid the summoning. One moment, I was being squeezed by a snake, the next I had fallen down. Sasuke stood there, his shoulders slumping a little. The Hyuga climbed up from the ground where he had been thrown. He approached him slowly. "Now what Uchiha-san?" he said quietly.

Sasuke shook his head as if to clear it. He took deep breath. "We proceed to the gate on foot," he said quietly.

"What about the girl?" asked the cat ANBU.

"Take her with us. We can't leave her here, and we don't have time to go back." He looked at the girl. Her eyes were wide, but seeing nothing. She kept stroking the seam on her mother's shirt over and over again with her fingers. He pointed at the Hyuga. "Do a quick search for anyone else still living, then we move out."

I sidled up to Sasuke. "Is everything alright?"

Sasuke started to say something, swallowed, then spoke. "I raised Kore since he was a hatchling. Out of everyone in Orochimaru's lair, he was the one being I felt I could trust. I felt was my friend." He looked up at the sky. "I know exactly what he is, but I guess I was hoping…" He let out his breath in a large sigh. His hand reached down to touch the bunny again. "It's nothing. I'm just dwelling on the past." He turned to the Hyuga. "Anything?" The chunin shook his head. Sasuke stood straighter. "Ichisui, you have the girl. Karua, you cover Ichisui until we get into the second position. Lets go."

Ichisui walked up to the girl. "It's okay little one," he said quietly. The girl didn't resist as he gently pulled her fingers from her mother, and picked her up in his arms. Karua pulled her fan from its case on her back and held it at the ready. We moved out to the main gate.

The main gate was eerily quiet. One of the gates was torn from its frame and hung limply in place. The other looked like it had been pulled out, hinges and all. There were bodies scattered about the area. Houses and stores nearby had been ransacked. One house was on fire, with flames belching from every window and a huge column of smoke rising from the roof.

"We stand here," said Sasuke. "No one gets in or out." We assumed our positions, and waited. The little girl sat on the dirt, hugged her knees and began rocking back and forth. I stretched a little, trying to test the mobility of my wounded arm. Karua knelt and inspected her fan. Ichisui began counting his kunai. The two ANBU stood as still as statues, while the Hyuga chunin kept slowly scanning his head from side to side. Sasuke kept looking at the sky.

Ichisui noticed this, and crept slightly closer to his father. "What are you looking for?" he asked quietly.

Sasuke smiled. "Clouds. I was wondering if there was rain on the way."

"Why?"

"Some things get harder, like fire based jutsu. Some things get easier." Sasuke paused and looked at his son. "How are you at lightning control?"

"Not so hot. I can only do four chidori, before I hit my limit."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows and gave him a proud smile. "Only four? When I was your age I could only do two." He grinned, and patted his son across the back. "As to be expected of my son."

Ichisui grinned back at him. "Do you think you could... teach me the summoning jutsu?"

Sasuke nodded. "When we get back home, sure. I'll teach you that and more. If you can handle four chidori, I bet I could show you some of the variations that I came up with over the years. It might be a fun little father/son project."

"That would be nice dad."

The Hyuga chunin cleared his throat. "Uchiha-san. There are five people in the tree line. I'm pretty sure that they are watching us."

"Everyone, get back to your positions. The battle is going to be starting soon."

Sasuke grabbed his son's arm as Ichisui started to walk away. "Ichisui, I have two things to tell you. First: If things start to get bad, I don't want to see any foolish heroics from you. Your job is to get that little girl to safety. It is imperative that you and Karua warn the others that the enemy is on their way. Don't worry about us. Don't delay. Every second you wait is a second that will cost someone at the hospital their life."

Ichisui swallowed. "I understand Father."

"Second... If we can't hold this position... I want you to give your mother a message for me. Tell her that she is the air that I breathe, and the water that I drink. Tell her that she has given me the reason to live my life again. Tell her... that I only have one regret... that it took me so long to realize what a treasure I had left behind."

Ichisui looked back at his father. "I will Dad, but don't worry, I won't have to tell her any of that. You can tell mom yourself. We can stop them here," he said confidently. Sasuke smiled at his son and waved him back to his position. Karua stood protectively next to the little girl. We all waited.

We could see a large cloud of dust coming up the road. The ground started to jump with the rhythmic marching of feet. Above the dust and haze a few banners could be seen snapping in the breeze.

"Hyuga-san?" asked Karua, hiding her anxiety well. "Could you please check the rear? If I were going to launch a sneak attack I would try it soon."

The chunin scanned the ruins of the village behind us. "There are a few people in the buildings about a block away. I count eight of them. I can't tell if they are enemies or friendly though."

"Which buildings?" I asked.

"Three in the small shop there, and five more in the second floor apartment two doors down."

I nodded. I quickly performed the shadow clone jutsu and sent my clone over to investigate. The sound of marching feet came closer as I watched my clone scale the side of the apartment complex and carefully peer around the side of a window. He promptly vanished in a puff of smoke. His memories came crashing into my head. "The five in the apartment are Black Wind. At least one shinobi is with them."

Sasuke nodded. "We will be attacked from both sides then. Well, nobody said this would be easy." He eyed the approaching ranks. "Rear guard, keep your eyes behind us. We don't want any unpleasant surprises."

The army marched closer, each step in perfect unison. The earth beneath our feet jumped with each pace of their march. A hundred yards away, they abruptly stopped. They were unnaturally silent, the only noise were the flags rippling in the breeze.

Sasuke looked at the army and yawned. He took a step forward and stretched his back. "Is this supposed to impress me?" he called out in a booming voice. "I challenged the chief of the Kurokaze! Where are you? Are you still hiding from me?"

There was a blur as a Black Wind shinobi ran across the field of battle. He stopped in front of Sasuke. He made a small bow to him. "You amuse me little man. You have some power and think that this makes you worthy of my notice." The shinobi chuckled. "But I am one with the gods, and it is beneath a god to notice the buzzing of such a small insect like yourself."

Sasuke barely glanced at the shinobi. "Are you the clan chief?" he asked in a bored voice.

The shinobi laughed again. "Poor little man, your puny mind must not be able to comprehend it. I am not what you would call the clan chief's vessel. I am a mere part of his body, like a finger or a toe. I am the chief, for his consciousness flows through me, but I am not his earthly body. I am one with his spirit. We all are the chief!" The shinobi turned to Sasuke and sneered. "Now do you see the hopelessness of your task? You cannot defeat us, for we are legion. Urk!" Sasuke had materialized beside the shinobi. His katana flashed once.

The shinobi slowly sunk to the ground staring blankly at Sasuke. "It was a simple yes or no question," he said in a flat voice. "If you aren't the chief... just say so."

A scream rose from the front ranks of the Black Wind army. They surged forward. Sasuke turned his head to one side. "Focus them toward the center," he called to the ANBU.

"Here they come!" called out Ichisui. I turned away from the battle in front of the gate. The eight enemies had emerged from their hiding spots in the buildings and were charging toward us. There were three shinobi and five soldiers in the group. I grabbed a handful of shuriken from my holster and let them fly.

My hands flashed the hand signs. "Shadow shuriken jutsu!" I called out. The handful of shuriken multiplied tenfold. The cloud of steel flew towards the enemies.

The Black Wind shinobi just twisted and flipped out of the way. I scored hits on the soldiers, and two of them went down. One of the shinobi landed, and started making hand signs of his own. He sent a huge fireball spiraling towards Karua and the little girl. Karua snapped her fan open and planted it in the ground, using it like a shield. She snatched the little girl and pulled her behind fan just as the fireball roasted the area.

Ichisui's hand appeared from the ground, right underneath the shinobi that had just used the fireball jutsu. He grabbed his ankle and in a smooth movement pulled the shinobi under the ground so that only his head was showing. Ichisui kicked him in the face, hard. There was a crunch of bone. Ichisui did not see the remaining pair of shinobi diving through the air toward him.

There was roaring blast of wind right above Ichisui's head and the two shinobi were sent spinning away. Karua had picked up her fan and used the wind scything technique. The shinobi jumped up from where they landed and raced toward us once more. I cut loose with a burning ash cloud, but they easily avoided that. The cloud did however get in the way of the soldiers, who now had to go around.

Ichisui pulled out a kunai and tried to duel with one of the Black Wind shinobi. I knew that I would never be able to match their movements. I kept jumping and dodging as one of them pursued me. Despite Ichisui's sharingan, he was proving to be no match for the shinobi's speed, as the shinobi kept pushing him back. The soldiers had cleared my burning ash cloud and were charging into us.

A seething mass of dark black spines plunged into them. Karua immobilized them with the shadow possession jutsu. She smiled mirthlessly at them and drew back her fan. The three remaining soldiers were hit with the full force of her scything wind jutsu. Their broken bodies tumbled down the street.

The shinobi fighting me turned quickly. He swept his foot through a pile of rubble knocking some of it into the air. He made a series of hand signs and the jagged rocks and glass spun and accelerated at Karua. She dove in front of the little girl and covered herself with her fan again. Most of the rubble was deflected, but a long shard of glass buried itself in her thigh.

It was a mistake for him to take his eyes off me though. My rasengan hit him high in the back, and bore him down to the ground. I kept it on him until I heard the pavement crack.

The last shinobi swept Ichisui's legs out from underneath him. Ichisui recovered and did a handspring back to his feet, but when he landed his foot slid on some rubble. He went down in a heap. The shinobi walked slowly up to him. "I have you now you little worm," he spat.

The shinobi froze. A tendril of shadow stretched from him to where Karua lay bleeding on the ground. Ichisui's hand sparked with electricity. He lunged up from the ground and plunged it into the shinobi's chest.

I turned and looked to the front of the gate. The cat masked ANBU was crushed beneath a boulder, but it looked like he had created some sort of moat of turbulent boiling fluid on the right flank of the gate. The crane masked ANBU had raised a forest of stone spikes on the left flank and together with the Hyuga chunin, was battling soldiers one by one as they picked their way through.

Between the two flanks was a close approximation of hell. The ground was charred and smoking. Any vegetation was burning. The stone spikes on the left flank were glowing dull red with the heat. Burning corpses littered the ground... And still the Black Wind soldiers kept coming.

Sasuke released fire jutsu after fire jutsu into their ranks, but they just kept charging. I took a step toward him, but stopped. I looked indecisively between him and the wounded Karua.

Ichisui sprinted towards her. "Go!" he yelled, waving me toward his father. "Go!" He skidded and knelt next to her. He lay his hands above her leg and a cool, green tinged ball of healing chakra began to form there.

I ran for Sasuke thinking: "Of course he would know medical ninjutsu. Look who his mother is." I slid to a stop next to Sasuke, and made another burning ash cloud. The detonation cleared out the passageway between the spikes and the hot springs for a few seconds. "We are all clear back there!" I shouted to him over the sound of the battle. "Karua got hit in the leg, Ichisui's taking care of it!" Sasuke nodded, and then cut loose with another fireball. "How long can we hold them for?" I asked.

Sasuke glanced at me. "Hold them?" he asked, with a hungry glint in his eye. "I'm playing to win!" He looked up quickly. "Another one of those clouds! Now!" He pointed at the open corridor. Again I filled it with the burning ash technique and detonated it. I was shocked when Sasuke launched a huge fire technique and missed completely. Sasuke called out "Great dragons fire!" and sent a huge blast burning straight up.

"What are you doing?" I yelled at him. Sasuke ignored me. He just stood and stared at the sky. I looked up. The water vapor from the hot springs was combining with the heat from all the fire techniques and was filling the air with a thick haze. That last fire technique of Sasuke's had boosted the water vapor up high enough that it hit the cooler, higher air in the atmosphere and became an instant cloud. An ugly, dark purple thunderhead reared its head in the sky.

Lightning flickered through the clouds' underbelly. "Get everyone back," said Sasuke calmly. I started at him uncomprehending. "Get them back! Now!" he yelled at me, giving me a shove.

I leapt to the Hyuga chunin and ANBU. "Fall back! Fall back!" I shouted. They looked up as a deafening peal of thunder that shook the ground. We all jumped back to where Ichisui was treating Karua. Helping her up, and grabbing the little girl we fled to the shelter of the main gate.

The hordes closed in on Sasuke. He just stood there with one hand raised. The cloud was flashing with energy. It sparked once, twice. Then with a crack that seemed to split open the heavens, a huge bolt came crashing downward. Sasuke flung both hands at the onrushing soldiers "Kirin!" he bellowed.

For single flash, the lightning formed into a blazing white dragon, the image of which burned itself into my retina. Then the bolt struck the main body of the Black Wind army.

There was a terrible noise. A shock wave hit us and knocked us all to the ground. Then all was still.

I crawled to my feet. Where the Black Wind army had stood, there was huge smoking crater. Sasuke sat on the edge of the crater dangling his feet. I staggered up next to him and looked down into the smoking hole. Sasuke's hands were shaking. He reached over and carefully picked up the pink stuffed bunny from his belt. He held it in his lap. Slowly, the shaking stopped. He stood up, replacing the stuffed animal. "Where's the Hyuga?" he asked. He walked back to gateway, where everyone else was slowly getting up. I limped after him.

"I need you to do a quick scan," he said to the Hyuga chunin. "Tell me who is left out there. The Hyuga coughed and spat out dust. He nodded to Sasuke and activated his byakugan. While he was scanning, Sasuke turned to the two genin. "I think it's time that you two took the little girl here and headed back to the hospital."

Both Karua and Ichisui started to protest. Sasuke held up a hand to silence them. "You both performed exceptionally well. However, you're injured," he pointed to Karua, "and the little girl needs an escort." He pointed to Ichisui. "Besides, Shikamaru is bound to have seen that back at the hospital and will be going out of his mind wondering what just happened."

"Uchiha-san," called the Hyuga chunin quietly. "There is one small group approaching. Twenty-seven people I think." He swallowed. "One of them is... very powerful."

Sasuke smiled to himself. He performed the hand signs for the summoning jutsu and summoned a hawk the size of a cart. "Here," he said to Karua. "You will ride back on this." He helped her up onto the hawk's back and handed her the little girl. He turned to his son. "Tell Shikamaru to keep getting everyone out." Sasuke stroked the hawk's neck. "She's never visited Konoha before, so you'll have to show her which way to go."

Ichisui looked at his father. "Come back soon Dad."

"I will," said Sasuke. Ichisui climbed on the hawk's back. There was a flurry of wings and the hawk went soaring into the sky.


	9. Chapter 5: Konohamaru's tale part 2

Sasuke turned to face the approaching group of shinobi, and began a long slow march towards them. He walked with his head bowed, and his hands tucked into his sleeves. The rest of us followed him. When we were about eight meters apart, he called out to the waiting shinobi. "So… Has your clan chief come to accept my challenge? Or is he going to continue hiding until he's the last one of the Kurokaze left?" he asked, contempt dripping from his voice.

The other group parted. Standing in the center was a young man. He was younger than I was, probably about twenty-five. He was of average height, and average build. He had plain brown hair. He appeared completely unremarkable, until you looked at his eyes. The whites of his eyes were dark red, almost black. His smile was touched by madness.

The young man shook his head. "I warned you before not to trifle with the gods," he said, smiling to Sasuke. As he spoke, each of the men surrounding him also echoed his words. "Yet you and your companions were most persistent," he sighed. "What am I to do?" he paused in mock thought.

"How about you stop being such a coward and accept my challenge," said Sasuke in a bored voice.

The young man scowled at Sasuke. "You really do not understand this concept do you? I am a god, and gods do not have to answer to men. But, since you insist on having a duel, I'm sure one of my guards here will oblige you." He looked around proudly at his guardians. "Each of these men I hand picked for their strength and skill. All of them were jonin level at least, but now?" he shrugged. "their bodies, skills and chakra have gone well beyond those of ordinary men... I have made them mine." He looked at Sasuke with a glint in his eye. "All mine."

The chieftain wandered around the group looking casually at each guard. "Let us see… Dueling… Dueling… I would have to select Beppo here." He gestured casually at a muscular shinobi hulking by his side. "He used to be a jonin from the Hidden Stone village you know. He was a very hot headed young man, always challenging others." He dropped his voice on a faux whisper. "Rumor had it that he killed over thirty of his fellow shinobi in duels." He chuckled. "For that they made him a rogue-nin. The poor lost boy made his way to me. As you can see, I've made him much stronger. Since he joined me I've had him fight in sixty-seven duels on my behalf." Beppo grinned at us his tongue slobbering. "As you can see, it's hard to get a direct answer out of him these days… But I'm fairly certain that on some level, he still enjoys his work." The young man turned to Beppo. "Beppo-kun? Would you mind killing this annoying man for me please?"

Sasuke held up one hand. "Wait. What are the rules for this duel?"

The young man sneered. "Rules? It's a duel to the death! There are no rules."

"Good," said Sasuke simply. From his still outstretched hand a chidori lance sprang out and pierced the bodyguard through the chest. Beppo staggered and stared down at the spear.

"Very clever," said the young man in a tired voice. "But since Beppo became one with the Black Wind clan, he can easily take that much damage and continue to fight." Beppo looked up at Sasuke and growled. Sasuke clenched his hand into a fist, and the end of the chidori lance turned into a spiked ball. The spikes erupted through Beppo's skin. Blood cascaded from his mouth, and he began to twitch involuntarily. Sasuke released the chidori and Beppo collapsed to the ground in a heap.

The young man glanced at Beppo's corpse. Then he looked thoughtfully at Sasuke. "Who are you?" he asked.

Sasuke shrugged. His left hand was still awash in electricity from the chidori. "Just a genin from Konoha, trying to protect his village," he said.

The young man chuckled. "Pleased to make your acquaintance mister Genin, I am the chief of the Black Wind clan. I am a god who walks among mortals. The very earth trembles where I go. Where I pass chaos and destruction are left in my wake." He smiled at Sasuke. "You shall have your duel."

"About time. Have your comrades step back, and we'll get started."

The Clan chief laughed at him. "Comrades? These aren't my comrades. These," he patted one of his men on the cheek, "are tools. They are resources to be used up for my benefit." He smiled. "That is part of the bargain you know. I gave them power…" He grinned. "And they gave me everything."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. "I'm really glad it's me who is going to duel you."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Well, if the Hokage were here in my place, just then he would have screamed something along the lines of 'I'll never forgive you!' and charged headlong into that trap you are preparing in the ground right in front of me. What is it anyway? It looks like a mix of a water and earth style jutsu."

The young man giggled in a silly way. "Very good! You noticed my quicksand patch! Perhaps I was wrong. This might be an amusing diversion after all." His bloody red eyes bored into Sasuke. "Shall we begin?"

Sasuke's katana sprang from its sheath. It flew in a blinding arc at the chieftain's head. The chieftain didn't move. One of his men sprang forward and flung a puppet in front of the blow. Sasuke's sword deflected off the puppet's head. He spun and tried a lower cut. Another one of his companions performed some hand signs and a stone wall rose from the ground. The sword rang on the stone. Sasuke lunged with his blade straight for the chieftain. A third soldier ducked in to flank him. Sasuke checked his lunge, and kicked the third guard in the knee. A fourth cast some sort of wind sword technique as Sasuke was kicking. Sasuke leaped high into a somersault and landed out of close combat range.

The young man laughed and clapped his hands. "Impressive. Not bad for a first attempt. I'm curious that since taijutsu didn't seem to work too well, what you will try next? Would you care to give me a hint?"

Sasuke stared at him. The young chieftain chuckled. "Oh dear, genjutsu won't do much either I'm afraid." He waved to the guards around him. "I'm sharing their minds, you see, and well…" he sighed. "You don't really need to hear all the intimate little details do you? So let's just leave it at that." He shook his head and grinned at Sasuke. "Your attack pattern is rather unimaginative... first taijutsu, then genjutsu, so what is left will have to be..."

Sasuke's hands flew through the hand signs again. "Fire style! Dragon flame jutsu!" he called out. The white-hot jet of flame seared the air. When the flame cleared, there was a large, stone wall standing in front of the chieftain, clinking slowly as it cooled.

The wall slowly sank, revealing the chieftain's smiling face. "…Ninjutsu," he finished. "Really, so very predicta-" He flinched. Sasuke had charged in behind his dragon flame jutsu and was aiming a vicious cut at the chieftain's head. A stone post quickly sprung from the wall to intercept Sasuke's sword. The young chieftain frowned. "Really? You are trying this again?"

Sasuke smirked. Lightning flickered down his blade. It sliced cleanly through the stone post. The young man's face had enough time to register surprise before the katana plunged into his chest. Sasuke twisted the sword and pulled it out with a fierce yank. The chieftain gasped once, and fell.

"Well, that was entertaining," the chieftain's voice rang out. Sasuke started and quickly turned. The chieftain's voice had suddenly come from his left.

One of the guards had stepped forward. His flesh was running like wax. His body twisted and roiled as huge lumps formed and reshaped themselves under his skin. When the motion subsided, his body was a perfect match for the chieftain's. The chieftain's new body smiled. "Don't look so shocked. As I mentioned earlier, I am a god. And these bodies…" he motioned to the guards around him, "are mine to do with as I please."

Sasuke paused for one second, then he plunged his sword into the ground and did the handstand again. "Chidori!" he called out, and lightning flooded the ground. As soon as he started his jutsu however, the chieftain and all his guards seemed to melt into formless pillars of goop. With a quick slurping sound, they were sucked into the earth. The chidori only electrified the surface of the ground. We could hear the chieftain cackling while underneath it.

"I've already seen that jutsu before, remember? Such a shame though, you have managed to kill two of my guards. Oh well, I can always find replacements."

The Hyuga chunin let out a sharp cry. "They are coming for us! Move!" He promptly jumped into the air.

The crane ANBU wasn't fast enough. Flesh colored, ropy tendrils burst from the ground and grabbed him. There was a sudden scream as they pulled him under the earth.

The Hyuga chunin fared better at first. With his byakugan activated, he could see the molten flesh coming for him. He used his gentle fist technique to beat back the tentacles before they could grab him. While he was fighting them off, four pillars of the flesh colored sludge erupted from the ground around him. The first pillar cast a fireball jutsu at him. The second cast a wind scythe jutsu. The third let loose a torrent of mud, and the fourth launched a high-powered stream of water. The chunin managed to dodge the fire and the wind, but he lost his footing in the mud and the water bore him down. The tendrils whipped around him one by one. He clawed at the muddy ground as they pulled him under.

I went with a different approach. I made as many shadow clones as I could and we all scattered. One by one my clones were seized and popped by the tentacles. I was sprinting for the main gate. Focusing my chakra in my feet, I climbed the main archway for the gate and hung there. I watched as the tendrils writhed in vain at me from the ground.

A puddle of slime oozed its way from the ground and slowly coalesced into the chieftain again. He grinned at Sasuke. "I must say," he said cheerfully, "these eyes are amazing! I love them!" Whereas before his eyes were dark red orbs, he now had the byakugan. "How useful! They actually allow you to see chakra! I've never actually had a dojutsu before." He stared at Sasuke and blinked. "Oh… You have a dojutsu as well! I can see the chakra building in your eyes." He smiled a hungry smile. "I wonder what amazing things your dojutsu does?"

Sasuke opened his eyes. "Amaterasu!" he called out. The chieftain shrieked, and burst into black flame. His body collapsed into a pool of ooze again, but it remained on fire. The writhing puddle boiled and seethed. Eventually it was gone, only a greasy black smoke remained.

"That hurt!" complained the young chieftain's voice from deep underground. "But still… What a marvelous ability!" The ground under Sasuke shook as if there was an earthquake. A huge mass of writhing tendrils exploded all around him. He dodged and cut his way free. He ran up the side of a tall spike of stone with the tentacles pursuing him. As he was running he pressed the palm of his hand against the blade his sword. Using the blood he gathered he performed the summoning jutsu. Sasuke jumped onto the back of the large hawk that appeared and together they took flight.

The hawk climbed an updraft on the battlefield and began to circle. More and more of the protoplasm began to pour from the ground and slowly it began to take shape. It was building into a gigantic figure of a man.

Fully formed, it looked like the Black Wind chieftain, except it was about nine meters tall. He roared, and spat fire and water at Sasuke. The hawk skillfully swooped around both attacks. Once again, the Chieftain shrieked as the black flames of amaterasu ignited on his arm.

This time though, the chief reacted by simply sloughing the burning portion off his body. As the puddle lay sizzling on the ground, he fired again at Sasuke and the hawk, this time using a fire and wind technique.

Again, the hawk dodged, and brought Sasuke close enough to score a hit. This time it was the Black Wind chief's leg that burst into flames. Once again though, his body cast off the burning portion, but this time he flung it at Sasuke. The hawk's wing grazed the bubbling mass and caught fire as well, but Sasuke used his sharingan to contain the blaze to a few feathers, which he trimmed away with a swipe of his katana.

"So, you need to see your target in order to burn it?" roared the Chieftain. He clapped his hands together once and exhaled. A thick mist poured out of his mouth and filled the air. Soon the battlefield was thick with mist surrounding a tower of fog. Sasuke pursed his lips grimly and sailed into the billowing clouds.

I could not see this part of the battle. There were flashes of lightning and great gouts of fire that lit up the mist. I heard the chieftain scream several more times in pain and frustration. Finally, a hailstorm of tens of thousands of needle like rock fragments came flying out of the tower of mist in all directions. My right leg collapsed out from under me and I almost fell off the arch. I had taken three needles in the thigh. Sasuke and the hawk were blown backwards out of the tower of fog. They fell into the haze covering the ground. I heard them land with a thump.

The chieftain roared with triumph and came charging out of the fog. I slid down the arch and tried to run to help Sasuke, but my leg was having problems taking my weight. The Black Wind chief swung one mighty fist where Sasuke had crashed. There was meaty thunk.

The chieftain's eyes widened in surprise. Rising out of the mist was a large arm made out of a swirling purple energy. This arm had caught his fist and was holding it in check. Slowly the arm pushed his fist back, as a second giant, this one wearing armor and made out of flowing purple chakra rose out of the mist. In the midst of the maelstrom of chakra stood Sasuke. "Susano'o," he called out.

The giant chieftain snarled his defiance and swung his other fist. This one was also blocked by the purple giant. The susano'o had a third arm, attached under his right one. He made a fist with this arm and punched the chieftain square in the mouth.

The Black Wind chieftain staggered back. He stared at the newcomer, rubbed his chin, and spat. "So… Just a genin, and you can do all this?" He threw back his head and laughed. "I've figured out your name mister just-a-genin! How fitting!" he chuckled. "How fitting that a God should defeat the Demon of the Hidden Leaf village." He pointed at Sasuke. "Sasuke Uchiha, by divine right I shall defeat you and claim your abilities as my own." He looked at Sasuke, all but salivating. "By adding your power to mine there will be nothing that can resist me!"

Sasuke did not bother to say anything in response. Strapped to one arm of the susano'o was a large bow made of chakra. The susano'o pulled an arrow wreathed in dark fire from a bag and slapped it into the bow. It raised the bow and fired. The arrow struck the Black Wind chief in the shoulder. Black flames began to spread around the wound. The chieftain again, sloughed off the burning flesh.

The clan chief began to weave hand signs. "I am the chief of the Black Wind clan," he proclaimed with a demented howl. "I have the ninjutsu and the skills and the chakra of over a hundred shinobi. I am a god, made flesh! I will not be stopped!" he roared. "Hundred jutsu attack!" He cast his ninjutsu. His flesh writhed, and a hundred arms burst from his giant body. Each of these started to make their own signs, and suddenly they began to cast their own jutsu. Fire, wind, water, lightning and stone all began to bombard the susano'o.

The susano'o used its odd shaped bow as a shield. It blocked some of the attacks, but not all. It faltered back a little under the massive assault. Then it spun the shield bow around and fired off a trio of arrows. Two of them hit home. While the giant was reacting to the damage, the susano'o lowered its head and charged.

The two giants clashed together. The Black Wind chieftain beat away at the susano'o with his two main arms, all the while using the hundred smaller ones for rain jutsu after jutsu on top of him. The susano'o had drawn a sword whose blade was writhing with black flames. It managed to slice the chieftain once in the side, causing flames to flicker there. As the black fire was sizzling the Black Wind chief's flesh, it slowly began to drip away taking the amaterasu with it. The chieftain kicked out at the susano'o and connected with a mighty blow. Then he grabbed the sword, and tried his best to wrestle it away from the susano'o.

They struggled like that, the chieftain raining jutsu down on the susano'o, the susano'o using its third arm for a continuous stream of body blows on the chieftain. Suddenly the chakra, making up the susano'o flickered, and the armor and body of the susano'o faded away to a skeleton. "Hah!" bellowed the chieftain. He had apparently figured out the weakness of the susano'o; it does not provide the same protection to the user from attacks coming from below. A tendril of protoplasm was protruding from the ground and had seized Sasuke. Sasuke screamed in pain and fear.

With a strength born of desperation the susano'o head butted the chieftain across the face. As the chieftain reeled back, the susano'o yanked the burning blade from his grasp and made a mighty, two-handed overhead blow. The strike started at the giant chieftain's right shoulder, and ended at his left hip. A look of confusion spread over the chieftain's face as his two halves slowly slid apart and burst into black flames.

The susano'o fell apart into wisps of purple chakra. The raging battle between the two giants had cleared much of the mist, so I could plainly see Sasuke collapsed on the ground. He was still breathing, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

The mist parted, and there was the Black Wind chieftain, hobbling toward him. His skin was red and blistered, his hair was burnt away and one of his legs appeared to be shorter than the other but he still walked toward Sasuke. "Sasuke!" I screamed out. I tried to run, but my wounded leg still wouldn't support me. I managed a few hopping steps before I had to grab a stone spike to keep my balance. There was no way I would reach him in time.

"Poor little man," hissed the chieftain. "You suffer from the sin of pride. You thought you could battle the gods. You came close… Oh yes, you came close... but now you are mine." He reached down and pulled Sasuke up by the front of his shirt. As he did so, the pink stuffed bunny rabbit fell out of his belt and landed on the ground with a squeak. The Black Wind chief stared at it. "Why are you carrying that?" he asked. He stared at it then shook his head. "No matter." He stretched out his other hand so it hovered above Sasuke's head. "My celestial ascension begins again… Starting with you!" His hand writhed into a swirling mass of tendrils that plunged into Sasuke's skull.

"Sasuke!" I yelled again. Sasuke's arms and legs twitched and jerked, and then went limp. His body then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"What?!" yelled the Black Wind chieftain. Suddenly his back arched and a spray of blood spat from his mouth. A moment later, with agonizing slowness, a hand wrapped in lightning pushed its way through his chest.

"It helps me to remember," Sasuke said in his ear. The chief turned his head and rolled his eyes so he could look at Sasuke standing behind him, running him through with a chidori.

"W-What?" whispered the Black Wind chieftain.

"The rabbit," explained Sasuke. He sounded more tired than victorious. "My daughter gave it to me. It helps remind me I'm not a monster... Not anymore." He clenched his fist inside the chieftain's chest. The chief of the Kurokaze clan shuddered once, and was still.

Sasuke pushed the body off his arm and staggered for a few steps. He slowly bent down and picked up the rabbit, and dusted him off. I hobbled on over to him.

"You're bleeding from your eyes… Are you alright?" I asked.

He nodded. "It's just a side effect from using the susano'o too much. I'll be fine. How is your leg?"

I shrugged. "It hurts… I think I can walk on it though, just don't ask me run a marathon or tango or anything."

He smiled. "Well, we'd better get going then. Let everyone know we are still alive." Sasuke wiped the blood and grime from his face with one hand, and started walking slowly. He waited for me to catch up. Once we reached the main gateway, we dug around in the rubble of a house until we found an old broom. With the brush part under my arm, I could use it as a crutch.

We kept walking up the street, towards the hospital. After a bit I turned to him. "That jutsu you used at the end there… Was that the shadow clone jutsu?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yes."

"But that's Naruto's specialty."

Sasuke glanced at me. The hypnotic red and black sharingan pattern in his eyes had faded, leaving them their usual black. "Yes?"

"When did you learn the shadow clone jutsu?"

Sasuke sighed as if I was a simpleton. "I have a sharingan. It allows me to copy any jutsu I see. I've also fought that knucklehead five times… Or is it six?" He pondered for a second, and then shook his head. "I've lost count. Anyway, the point is… Yeah, I know it." We walked on in silence for a bit. "About all that... I'll need a small favor from you actually," he said to me.

"What?"

"When we get back… Don't tell Naruto I used the shadow clone jutsu okay? He has a big enough head as it is. Telling him I'm borrowing his moves will just make his ego unbearable."

I laughed. "Not a problem. I can hear him now… 'You should have used the sexy jutsu as well! That's an unbeatable combo! Believe it!'" We both shared another small chuckle.

We walked on. "It's a very effective distraction," Sasuke muttered.

"Don't I know it." I watched him out of the corner of my eye for a bit. "So, when did he use the sexy jutsu on you?"

Sasuke snorted. "It doesn't really matter."

I decided to press the issue. "Was it the fight you had right before... You decided to come back to Konoha?"

Sasuke stopped in his tracks. "Naruto told you about that?" he said in a cold voice.

I shook my head. "No actually, I've asked him several times what happened, and all he ever told me was he wasn't going to talk about it."

"Good," said Sasuke, and he started walking again.

"So... since I never heard it from him... What did happen to make you come back?"

Sasuke glanced at me over his shoulder. I smiled at him, trying to look as friendly as possible. "Something very personal," Sasuke said, turning away. "And before you ask more, no, I'm not going to talk about it either." He walked the rest of the way back in stony silence.

As we approached the hospital a great shout went up. A platoon of ninjas ran forward to greet us. Shikamaru was in the lead. "Well? What happened?" He looked between Sasuke and me. "Tell me!"

Sasuke walked past not looking at him. "We won," he said simply.

Shikamaru turned to me. "Details, Now!"

I shrugged. "The Black Wind army is in ruins. The kurokaze chieftain is dead. The head of the Uchiha clan," I said pointing to Sasuke, "Pretty much just saved us all." I turned back to Shikamaru. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get someone to look at my leg before it falls off." I hobbled toward the hospital, following Sasuke. As we approached, people were cheering. A handful of them came running out to meet us.

Sasuke was mobbed by his children. Hana was smiling a thin smile, Mybuki was laughing. Ichisui was crying and hugging his father tight. Kusumina and Jiraiya joined them calling out for their uncle Sasuke. Chyrio bounced up to him on her stubby little legs. Sasuke picked her up and spun her around, grinning like a madman. He hugged her tight and kissed her on the forehead. She hugged her father back, and then looked up at him with a frown. She reached up and tugged the stuffed rabbit from his belt.

"Daddy..." she said reproachfully. "Mister Bunny is all dirty. You didn't take good care of him!"

Sasuke laughed. "I'm so sorry sweetheart. He was too busy trying to take good care of me." He knelt and gave her a pat on the head. "When we get home, we'll give him a bath and patch up his holes and he'll be as good as new. Okay?"

We walked into the hospital as a group. If anything, it was worse than before, and there were even more casualties coming in. Ichisui tugged at his father's arm. "Mother is in surgery," he said. "I'm going to head down to the trauma center and see if they need any help. When she comes out I'll let her know that you've returned." He hugged his father. "I'm glad you're back."

Sasuke tousled his son's hair. "I'm glad to be back," he said smiling. "Tell your mother we'll be in the Hokage's room."

I took my leave from them and headed down to admissions. It was chaos. The wailing of the wounded and the mourning of the dead echoed in the hallways. I found a bare patch of floor out of the way of everyone, and settled down to wait. The triage had me set at a pretty low priority. I waited for about four hours.

When they finally could spare someone to see me, I had to be seen in a recovery room that was being shared by five other people. The medic slit my pant leg up to my hip and peeled the fabric away. One of the people I was sharing the room with was a woman with one leg in traction and a broken nose.

She glanced over at me as the medic started cleaning my wounds. "Stop squirming," the medical-nin admonished me. This woman kept looking at me as the medic brought out the suture kit, searched through it, swore, and then abruptly left to find some clean bandages to wrap my leg and shoulder with. Now normally, I'm used to being checked out by the ladies, but her grey eyes stared with such intensity that I blushed and turned away.

"Hey..." she said to me, her voice hoarse. I looked up. "You were with my... Hinata... What happened?"

I looked at her face, and her long pretty hair, and suddenly it all clicked. "You're that ANBU kunoichi. The one with the wolf mask!"

She grimaced. "Great." As you know, It is considered a great dishonor for an ANBU's identity to be revealed. That organization prides itself on its secrecy.

I raised one hand in a placating gesture. "I'm probably mistaken. I took a few blows to the head. The fog of war and all that... In fact, I'm sure I'm confusing you with someone else."

She gave me a little half smile. "Thanks..." she croaked. "What happened? Is Hinata okay? Are the children okay?"

"They're fine," I said. She heaved a sigh, and relaxed back onto the pillows.

"Nobody tells me anything down here," she grumbled.

I smiled at her and gave her the extremely short version of what had happened so far. I got to watch the tension leak out of her bit by bit as she realized that everything was going to be all right. She closed her eyes as I was talking. It made it easier for me as well, it gave me something else to focus on as the medic came back and began to sew up my leg.

After my wounds were dressed, I sat with her. I wanted to finish my story. It took about half an hour all told. I looked over and saw that she was sleeping. I quietly got up to leave.

Her hand reached out and grabbed mine. "Sarutobi-san," she whispered. "Thank you… for helping Hinata… and me."

"It was my duty," I said quietly. I gently arranged her arm back to her side. "And my pleasure miss… What was your name again?"

"Ookami." She smiled.

Ookami. She had named herself 'wolf'. Disappointing, but not surprising since ANBU are supposed to sever ties with their clan and give up their real names for the duration of their service. "Well mystery lady Ookami, I hope to see you again sometime, and under better circumstances." I traded my broken broom in for a real crutch and limped my way out of the room.

Apparently, I was very popular that day. I tried to make my way through the crowded corridors, but every meter or so someone wanted to stop me and ask me if we were going to be all right or ask what had happened, or even to stop and call me a hero. I tried to correct them on that last point. I told them everything that Sasuke had done that day. Usually what would happen then was that whomever I was talking to would start to look uncomfortable, and then they would say something like, "But surely you played a significant role in defeating them as well?"

The hardest part was walking past those who had lost someone. I shuffled past Kiba, who was wailing at the ceiling with tears streaming down his cheeks. In his arms he clutched the little lost redheaded girl. She still sat with a blank expression on her face, gently running her fingers down her father's sleeve.

The people who were mourning, or in shock were heart-wrenching to me. But what bothered me more were the ones who tried to put on a brave face and act like everything would be okay. Outwardly, they looked fine, until you stared into their eyes, and saw the anguish hidden within.

I made it to Hinata's room. A spare cot had been moved in next to the bed. Naruto lay sprawled on that cot. It was a good thing that Hinata had the largest room at the hospital because it was filed with people. The whole Uchiha clan, including a very exhausted looking Sakura was there. The Nara family was there as well, and crowded around the two beds were the Uzumaki-Hyuga children. Shikamaru was talking quietly to Sasuke and Sakura in the corner. Closer to the door, Temari was giving Karua a lecture. Like me, they were both using crutches.

"...what was all that agility training for if you just stand there and get hit by broken glass? Really, broken glass? What were you thinking? How many times do I have to tell you, if you see projectiles coming for you, you use your fan! It's attack and defense!" Temari was getting red in the face.

I stepped up next to her and gave my crutches and extra loud clack on the floor. "Karua," I said. "I wanted to congratulate you on a superb mission today. You performed exceptionally well... as well as any jonin." I made a gesture toward my leg, and turned to Temari. "So you should be very proud of your daughter. She is an excellent shinobi".

Temari's face softened a hair. "Hmpf. A compliment like that from one of you soft Leaf shinobi means next to nothing." She turned to her daughter. "Next time you go on a mission like that, I expect you to come back unhurt." She looked at me and sort of smiled. "Unlike this poor example of a shinobi."

I grinned back at her. "How's your leg doing Temari?" I asked. She glowered at me as I walked over to Shikamaru, Sasuke and Sakura.

"...Look, it's not that I'm not grateful, I'm just saying that maybe it would be best if you all left until Naruto is awake again and we have a shot at sorting everything out." Shikamaru had a concerned look on his face.

Sakura sighed. "Shikamaru, as a medical-nin, I can't ignore the reality of this crisis. You need me here. There are too many people who are in a critical condition here for me to leave them. If I can save one more life, isn't it worth it?"

Shikamaru gestured with frustration as he spoke. "It isn't me you have to convince, it's the council! They don't think in terms of 'only one life'. They think mostly of their constituents, and their opinions. A lot of them came to power on the 'banish the Uchiha' platform, and right now, the longer you stay the longer you are flouting their authority."

Sakura shook her head. "I won't do it. When I became a medical-nin I swore an oath."

Shikamaru turned to Sasuke. "Then will you at least consider leaving?"

"No. If my wife stays, then I stay."

Shikamaru rubbed his face with his hands. "You do realize that you could both be arrested right now for violating your banishment don't you?" He turned to Sasuke. "They could put your wife in jail. They could have you executed!"

Sasuke's eyes flashed red with that hypnotic black design. "Let them try."

Shikamaru threw his hands up. "Great. That will do a fantastic job of convincing everyone that you are not some kind of monster."

I put my hands on Sasuke and Sakura's shoulders. "Listen, it won't be very long... we just need to tread carefully until Naruto wakes back up. The Hokage has leverage. He can argue with the council all day and use tons of legal tricks to delay or overturn or bring up again for review any decision they have made. The way Akihiro and his cronies are strutting around right now... It will be tough to find someone to stand up to them. If they arrest you, they are going to bring you to a speedy trial and that will be it. For the sake of your family, go."

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other. Shikamaru spoke up. "The Shimura clan and their allies on the Council are using this crisis to make a power play. If you give them the chance they will use you and your family as one more piece in their game."

"Look," I said to them. "The village, and the Hokage owe the pair of you a great debt. We will do everything in our power right now to help your family. But we're just the chief tactician and a junior advisor. We can't do a lot against the full might of the council. Our advice right now, is that you go. Like Shikamaru said, continuing to defy the council's authority is only going to make that bunch of ingrates more reasons to act like assholes."

Sakura leaned over to her husband and kissed him gently on the lips. "Take the children," she said quietly. "I'll be fine."

Sasuke turned to Shikamaru and me. "Make sure nothing happens to her." He turned to Sakura and brushed a piece of hair away from her face. "If anyone tries to give you a hard time... Let them know I'll be coming for you." He gave her a lingering kiss and then pulled away.

"Come on everyone!" he called to his children. "It's time to head home. Mommy will stay here at the hospital for a while and help, but we'll see her soon." He gathered up the Uchiha clan and stepped out into the hallway. I followed them just to make sure that there was no trouble.

There was trouble. As we stepped out into the empty corridor, six of the doors surrounding Hinata's room burst open. Sasuke and I went into a half crouch ready to face this new threat. Out came councilor Akihiro surrounded by his guards. "Arrest that man!" he yelled in a shrill voice. "He is violating his probation! I want him placed under arrest immediately!"

I felt the skin tightening tingle of a massive amount of chakra being gathered nearby. Sasuke's eyes were glowing red. His children looked back and forth between him and the other Leaf shinobi, scared and confused.

I pushed aside the Uchiha clan and hobbled my way over to the councilor. "Councilor Akihiro?" I called out. "I need a word please!"

"If there is any resistance, remember, the use of deadly force has been authorized!" the village elder stated pompously… as if starting a massacre in the middle of a hospital was something to be proud of.

The councilor's guard were slowly surrounding Sasuke and his family. I pushed up to the councilor. "Sir!" I called again. "I need to speak with you right now!"

"Not right now," he said grimly. "Justice must be done." He rubbed his hands together. "It has been ignored in this case for far too long."

"Councilor Akihiro!" I bellowed. Everyone stopped and turned to stare. "I, Konohamaru Sarutobi, Grandson of the third Hokage, advisor to the sixth Hokage, need to talk to you right now! I have important information regarding that man!" I yelled, pointing to Sasuke.

The councilor turned, a look of distaste on his face. "What is it?"

"That man," I said quietly, "just saved the lives of everyone here... Including yours. Show him some respect."

"That man," said the councilor, raising his voice so everyone could hear, "is the notorious criminal Sasuke Uchiha. For over ten years we have been generous enough to allow him to live among us, under the condition that he remained in exile and had his power restrained. Today, he has violated both of those conditions." He raised a finger to point at Sasuke. "He must go to trial, after which I am sure he will pay the ultimate penalty!"

"Fine," I said coldly. "We will have a trial. Right here, right now."

Akihiro sneered. "There's no court. No jury. How do you propose we do this?"

"Trial by combat," I answered. I had him there. The trial by combat is an old tradition of the Shimura clan. He couldn't refuse without losing face

The guards surrounding Sasuke stepped back a pace and looked worried. Sasuke stood there the promise of violence radiating off of him. Akihiro made a small triumphant smile. "Apparently you have forgotten that the defendant cannot stand for himself in such a trial... Who do you propose to fight for him?"

"Me," I said and drew a kunai.

Akihiro burst out in laughter. Sasuke caught my eye and raised an eyebrow. I gave a tiny shake of my head. "You can barely stand! I accept this trial. My nephew," he waved one hand at the surly chunin, "will stand in the place of the champion of justice." He called over to the chunin. "Take him down quickly lad, and try not to hurt him too much." He grinned at me. "He is the grandson of the third Hokage after all."

The chunin and I squared off. "I'm going to run over you like a ox," he spat at me.

I just smiled. "Shadow clone jutsu," I called out. Three clones appeared.

The chunin sneered. "Whether there is one of you or four of you, I can handle anything you can throw at me." He charged.

My hands flew again though a series of signs. "Glass box jutsu!" The chunin crashed into a glass wall that suddenly appeared in front of him.

He spun around. "What kind of stupidity is this? You're going to trap me in a box?"

"This is your final warning..." I called out to him. "You are about to face a jutsu that no man has ever managed to overcome... Give up now!"

"Go to hell old man!" The chunin snarled at me. He slammed into the glass wall.

I smiled at him confidently. "Have it your way. Secret Sexy Jutsu! Strip club shower stall!" A heavy bass beat began to thump vibrating the floor, and bright colored lights strobed. The three shadow clones transformed into voluptuous co-eds and hopped into the glass box with the chunin. The chunin look one look and fell back with a nosebleed. Hot soapy water and steam began to fill up the shower stall. I let him have the full force of the jutsu for just under a minute, then I released it. The chunin knelt on the floor in a small puddle of soap suds. I hobbled over and punched him in the face. It was a beautiful left hook. He fell down unconscious. I left him lying there, thinking happy thoughts.

I walked on down the hallway. Dazed guards littered the floor. As I passed the stunned Akihiro, I called over my shoulder. "I win." I turned to Sasuke. "Come on Uchiha, let's get you all safely home."

Sasuke had a hand covering his eyes. Ichisui stood there with his mouth hanging open. Chyrio turned and said. "Mommy... Why were those ladies naked?"

I slowly turned. Standing there in the doorway were a fuming Sakura and a chilly looking Temari. Apparently when I started the jutsu, everyone inside the room came to see what the commotion was. "Konohamaru!" snarled Sakura, "Just what the hell were you thinking showing a jutsu like that to my children?"

Jiraiya had his face peering around the door jam, his eyes wide. "That..." he said definitively, "is the coolest jutsu ever... Can you teach that to me Uncle Konohamaru?" His sister bopped him on the head.

Temari glared at me and then turned to her husband. "Shikamaru," she said in a commanding voice that would have made an empress proud. "Wipe that blood from your nose. You are not allowed to associate with this gentleman under any circumstances… are we clear?" Both wives slowly turned and gave me a glare that could have bored a hole through a mountain.

I was saved by a soft chuckle coming from Hinata's room. Naruto lay there with one eye lid propped open. "Good one Konohamaru... Excellent. Was that from Shino's bachelor party?"

"What!?" bellowed Sakura. "Sasuke... You went to that party!"

"Um... Blossom…? I should be getting the kids home..."

"Naruto-kun?" asked a very faint voice. "What's all the noise?" Everyone came back in the room. Hinata stirred in the bed.

"Hinata," said Naruto, his voice hoarse with emotion. He shakily reached out one hand for her. "Hinata... How are you?" He found her hand on the bed and held it.

"I feel... tired. What happened?"

Naruto smiled. "I'll... tell you later sweetest," he croaked. "Right now, I'm just... so glad... that you are okay."

"Oh!" exclaimed Hinata.

Sakura rushed over. "What is it Hinata? What's wrong?" she asked concerned.

Hinata smiled faintly. She pulled Naruto's hand over to her belly. "Nothing's wrong. The baby just wants to say hello to his daddy."

We all watched as Hinata's stomach jumped.


	10. Chapter 6: Lengthening Shadows part 1

**Chapter Six: Lengthening Shadows**

"Okay… So?" asked Asuma Jr.

Konohamaru blinked. "So? What do you mean 'so'?"

"So… is that it? The Hokage keeps that traitor around because he's good at killing people?" Scorn dripped from Asuma's words.

"Weren't you listening at all?" The elder Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose. "You wanted to know why the Hokage trusts Sasuke Uchiha so completely and unconditionally? The reason is right there." He pointed to where Sasuko and Jiraiya were fussing over ice cream at the counter. "Naruto's son and wife wouldn't be here without the Uchiha. The village would not be here without Sasuke Uchiha. If that isn't reason enough to give him the benefit of the doubt… I don't know what is!"

"So I should just forgive what he did to my family, not to mention the rest of Konoha, because he helped out? One good deed cancels out all the bad ones? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

Konohamaru sighed. He knew that this conversation with his cousin would be difficult… but this? "No. I'm not expecting you to forgive him right away… but I was hoping you might read between the lines… and begin to understand."

"Understand what?" asked Asuma sullenly.

Konohamaru stared at Asuma over the rim of his teacup. "Understand that Sasuke didn't have to help… Once his chakra was unsealed, he could have abandoned us to our fate… He could have taken his family and left… and no one could have stopped him." Konohamaru took a long sip. "You have seen the display on the... history of the Uchiha clan in the Hokage's private library, haven't you?" he asked casually.

Asuma Jr.'s only answer was to snort and turn his head away. Konohamaru slowly shook his head. "A lot of people prefer to gloss over it. They say things like 'Oh, that's all ancient history… a relic from the bad old days.' They find it easier to ignore the whole thing." Konohamaru's face twisted into a frown. "I've even heard that... certain clans are still claiming that all of that evidence suggesting that the Hidden Leaf played a part in the Uchiha massacre is some sort of hoax invented by the Sixth Hokage to drum up sympathy for Sasuke Uchiha." He tapped a finger on the table for emphasis. "But trust me kid, it's real. I was there when it was dug up… and even if only half of it was true… honestly… I don't think I could have blamed Sasuke if he decided to turn his back on us."

Konohamaru sighed. "But he didn't. Despite everything our village has done to the Uchiha clan, and to him personally, he stood by Konoha in her hour of need and did what he could to save her…"

"Save her?" Asuma Jr. snarled in an incredulous low growl. "Sure… maybe that one time he tried to help, but what about all the others? Like the time he attacked the Eight Tails? And during the Fourth war? And when he..."

Konohamaru held up both hands in a placating gesture. "You're right. It's true that he didn't always feel that way, but that was also a long time ago. It looks to me like he's forgiven us and is willing to make amends." Konohamaru took a long drink, and drained his cup. "As Naruto keeps telling us… It's a new era, where old enemies are now potential friends. The Leaf is now allies with Hidden Sand, Hidden Stone, Hidden Cloud, Hidden Mist... Maybe it's time for Konoha to take a good hard look at itself and see if we should be trying to do the same for Sasuke Uchiha as well." He exhaled happily. "That… was some damn good tea. I think I'm going to order another pot… Do you want some?"

* * *

Chirosu Hatake leaned on the counter and noisily snapped her gum. She was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Her mother had made both her and her sister take this job after they been put on mandatory leave after botching that last mission. It should have been an easy C-rank, escorting the adult son of some minor noble in the Land of Fire, to the Land of Mist for some wedding…

Only no one had bothered to tell them their escort was the type of jerk who though he was the universe's gift to all of womankind. He was overjoyed that his Poppa was kind enough to hire him a 'matched set' and spent the entire first few days of travel showering them with predictable pick up lines like: 'Exactly how badly do you want to guard my body?'

They could ignore that. What they couldn't ignore was when he let himself into their tent one night and demanded a live demonstration of the famed kunoichi seduction skills.

Chirosu told him to get out. He refused. Hebisu told him to get out right now or they would throw him out. The little lordling stared down at them with a confident smile and said: 'Do your worst!'

It was far from their worst, but it was more than enough to cause a minor diplomatic uproar. The lordling was threatening to bring the whole thing up in front of the Daimyo… once his hair grew back and the burns cleared up that is.

She wished that the stupid review board would hurry up and clear them to go back on missions again, so that she and her sister could stop wasting their time waiting on stupid tables at the stupidly christened Flying Pig cafe. She hated the constant smiling, she hated the standing around, she hated how anyone could walk right in, give you orders and expect you to jump right to it. She hated the stupid customers...

She stared dreamily across the café at Asuma Jr. and sighed. Well, maybe not all the customers.

"So how was that one Sasuko?" asked Jiraiya.

"It tastes weird. I want to try the green one again."

Jiraiya knocked on the counter to get her attention even though she was right there. "Excuse me? Miss? We would like to have another free sample of the green tea ice cream."

Chirosu scowled. She definitely hated these two. "Look kid... will you just hurry up and order something?"

Jiraiya looked indignant. "I beg your pardon?! You shouldn't treat us in this fashion! We are customers in this fine establishment."

"You haven't bought anything yet."

The Hokage's older son brushed his unruly black hair back from his eyes and gave her a confident smile. "Potential customers," he corrected.

Chirosu grumbled. "What was it again?"

Sasuko smiled, his face all sticky. "Green tea please!"

Chirosu handed him a tiny plastic spoon, and went back to daydreaming. Her identical twin sister Hebisu stuck her head out of the back room. "Psst!" she hissed. "Do they need a new pot of tea?"

"Like I would tell you if they did," said Chirosu acidly. "It's so my turn to bring something over there."

"It is not!" said Hebisu. "You got to go over last time and ask if they needed anything!"

"And then you went by with the tea! And don't think I didn't see you brushing up against Asuma-kun either," huffed Chirosu. She looked back at the table that Asuma and Konohamaru were sitting at. "I wonder what they're talking about?"

"Excuse me?" said Jiraiya, knocking on the counter again. "Could we get some service here?"

"What do you want now kid?" asked Chirosu, annoyed.

"Can I have the ice cream with the little chocolate chunks in it?" asked the little red headed one, smearing fingerprints all over the glass display case.

"Again?" Chirosu asked with a frown. Sasuko nodded. "Fine." Chirosu handed over another little plastic spoon.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" squeaked Hebisu, jumping up and down and pointing at Asuma jr. "He's looking over here!"

"That's because you're jumping up and down like an idiot! Calm down and shut up!" Chirosu whispered to her sister pulling on her arm. "He's never going to come over here if he sees you acting like a maniac." She waved over to Asuma's and Konohamaru's table. "It's all right," she called out loudly. "My sister just saw an ant," she laughed nervously at their blank stares.

"There are vermin in this restaurant?" asked Jiraiya with an affronted look on his face.

Chirosu leaned over the counter. "Yep… Two of them. I'm looking at them right now."

Actually, once you got over the fact that he was a bottomless pit for food, the youngest of the Hokage's brats wasn't too bad. He was slightly adorable in a 'sticky ring around the mouth' sort of way. But the other one, Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga… Ugh! She'd thought it was joke when one of the food vendors in the plaza told her: 'Oh yeah, we always make sure to step out for a fifteen minute break when ever we see him coming.'

Sasuko plucked at Jiraiya's sleeve. "I wanna try the orange one."

Jiraiya lifted one finger. "One free sample of the peach delight, my good woman."

It was the 'my good woman' that did it. Chirosu had had enough. She folded her arms. "No."

"No?" asked Jiraiya in surprise.

"No! How many of those little plastic spoons have you got there?" Sasuko held up his hands. Chirosu counted. "You have had forty seven free samples!"

"Oopsie, I dropped one!" called out Sasuko, scrambling for the fallen spoon.

"Make that forty eight free samples. It's time you bought something!"

Jiraiya pointed to a sign hanging on the wall. "But it says right there! Free samples!"

Chirosu rolled her eyes. "Kid, we only have twenty five flavors! You've tried everything twice!"

"Twice would be fifty spoonfuls," Jiraiya pointed out helpfully.

"Almost twice!" snapped Chirosu. "Most people just pick one or two!"

Jiraiya gave a greasy smile and ruffled his brother's hair. "Nothing is too good for my darling little brother."

"Look you cheap little weasel… Either buy something, or get lost!"

Sasuko looked up with huge blue eyes and started to blubber. "But... but... but I wanted to try the orange one!" he whined.

Chirosu sighed. "Fine… last one. And then you buy something okay?" Both Jiraiya and Sasuko nodded. She handed over a spoon and grumbled. "I hate kids." She happened to look up and saw her sister talking animatedly to Asuma at his table. "Hey!" she exclaimed and stomped on over.

"…I just love the bridges over the canals at this time of year don't you Asuma-kun? When the wind blows a rain of leaves falls all around you." Hebisu leaned over his shoulder and pressed her cheek up to his. "I don't suppose you'd like to go for a walk with me so I could show you all the wonders that nature has to offer?" She yelped as Chirosu grabbed her arm.

"Excuse us," said Chirosu sweetly. "I desperately need to talk to my sister right now at this very moment about something of vital importance." She dragged Hebisu across the floor back to the counter. "What do you think you are doing!" she hissed. "It was my turn!"

"Well, they signaled for another pot of tea, and you were busy giving that little kid his ice cream, so I went over there and… Oh my gods he is so dreamy!" Hebisu squeaked, melting to the floor with a goofy smile on her face.

"Gods, this is so unfair! Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going?!" she yelled at Jiraiya and Sasuko who were headed to the door.

"All full," said Sasuko patting his stomach.

Jiraiya gave an exaggerated bow to Chirosu. "I must say this is quite the charming establishment you have here. I shall definitely frequent it in the future." He turned back to the door.

"Oh no you don't!" Chirosu snarled. She cleared the counter in a single leap, and blocked the exit. "You are not getting out of here without buying an ice cream!"

"But the poor boy couldn't possibly eat another bite," said Jiraiya.

"Then you eat it!"

"Oh… if only I could." Jiraiya shook his head. "But I'm lactose intolerant."

"Then throw it away!" said Chirosu, with a crazed look in her eyes.

"It would be a crime to deposit any of your fine cuisine in the trash... Tell you what, for a very modest, almost insignificant fee, I will absolutely, positively, recommend this fine little bistro to all of my friends," said Jiraiya with a winning smile. "There's no advertising better than word of mouth, right?"

"What's the problem sister?" said a recovered Hebisu, standing behind Jiraiya and Sasuko, blocking them in.

"This little cretin," growled Chirosu, "doesn't want to pay for all the ice cream he ate."

"Okay, two things," said Jiraiya, nudging Sasuko. "First of all, he ate the ice cream, not me. Secondly," he pointed again to the wall, "free samples."

"Hmm… Not paying makes him a thief doesn't it?" said Hebisu.

" And Choji-san said that we were allowed to apprehend thieves... didn't he sister?" said Chirosu with a gloating smile.

"Ahem… Free samples?" said Jiraiya.

"I think we'll have to teach him a little lesson," said Chirosu, making a series of hand signs. A thin snake made of electricity sprang from her hand and danced around her, snapping its jaws.

"Oh goody! Lesson time! I love lesson time!" said Hebisu happily. A second electric snake sprang from her hand.

"Jiraiya?" said Sasuko nervously. "Just pay them."

Jiraiya shook his head. "It's the principle of the thing, dear brother. I have to stand up for what I believe in. Free stuff." He crouched in a ready position. "Besides, if these two lovely ladies think that they can best me in a ninjutsu duel, they are sadly mistaken."

The twins laughed at him. "You're not even a genin!" said Chirosu, her serpent sizzling the air. "What can you possibly do?"

Jiraiya stood up tall. "I have ninjutsu more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

Hebisu laughed. "Yeah right!"

Jiraiya shrugged. "You asked for it." His hands made a sign. "Witness the secret jutsu of the Uzumaki clan!" There was a burst of smoke around him.

In the middle of the cloud stood Asuma Jr., naked as the day he was born. He leered at Chirosu and Hebisu. "Hello ladies," he said in a smooth deep voice, and made a bodybuilder's pose, showing off all his muscles. "I don't suppose I could trouble the pair of you to oil me down?"

When Chirosu and Hebisu came to, Jiraiya and Sasuko were sprinting down the street. The real Asuma Jr., fully clothed, dripping wet and very red in the face was slapping his uncle Konohamaru on the back. Konohamaru had apparently sprayed his mouthful of tea across the table, drenching Asuma, and then proceeded to laugh so hard that he started choking. "What the hell just happened?" asked Chirosu shaking her head to clear it.

"I have no idea," answered Hebisu. "How can we make it happen again?"

* * *

"Hey Hishyota? Isn't that your little brother running down the street there?"

"I don't know and I don't care," said Hishyota. She did a butterfly kick and hit the two targets in front of her, then caught the one on her left with a back fist. All the while she never lost the rhythm of the dance beat coming from the machine. Her feet stepped on the flashing arrows on the floor.

"Flawless victory!" said the machine in a resonant voice. "Level three complete! Level four… to anyone who had Ready! Start!" The dance music changed. So did the pattern of lights flashing around the machine. Hishyota watched the pattern of enemies maneuver around the little picture of her ninja on the game screen. Then, in time to the music, she began to viciously deliver punches and kicks to the various targets surrounding her, taking each of them out one by one.

"So... how did your mission go today?" asked Hana Uchiha in an uncharacteristic attack of empathy. Normally the Uchiha girl was content to let her stew.

"Fine... Never better," grunted Hishyota through grinding teeth. Of course, just because Hana brought it up, didn't mean she wanted to talk about it. _Front kick, roundhouse, leg sweep._

"Really? You just seem... kind of upset about something."

"Nope. I'm fine." _Jab, uppercut, back kick. Side kick, knee, smashing elbow. _The machine creaked under the force of her blows.

"You know my brother was bugging me this morning. He let loose a whole bunch of spiders in my room. There was even this one huge hairy one... it looked totally fake until...it moved." Hana watched Hishyota out of the corner of her eye. "Does... your brother ever bother you like that?"

"Jiraiya cares too much about money for that." _Jab, cross, uppercut. Knee, jumping knee, front kick, side kick._ "Mom docks his allowance if he gets caught doing pranks." _Spinning back fist, spin kick._

The game machine erupted in a cacophony of sound and light. "Well Done! Level four complete! Level Five. Ready! Start!"

Hishyota started to dance again. Hana watched her for a moment in silence. "So, what was your mission today?" she asked.

Hishyota grunted. "D-rank. We had to patrol the farmer's market two villages over." _Jump kick, shadow kick._

"Uh-huh," Hana paused while Hishyota pummeled padded targets. "Did anything happen there?"

"I'm sure that whatever might have happened to my cousin, was far.. far beneath her notice," said an icy voice in clipped tones. "After all, what could possibly give a big hero like her a moment of difficulty…? Aside from the fact that her dear daddy was assigning her boring missions in a run-down locale?"

"Well, well, well... Hishyoni Hyuga. I thought I smelled metal polish," said Hana sarcastically. "I suppose you just got back from an A-rank mission where you had to rescue the Daimyo himself?"

Hishyoni smiled a very small smile. "Hmm. No it was only a C-rank escort mission. A few measly bandits. That was all. It was far below my true skill level." She smiled wider and leaned closer to Hishyota. "I'm sure it was far below yours as well... dear cousin."

Hishyota told herself to ignore her and just focus on the game. It was easier said than done. "I don't know what you mean." _Punch, punch, punch. Front kick, crescent kick, elbow._

Hishyoni smiled wider. "I'm sure you do. My Father keeps boasting about how you are such the little jukken prodigy. The best student he's ever had! The pride of the Hyuga clan!" The older girl's eye narrowed slightly. "He says you should be a shoo in at the next chunin exams… He says you are easily ready to handle higher ranked missions… and who could blame him really, according to the stories you keep telling everyone… you already have."

"I... Don't..." _Front kick, roundhouse, Side kick, Falter._

"Sure you have little cousin. Don't you remember? Everyone still talks about what a hero you were... picking up that big sword." Hishyoni mimed a sword thrust.

"That was... different," panted Hishyota. She lost her footing after her jumping side kick. She stumbled, and threw a few punches.

Hishyoni leaned forward. "Was it? Everyone insists it was so real. I keep hearing these tales about how you were so brave and strong," said the Hyuga girl, practically whispering in her cousin's ear.

"Leave her alone Hishyoni," Hana said in a warning tone.

"Why? I'm not bothering her… am I bothering you Hishyota? I was just wondering where all that killer instinct went little cousin?" said Hishyoni in a flat voice. " After all… I've never seen it. It might almost make a suspicious person wonder... if it ever really happened at all."

Hishyota stopped. Her little shinobi on the screen was swarmed by the enemy ninjas. He screamed and fell. "Game over!" said the resonant voice.

"Aww... It looks like your little game is all over," said Hishyoni with a toss to her head, sending her long braid swishing in the air. "That is so surprising… You are so very talented at playing kids games."

Hana frowned at Hishyoni. "Yeah, and you never play any games at all..." She grabbed Hishyota's arm. "Come on, I'll buy you a soda."

Hishyota didn't say anything as Hana walked her to one of the outside tables and sat her down. She left for the vending machines and returned a few minutes later with two bottles. She handed one to Hishyota.

Hishyota picked it up and her hands shook. She put the bottle back down again, wiped her hands on her pants as if to dry them off, and then took a long drink. Hana watched her. "You know," said Hana, taking a sip from her own bottle, "I think your cousin really needs to have a chat with her doctor."

"Why?" asked Hishyota quietly.

"Because it's not normal to be on the rag twenty four hours a day, seven days a week."

Hishyota smiled faintly and took another long drink. After a long pause she glanced at Hana and spoke. "Do you want to know what was bugging me about today?"

"I have a feeling you are going to tell me, whether I say yes or no."

Hishyota smiled. "I met a boy," she said shyly.

"Ooh, will wonders never cease. Do tell," said Hana in her typical 'I'm not interested' voice. After hanging out with the Uchiha girl for five years, Hishyota knew that was just Hana's way… she wasn't offended by it.

"We were working the market, you know... all undercover. Out of the blue this boy just comes up to me and starts talking to me."

"Was he cute?"

Hishyota waved her hand back and forth. "He wasn't bad looking. Anyway he starts asking me where I'm from. What I'm looking for here, and he offers to help me find the stuff on my 'shopping list' and then he offers to buy me lunch. Finally, we just spend an hour or so just talking you know, and it was... Nice."

Hana nodded. "Okay, maybe it's just me, but I am completely failing to see a problem here."

Hishyota sighed. "Sometime after that a group of local toughs comes swaggering through the market. They're pushing people, knocking over stalls, taking stuff and calling it a free gift, right? It's obviously the bunch that we were hired to protect the market from. I notice Moegi-sensei and Dan and Kari all slowly closing in on them, so I get up as well, and the boy gets up with me. He's still all smiles and chatting away when one of the toughs whistles at me." Hishyota took another drink. "So the boy gets all up in the face of the tough guy, who has maybe fifteen centimeters and ten kilograms on him and is backed up by seven of his biggest friends, and demands: 'What do you think you're doing? This is my girl here,' type thing... you know, trying to impress me."

"Ah," said Hana quietly. "I think I see now where this is going."

"So the tough guy says something like, 'We take what we want Heh-heh-heh,' and punches the boy in the face. He goes down. Then Neanderthal-san makes like to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder."

"The stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me," murmured Hana.

"So I hit him," said Hishyota. "One open palm strike and bam! He's out cold. His friends look at him, look at me, look back at him, and charge me. I make some shadow clones and ten seconds later every last goon is sprawling in the dirt." She took another drink. "It's all over. I reach down to help up the boy and he scrambles back from me."

"So I look at him, and I'm like 'What?' and he stares at me and says, 'You're a shinobi,' in this weird voice. So I say to him, 'Yes, I am. Are you hurt? Do you need some help?' He brushes the dirt off himself and says, 'I'm just fine,' and walks away." Hishyota put down the empty bottle. "I never even got his name," she said quietly.

Hana giggled. "Now there's a prime example of a fragile male ego."

Hishyota sighed and stared out across the plaza. The sunset tinged everything with a red light. Small groups of people drifted from store to store chatting amongst themselves. She turned to Hana. "Seriously… What's wrong with me? I mean, I feel like I don't know who I am anymore!"

Hana raised an eyebrow. "Okay, first of all, most people would consider asking the goth-chick for advice on an existential crisis to be more than a little weird, and second... you are who you are, and nothing is going to change that."

Hishyota looked a little confused. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Hana shrugged. "It's something my Mom always says to my Dad when he's feeling... down. It seems to cheer him up. So I thought I'd try it out on you." Hana brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I'm not really that good at making people feel better you know? Now if you want to sit in a dark room and read depressing poetry… I'm your girl."

Hishyota leaned back. "Do you ever… wish you weren't a shinobi? You know, just wish you were... normal?"

Hana thought about it. "You mean like I was a normal person who dresses in black, wears big clunky boots and a cloak?" Hana smiled a rare smile at Hishyota. "No."

"But don't you get tired of everyone always looking at you like you were different?"

Hana downed her soda. "They're going to look at me funny anyway. I might as well let them know I can kick their asses while they are pointing and staring." Hana sat there watching the crowds for a while. "But I do kind of know what you are talking about," she added quietly. "We all deal with it in different ways."

"Hmm?" Hishyota looked up.

"Look over there." Hana pointed to a distant table. Ichisui Uchiha was sitting there sharing a platter of taiyaki pastry with Karua Nara. "My brother. He tries so hard to be normal and proper and to get everyone to like him. But you know what? It kills him inside to know that no matter what he does or how nice he is most of the people in this stupid little village will always treat him like a freak. All of us Uchiha have two strikes against us since the moment we were born. All because of our last name."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad… We like you guys. We're practically family!"

Hana nodded. "Yep, and you are all we got." She tapped her soda bottle making a rhythmic tune. "Didn't you wonder why I never hang out with my squad? Why Ichisui isn't hanging out with his?" Hana looked out of the corner of her eye at Hishyota. "What did your squad-mates say when you told them you were going to be meeting with me this afternoon?"

Hishyota looked bashful. "Well, Um..."

Hana nodded. "I thought so."

Hishyota waved her hand emphatically in the air. "Look, all that... clan banishment business is over and done with these days. You're back living inside the village walls, you guys are full-fledged shinobi now. I mean, maybe some people are still being jerks but..."

Hana interrupted her. "There are only two reasons why the Uchiha clan is still allowed to live here in Konoha. First, your father the Hokage says so, and he makes it very clear at every opportunity that we are staying and not to be messed with. If it wasn't for your dad we would be run out of town in a heartbeat." Hana paused, scowling.

"What is the second reason?" asked Hishyota gloomily.

Hana closed her eyes. "Because it's always better to have the monsters on your side."

"What?"

"Think about it. When everything goes south, it's good to know you have the biggest, baddest, scariest bastard in the ninja world ready to fight on your behalf." Hana snorted. "The only problem is when it's peaceful, people kind of forget about that part. Everyone goes around saying, 'Hey! Who let all these scary bastards in here?'" Hana laughed. "So, each of us deals with it in our own little special way. Mom spends all her time working. Dad broods and gardens and keeps to himself. Ichisui tries to be mister nice-guy and prove them wrong. I turn into the scary little girl that everyone expects me to be. Mibuki spends all his time in the library studying. All Chyrio's friends have four legs and are furry, and Fugawari is too little to have picked up on it yet." She sighed. "He will, soon."

"Wow," said Hishyota blinking. "That's really... harsh."

"Harsh... but true." Hana shrugged. "So, to answer your question... No... I want to be a shinobi. I want to frighten all these little ignorant punks that look at me and my family like we aren't worthy of breathing the same air they are." Hana's voice dropped to a cold whisper. "If they want a monster, I'll give them one."

Hishyota shifted uncomfortably. After a very long pause she said, "So... are your brother and Karua out on a date?"

Hana snorted. "No... That idiot is still drooling after Hishyoni the walking armory. Do you know he keeps a book of love poems he wrote to her hidden under his mattress? It's pathetic."

"I thought you liked depressing poetry?" said Hishyota with a small smile.

"Depressing, yes. Nauseating? No," said Hana smiling back.

* * *

"So... Ichisui... why did you really ask me to come here?"

"Huh?" asked Ichisui, starting guiltily and turning back to face Karua. "I'm sorry... could you repeat that?"

Karua sighed and crossed her legs. "Look, you practically begged me to meet you here after my mission. I will admit, I was intrigued at first. I thought maybe you had some big news like you got promoted to jonin or something. So I've been sitting here for the past half hour, waiting for you to say whatever this profound thing is that's on your mind. Instead, you just sit there like a sweating lump. You being so nervous and all was kind of cute at first, but I've had a long day and now it's getting to be a real drag. Either tell me what's up, or I'm going home."

"Nothing's up," said Ichisui, trying to look nonchalant. "I just... haven't seen you for a while and was wondering if you might want to… hang out somewhere nicer than usual and… maybe get something to eat?" He tried to keep his eyes focused on Karua, but despite all his best efforts they flicked back to the arcade again.

"If you are trying to set me up for some sort of prank you are going to regret it," said Karua in an unperturbed voice.

"What?"

Karua inspected her fingernails. "You keep staring over my shoulder. So… either there is something really fascinating going on over at the arcade, or someone is sneaking up on me for nefarious purposes." She glanced up at Ichisui and then back at her nails. "I'm warning you, if I turn around and see Shikasu trying to look all innocent while holding a bucket full of goo… I will not be happy."

Ichisui blushed. "Uh… Well… Um…" He fell silent.

Karua rolled her eyes and turned around. There was a pause. "Oh," she said in a semi-disappointed tone. "Fascinating in the arcade it is." Gyrating on the Ninja-Ninja Revolution machine was Hishyoni Hyuga. She was showing off her taijutsu and flexibility with series of high sweeping kicks that turned into a backflip.

"She... um… moves... very gracefully…" said Ichisui meekly. As if she heard, Hishyoni slid down into a full split, punched a target, and slid back upwards again.

Karua drummed the tabletop with her fingers. "She shows too much cleavage is more like it." She exhaled sharply. "All right Ichisui, I can get the hint." She pushed back her chair and started to get up.

"No! Wait! Please." Ichisui reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "I asked you to come because... I need your help. Please."

Karua raised one eyebrow. "What do you need my help with? She's right over there. Go talk to her."

Ichisui mumbled something. "Speak up, I didn't catch that," said Karua.

"I said, I can't do it. I have... problems talking to girls," muttered Ichisui a hair louder.

Karua crossed her arms. "Ahem. You are talking to one right now."

"You're different. You are my friend. My best friend! I can talk to you about anything!" Ichisui lowered his voice to an ashamed whisper. "Look... I haven't told anyone this, but I get so nervous around her that I keep doing... stupid things. The first time I tried talking to her, she was across the street. Only it was market day, and they were driving the cattle in to market, and I wasn't looking where I was going and I…"

Karua interrupted him. "Tripped and fell and got covered in crap. Yeah. I heard about that one."

Ichisui looked surprised. "How did…" He shook his head. "Anyway, the next time, I thought I would impress her with some flowers, so I went down to the edge of the river and picked some to give to her, only…"

Karua interrupted again. "The flowers were infested with biting mites. They swarmed you, and you got bitten so many times your face looked like a big raspberry."

Ichisui paused and looked at her suspiciously. "And then there was the time after that when I…"

"Wrote a song for her and went to go sing it to her bedroom window at night? Only it was so dark you got mixed up and ended up singing it to her parent's bedroom window?" Karua was trying really hard not to smirk. "And then Neji-san opened the window and told you that he appreciated the lovely sentiment, but he was already quite happily married, thank you very much. And then Tenten-san shouted…" Karua started to giggle. "She said, 'and tell that boy to practice his singing, it sounds like he's torturing a cat!'" Karua laughed.

Ichisui's head dropped to his chest. "I see."

Karua placed a hand on his arm. "Oh... don't get all dopey about it. You have to admit it is hilarious."

"How many people know about this?" asked Ichisui in a small voice.

Karua shrugged. "It is a very funny story."

"Oh Gods," said Ichisui, and buried his face in his hands. This was worse than he had imagined… no wonder everyone was staring at him.

"I'm sure everyone will forget about it... eventually." She patted him reassuringly. "Don't worry about it."

Ichisui inhaled deeply and tried to pull himself together. "Well, regardless..." he said. "I kind of came up with this plan, and, you know, since you are my friend, and more to the point, a girl… I thought the best recourse would be to ask you to help me with this. It makes a lot of sense, there's just a couple of small… issues..." He pulled out a small book and began to page through it.

Karua gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

Ichisui continued to page through. "Well it says right here in Chapter Four that..."

Karua reached across the table and snatched the slim book out of his hands. "Let me see that." She glanced at the cover. "The Art of Getting any Woman You Want?! By Jiraiya the Sanin?" She stared at Ichisui wide eyed.

He blushed again. "Well, you know how Uncle Sai has all those... self help books? I... Um... kind of asked him if he had one that would help me get a date... with this girl I like... and well... he handed me this one."

Karua started leafing through the pages. "You asked Sai-san for help? Okay... I hope you realize that that was perhaps the worst possible move you could have made." She stopped and stared at a page.

"He's a little weird, I know. But his heart's in the right place, and he does honestly try to help." Karua wasn't listening, her eyes were glued to the book. "What?" Ichsui asked.

Karua cleared her throat and read. "Chapter Sixteen: Whipped cream: Dessert topping or foreplay aid?" She closed the covers with a sharp snap. "First of all, Eww! Second of all, a little weird? That's like saying the ocean is a little bit wet."

"My mom says he's just a little misunderstood. She says he's much better than he used to be."

Karua grimaced. "Well, thank the Gods for that then." She looked down suspiciously at the book. She looked back at Ichisui. "I really, really, hope that this 'thing' you were going to suggest I help you with does not have anything to do with whipped cream," she said darkly.

Ichisui held up his hands in front of himself. "No! No no no no no! No! As a matter of fact, I haven't even gotten to any of the later chapters yet! I just started reading it, and in Chapter Four, well… it says..." His voice drifted away into a nervous mumble.

Karua pushed the book back towards him with one finger as if it was something distasteful. "Enlighten me."

"Well it says that people always are more interested in what they can't have. For instance, you always find the person who is unavailable to be more attractive."

Karua blinked twice at Ichisui. She didn't speak for a long time. "So?" she finally asked quietly.

"So, one of the things that the book recommends is that feigning affection for someone else is a good way to attract the attention of the person you are actually interested in." Ichisui smiled at her.

Karua looked away, studying something in the far side for the plaza. "I'm... still... not sure what you are getting at."

"Well Jiraiya-sama may have been very wise in the ways of women, but I don't think he was very honorable about it. So I thought that, maybe... instead of pretending to like some poor innocent girl, and then breaking her heart when Hishyoni finally acknowledges me… I thought, since you are my friend, we could maybe just... pretend... that we are on a date and see if that makes her jealous?" he said in an innocent little voice. Karua stared at him. There was a long uncomfortable silence. "Or maybe not?" he squeaked.

Karua took a long deep breath and closed her eyes. "What did you have in mind for this... pretend date?" she grumbled.

Ichisui smiled and started breathing again. "Does that mean you'll do it?"

Karua's face reddened. "It depends on what your idea of a date is. If you start talking about dessert toppings, I'm out of here!"

"Oh. Um... Well... I thought that maybe we could come here for a bite to eat."

Karua waved her hand. "We just did it."

"And we could have a fun, interesting conversation."

Karua leaned her elbow on the table. "Well I'm not sure I can say anything about fun… but so far this conversation has definitely been interesting."

"And... Um... Then maybe we could go for a walk around the plaza... holding hands... or something?"

"Uh-huh," said Karua quietly. "And... where does Hishyoni fit into all of this?"

"Well, obviously we'd have to walk around aimlessly for a bit just to allay any suspicion."

"Obviously. Because going out on pretend dates is such a commonplace occurrence." Karua said, rolling her eyes.

"And then we'd casually stroll into the arcade, and I'd say something smooth like 'Oh hey Hishyoni... how's it going?'"

Karua sighed. "And she'll fall at your feet and scream 'Ichisui, take me now! And don't forget the whipped cream!'"

"What?!" Ichisui's face turned bright red.

Karua stood and held out her hand. "I'm just teasing you, let's go."

* * *

"This has got to be the most... idiotic thing Ichisui has ever come up with," thought Karua when she first got up from the table. "Nobody is ever going to believe we are out on a date." And yet… there they were. The eldest son of the Uchiha clan and the daughter of Temari no Sabaku… holding hands and walking around the Pig pen… Sorry, the 'Konoha Emporium'… for all of the Hidden Leaf to see.

After a while Karua found herself thinking: "This part isn't... too bad... holding hands with him... Even if this is just another one of his stupid ideas. Hah! Pretending to like someone else to get the girl. What a ridiculously over-complicated scheme to get someone to like you."

The thing was, way back when they first met in the middle of the Kurokaze attack, she had kind of 'liked him' liked him at first. He was cute, and strong and noble and dashing… and he'd taken care of that little red headed girl and used his medical ninjutsu when she'd been wounded in the leg… Almost like some hero that you'd read about in a book… But then she'd found out that he was absolutely head over heels for Hishyoni Hyuga… And there really wasn't much point in her wasting her time.

She'd moved on to other boys… but despite it all, she and the Uchiha boy remained friends. For Ichisui, despite all his faults, was a genuinely nice guy… a rarity in the shinobi world. And he could be funny and charming when he wasn't wasting his time mooning over certain, bad tempered Hyuga kunoichi...

She glanced over at him, as he was animatedly babbling on about having to shoo his little sister's chipmunks out of his gear this morning. It had been an awfully long time since any boy had paid this kind of attention to her…So even though she knew this was all supposed to be pretend, pretty quickly she found herself laughing at his jokes and holding on to his hand just a little bit tighter.

It didn't take very long for things to feel… really... comfortable. Which made sense… After all, she and Ichisui had been friends for over three years now. They settled into their old patterns, talking and joking, and she would occasionally shove him when he said something dumb.

They were behaving almost exactly the way they always would, except for one small thing. While Ichisui was pulling her towards some random pushcart that had caught his eye, she glanced down at his fingers entwined with hers. In some ways it didn't seem to make any difference in their relationship at all. In other ways, it changed everything.

But not really of course... After all, this was only a 'pretend' date.

They were outside one of the clothing boutiques, pawing through the hat racks and trying on the most ridiculous headgear they could find and making faces at each other, when calamity struck in the form of a familiar voice. "Why Karua! What a wonderful surprise meeting you here!"

Oh Gods, not now. Karua dropped Ichisui's hand like it was made of red hot iron. "Hello Mother."

Temari stepped up next to them her arms ringed with shopping bags. "If I had known you were heading to the Emporium you could have come along with us and made a party out of it. I was just picking out a new spring yukata for Shikasu, when I saw that they were having a sale on baby clothes, so I bought a whole bunch of them for your new little cousin when he arrives." Temari paused and her sea green eyes flicked once to Ichisui. "So... Karua, aren't you going to introduce me to your... friend... here?"

Karua felt the embarrassment twist her stomach. So, her mother's strategy was going to be playing up the ignorant, yet earnest, maternal stereotype persona. She knew full well who Ichisui was, and she had obviously seen the pair of them holding hands and had come charging full steam across the plaza to once again stick her nose in her daughter's business. "Mom... you remember Ichisui Uchiha," said Karua, taking the plunge into the inevitable and hiding the dread in her voice.

"Of course! Ichisui! My how you've grown! I didn't recognize you!" Her eyes narrowed slightly as she smiled at Ichisui. "Are you and Karua… shopping?" Karua held her breath. No good could come from this. This was going to end with her mother giving her another hour long lecture about setting her sights to low… she just knew it

To her surprise, and relief, Ichisui, instead of doing something stupid, responded with a razor sharp bow. "It is my utmost pleasure to make your acquaintance again Nara-san," he said very formally and smoothly. "Whatever plans, Karua and I had for this afternoon can be easily set aside. May we assist you in any way? Could I carry your bags perhaps?"

Temari's eyebrows twitched upwards a fraction of a millimeter. So did the corner of her mouth. "Such a polite and eager young man!" she exclaimed. Then she frowned for a moment. "Unlike some I could mention." She cuffed Shikasu across the head. "Say hello Shikasu!"

"Ow!" said Shikasu, rubbing his ear. He raised one hand in greeting. "Hey."

Ichisui surprised her even more by giving a short bow to her brother. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well Shikasu-kun. My younger brother Mibuki is a classmate of yours at the Academy. He has mentioned you on occasion, predicting that your brilliance will one day outshine that of your father's."

Shikasu gave him a very confused look. "Really?"

"Really?" echoed Temari, a small smile crossing her lips. She reached over and pinched Shikasu's cheek. "Honey... I'm so proud of you! I knew that one day, if you just applied yourself hard enough, you would be acknowledged for the genius that you are."

"Ow! Mom... could you please let go?" Shikasu squirmed as his mother held onto his cheek.

"Karua dear," said Temari, ignoring her wriggling son. "Have you by any chance seen your father about? He was supposed to meet us here to help."

Karua shook her head. "No mother, I haven't." Please just go, don't make a scene, please just go, don't make a scene, she prayed.

The Gods weren't listening. Temari gave Ichisui a long slow look up and down. "I think, Ichisui-kun, I will take you up on that offer to help carry my bags. If you would be so good as to follow us?" With one swift maneuver, she piled them high in Ichisui's arm and quickly sashayed to the next store.

Everyone had to hurry to keep up with her long stride. "Please try not to get lost Shikasu dear, we still have to pick out your formalwear for when we next visit Suna."

"Mom!" grumbled Shikasu. "You don't have to talk to me like I'm four, you know? I'm not going to get lost."

Temari stopped suddenly and stared at him. "Oh, and I suppose that time I was trying to buy your new school clothes and you wandered off and somehow spent two hours in the arcade is just supposed to make me feel full of confidence is it?"

"That wasn't getting lost... that was hiding," said Shikasu.

Temari cuffed him across the ear again. "Don't forget we still need to get you some new underpants. Now come along and stop embarrassing me in front of Karua's friend."

"Not as much as you are embarrassing Karua," muttered Shikasu.

"Excuse me Nara-san," said Ichisui to Temari, completely missing Karua's frantic warning signs as he directly addressed her mother. "If I may speak to you in Shikasu's defense for a moment, it is clear to me that your son has a young warrior's heart. In my youth I also placed action and adventure above all else. Surely to a young man the physical challenge provided by the arcade must be more enticing than the necessities of shopping?" Ichisui turned quickly to Shikasu. "I understand the desire to constantly train and better your skills. But it is also very important to listen to the wisdom of your parents, for they will have insights that are missed by the young shinobi. For example, the importance of protocol in important diplomatic situations." Ichisui nodded to Temari. "Your family Shikasu, is one of the noblest bloodlines in the ninja world. Your appearance reflects on more than just you. It is important to remember that your honor is as important as your training."

Temari's eyebrows lifted a fraction of a millimeter more. "Nicely said. Shikasu, you should listen to this young man."

Shikasu stared at Ichisui. Then he quickly looked at his sister. "Is he for real?" he muttered.

"Noble?" asked Karua, somewhat incredulously.

Ichisui nodded at her, with wide honest eyes. "You mother is famed far and wide for her beauty and her prowess in battle. She is daughter of a former Kazekage and the sister of the current Kazekage. Your father is acknowledged by all as the most brilliant general of his generation. He is the chief military advisor to the Hokage. Your family's name will echo in legend." He tried to gesture but his arms were filled with packages. "It is very easy to forget at times, but your actions will be part of the legend as well."

"I'd really like to think that my underwear will not be recorded in legend," said Shikasu.

Ichisui shook his head. "Then take my advice… train extra hard and never get injured." When Shikasu stared at him with a confused expression on his face, he tried to explain. "When an injured shinobi is admitted to Konoha hospital, the first thing they do is remove his or her clothing to check for injuries. My mother told me of this one time that Konohamaru Sarutobi was admitted to the ER and upon examination, he was wearing..." Thankfully this time he caught sight of the frenzied chopping motion Karua was making across her neck. Karua had heard this story earlier, and she was absolutely positive she did not want to share it with her mother. "...something really embarrassing," he finished with a sickly smile.

Temari watched their exchange back and forth. Her face was set what her father called her 'Diplomat's mask', a carefully subdued smile that was her poker face when she was in negotiations. After a few brief seconds of calculation, Her mother's mask melted away and shifted into a bright predatory gleam of teeth.

Karua braced herself for the inevitable cutting remark. "So Ichisui Uchiha, how is your family doing these days?" Temari asked very politely.

Somehow, that one innocent little question was even more worrying.

Ichisui looked up, and thought for a moment. "My mother is well. The head of surgery position at the hospital suits her, although she does complain that she is unable to see her children as much as she wishes to. My father… he lives the life of a retired shinobi. He enjoys gardening and caring for his children. His tomatoes have won prizes at local produce fairs for three years running now."

Temari nodded in an interested way. "I am so glad to hear that. Remind me… The Uchiha bloodline… it runs strongly in your family doesn't it?" she asked innocently.

"I'm sorry?" asked Ichisui.

"The sharingan... All of your brothers and sisters have it?"

"Oh. My sister Hana and I have each manifested the full sharingan. My younger brother Mibuki has a partial sharingan, but I'm sure that will improve with training. Father is fairly confident that my youngest sister, Chyrio will manifest a sharingan at some point. Fugawari, the baby is only three, but father has hopes for him as well. " He looked over at Temari. "My mother is still with child so I don't know about the newest addition to the Uchiha clan, as my mother calls it, but yes, it looks like everyone in my family will have it... Why?"

Temari tapped her finger against her chin. "Hmm. Interesting." She looked around impatiently. "Now what is keeping Shikamaru? We were supposed to meet him here at five."

Shikasu spoke up. "Something was going on today. He and the Hokage were having a big meeting about something. He might be late."

Temari grumbled. "Not too late I hope..." She looked around again, her eyes settling on the Uchiha boy. She gave him a dazzling grin. "Ichisui, may I please impose on you to help us for just a little bit longer? I promise as soon as Shikamaru shows up, we will let you go on your merry way."

"It would be my pleasure to assist in any way I am able," said Ichisui with a strained smile. He carefully shifted his arms around.

"Good! You can wait here with Shikasu. Karua you come with me, I saw this darling kimono that would look absolutely fantastic on you." She grabbed her daughter's arm and began to pull.

"Oh Gods here it comes," thought Karua. He mother was about to give her an earful. She found herself resisting. "Um, Mom? I'm kind of right in the middle of something right now. Can we just… do it later?"

Temari kept pulling. "No. We need to go look at it right now. Besides I want to have a little chat with you about... a little something really quick." Temari smiled and waved at Ichisui. "Don't worry we girls will be right back!" She pulled Karua into the shop.

* * *

Shikasu stuffed his hands into his pockets and began to whistle tunelessly. Ichisui turned slightly and leaned the packages against the wall to take some of the weight off his arms.

"Nice day for a walk around the plaza isn't it?" said Shikasu, glancing at the poor sap his mother had dumped all the bags on and then went back to staring at the arcade.

The Uchiha dweeb nodded. "Yes, I'm glad the weather has been holding."

Shikasu barely heard him. The Ninja Ninja Revolution machine was calling to him. "Come to me Shikasu! Play me!" it sang in its 64-bit siren's song. "You can easily claim the top spot on my leaderboard!"

Shikasu nodded. He looked around innocently. With his mother gone, it was time to put plan A into action. "You know if they went in there to try on clothes, they could be gone for a good hour or so, especially if it's my mom doing the selecting."

"Mmm," said Ichisui, noncommittally. He shifted the pile of packages around.

"Yep," said Shikasu, leaning back against a wall, "she could be in there for a very long time."

"Really?" asked Ichisui in a non committal way.

He watched Ichisui for a minute. "What I'm trying to say is we easily have enough time to head over to the arcade for a quick game or two and get back before they even get out of the dressing room."

"Sorry," said Ichisui. "We said we would stay here. You can ask your mother when she gets back."

Shikasu rolled his eyes. "Dude... look… You're trying way too hard. I can read my mother like a book. It is so obvious she already approves of you. You don't have to keep acting this way to stay on her good side. Trust me, she's probably in there planning your wedding to Karua as we speak." The tower of packages Ichisui was holding fell with a crash. "So how about you just let me slip off to the arcade… If I get caught, I'll just tell my mom you tried to stop me but I was too sneaky for you."

Ichisui blinked. He shut his mouth. "Excuse me?" he said weakly.

* * *

Karua wasn't quite sure what sort of verbal tirade she was expecting from her mother… but it sure wasn't this.

"Excuse me?" said Karua weakly.

"I said Karua, that this new young man of yours has made quite the initial impression on me. He seems so... mature and well-refined. Very promising. I know you've been out with him here and there before… but I always believed the pair of you were just friends. How long have you two been seriously dating?" Temari was sorting through a rack of outfits. "Here, try this one, the green will be lovely with your eyes."

"Well..." started Karua. But, as usual, her mother just charged right on ahead.

"I'd like to invite him over to the house for dinner and give your father a chance to meet the boy. Well, to meet him officially at least. Ooh, I like the cut of this. Hold this one please." Temari handed her a pale red evening gown.

"Mom…" said Karua.

"While we are here, we should try to find something that could suit Aunt Matsuri. She was asking for something that would work as formal maternity wear." Temari fingered the sleeves of a jacket. "Hmm, poor quality," she muttered. "I'll give this one to the Head of the Blue Sand clan… That new well of theirs cost twice as much as their initial estimate and is only pumping half the water promised." She found another gown, this time in midnight black with a low cut bodice and a long slit up the side. "Now this," she said, "is perfect for a late night of dancing with your father." Temari smiled. "He says I look sexy in black you know." Karua made a disgusted noise. "What?" said Temari. She held up the gown up to her neck and smoothed it down to test its fit.

"Mom, there's something I really need to…" Karua started.

"Oh, speaking of Aunt Matsuri and... ahem... her unexpected condition... You and your young man are using protection aren't you?"

There was a crash as the pile of clothes and their hangers fell to the floor. "Mother!" cried Karua.

Temari looked up with forced innocence. "What? I'm concerned for your well being."

"Mom!" snapped Karua. "I've been trying to tell you for like, five minutes, but you aren't listening." She took a deep breath. "Ichisui and I aren't... seriously dating!"

"Oh," said Temari with a twinkle in her eye, "all the more reason to be using protection then."

* * *

Ichisui's head jerked up at the sound of a frustrated scream. "Was that Karua?"

Shikasu shrugged. "Probably. My Mom has that effect on people." The Uchiha went back to trying to restack the boxes. Shikasu watched him scramble for as long as he could stand it "Will you just relax?"

"Your mother… trusted me… to watch her things," Ichisui bent down to pick them the stack. It slowly topped over again. "And I'm going to do it!" he said, getting frustrated.

"Dude… chill," said Shikasu. "Like, eighty five percent of that crap she doesn't even care about… they're diplomatic incentives."

Ichisui looked down at the box he was holding. "These are... bribes?" he asked, slowly edging it away.

Shikasu rolled his eyes. "No! Look… Have you heard the saying that 'War is diplomacy by another means'? Well, in the past three years my Mom has used them to stop two wars, a border dispute, and end a conspiracy inside Suna. She uses stuff like this to put everyone back in their place."

Ichisui looked down at the bags and boxes, then he looked back up. "I don't understand."

Shikasu sighed theatrically. "Look. Just stand still. I'll hand you the stuff and explain okay?"

Ichisui stood up straight and nodded. Inside his head, Shikasu chuckled triumphantly. Plan B was a go. "A bribe is when you give someone this huge lavish gift in the hopes that they will one day do you a favor right? Well, a diplomatic incentive is usually just this cheesy little knickknack that is supposed to show goodwill between two parties… unless they have some sort of hidden message behind it."

"What sort of hidden message?" asked Ichisui.

Shikasu piled on another bag. "Well, she once gave the Shogun of the Land of Gems one of the very diamonds he thought he had smuggled out of the country. And during that imminent border conflict with the Land of Swamps last year, she gave a tapestry to the wife of the Daimyo of the Land of Swamps that looked suspiciously like the woman her husband was having an affair with... And then there was that time when the Head of the Black Sand clan of Suna was talking about rebellion. He woke up one morning to find that this fancy steel knife with a ruby in the pommel had somehow mysteriously gotten stabbed through his pillow while he was asleep… Attached to the hilt was a very polite note from my mom that said Uncle Gaara wanted to meet with him at his earliest convenience, to renew his loyalty oaths" Shikasu shrugged "She still has missions, and there's much less bloodshed these days… but people still call her the cruelest kunoichi in the world." He gave Ichisui a surreptitious glance. Good, the guy hadn't noticed a thing. "That's how I can tell she likes you. You're still standing here holding her stuff… If she didn't approve of you seeing Karua, you'd be long gone."

"So... you think your sister and I are dating?" asked Ichisui slowly.

Gods what a dweeb. Shikasu shrugged and found a spot to put another package on the pile. "Dude, what I think doesn't matter one way or another. The important thing is what my mom thinks… Just make sure you never fall out of her good graces… Like Makoto."

"Who?"

Shikasu picked up another bag. "Makoto… the last guy my sister dated."

"I never heard about this."

"Dude." Shikasu sighed. "Okay, like... two years ago this guy Makoto, he asks my sister to the spring festival. Now mom did not like the guy. She thinks he has this sketchy look about him. But you know, Karua insists that she is a big girl and can make her own decisions... and to make a long story short, they end up going to the festival." He found another package and precariously added it to the tottering pile. "And while they're wandering around, he tried to do something rude. I never really found out what, but my sister punches him out. She gave him this huge black eye, and comes storming home in a huff. Karua tells the story to my parents. My dad's all like 'Good for you sweetie! You showed him who's the boss!' but not my mom. She stews for about an hour and then starts railing away about how this is a slight on the family honor. She and Dad get into this huge argument about what is and is not an appropriate response. Finally, Mom decides to go out for a walk, saying that will help her calm down a bit." Shikasu added another package to the pile. "Now I'm not saying I know for sure what happened or not… But that night, someone knocked Makoto out cold, stripped him naked and rolled him in poison ivy. Then they hog-tied him and left him swinging in the breeze under the main arch." He looked askance at Ichisui. "When the medical-nin cut him down he was one big rash from head to toe. He had to be wrapped in ointments and bandages for a week for it to clear up."

Ichisui blanched. "Your mother did that?"

Shikasu shrugged. "Hey, all I know for certain is that she really didn't like the guy, mostly, because he did something bad to her little girl." Shikasu slapped Ichisui on the back. "But don't you worry. Like I said, she likes you... at least for the moment. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading over to the arcade."

"Wait," said Ichisui. He tried to move and stumbled. He staggered upright just in time to keep the packages from falling again. He teetered strangely, and looked at his feet confused.

Shikasu waggled his fingers at him. "I wired your feet to the packages using the store's awning pole as a pulley. It should make them easier to hold, but it's going to be tough to walk like that. Don't worry, I'll let you out when I get back." Shikasu turned and strolled off.

"Wait!" called Ichisui. "What if your mother comes back before then?"

Shikasu shrugged. "Tell her I was too sneaky for you."


	11. Chapter 6: Lengthening Shadows part 2

Hishyoni grinned savagely as she danced. Oh yeah… she still had it. She had seen her snotty little cousin using the Ninja-Ninja Revolution console earlier and just had sudden the overwhelming urge to play it one more time. Of course that meant she had to chase Hishyota off the thing first, but that was easy enough to do.

She could barely believe that Choji-san had kept this old thing around. One by one the targets buckled as she thumped them with a variety of weaponry. A small crowd had gathered around to watch her. "Level Ten complete." The machine intoned in a deep voice. "Bonus round! Defeat Nega-ninja." On the screen a ninja with glowing red eyes clad all in white appeared. HIshyoni nodded to herself in a pleased way. Not too shabby.  
"Woah," whispered a voice from the crowd. "I've never seen this level before."

"Eh," said a bored sounding voice. "I've gotten there. It's not too hard if you know how."

Hishyoni frowned. "Not that hard?" she thought to herself, pulling out a pair of nunchaku. "I've just blown away the high score! Nobody has ever gotten this far in the game in ages! Who does this little punk think he is?" The Nega-ninja appeared on the screen and right away the tempo for the machine doubled. Hishyoni weaved and dodged. Her nunchaku managed to strike a most of the targets, but more and more she found herself on the defensive. On the screen the white ninja was forcing her little ninja farther and farther back, until finally she slipped out of the ring and fell down the side of a cliff.

"Ring out!" said the machine's voice. "Game Over." There was a smattering of applause from the crowd. Hishyoni smirked proudly as she entered her name on the game's high score list.

"I call next game," said the bored voice. Hishyoni sneered as a young kid made his way through the crowd. He had a large bundle tied to his back almost as big as he was.

"So, you've gotten to level ten before?" she asked the boy coldly.

The boy shrugged. "A couple of times." He slipped the bundle off of his back and began to unwrap it. He looked up at the crowd."You might all want to step back a bit," he said with a shooing motion of his hands. "I'm going to need a little room." He finished unwrapping the bundle.

A whisper flowed through the crowd. "What's that?" someone asked. Hishyoni raised an eyebrow.

"We don't see many puppet users around here," she said, eyeing the boy.

The boy shrugged. "Eh… My mom's family is from Suna. My uncle is teaching me the puppet jutsu." With a clacking noise, the mannikin raised itself up on its spindly legs, turned and bowed to the crowd. It was a simple model of marionette. It had skinny arms and legs and a plain round head. He spun in a little pirouette and did a cartwheel. "Say hello to Mister rubber bones!" called out the boy. He stepped up onto the platform.

"Level One! Begin!" intoned the machine. The boy kept time with his feet, all the while, the puppet danced around him, leaping from target to target. The crown began to gasp. Twenty seconds later he was on level two.

Hishyoni's confident grin faded as the boy blew through levels two, three, four and five. Her frown deepened as he effortlessly passed levels six, seven, eight and nine. Level ten gave him a bit of trouble, he managed to pass that one in a minute. An excited murmur passed through the crowd as the Nega-ninja manifested on the screen.

The boy glanced back at Hishyoni and smirked. "The reason why Nega-ninja is so hard to beat is that the machine is programmed to learn your fighting style from the first ten levels you complete. It's designed to run an analysis of what attacks you like, prevent you from using them, and then throw in some very effective counterattacks for good measure." Nega-ninja pressed his attack, and ever so slowly the boy's little ninja on the screen began to slowly be pushed back. "See?"

"It doesn't look like you are doing much better than I was," said Hishyoni.

"That's because I haven't done my big trick yet," called out the boy.

"What's the trick?"

"Simple... Change your fighting style." The puppet crackled and creaked. It's arms unfolded and lengthened. There was another flurry of snapping noises and the long arms split, and split again. Where the puppet used to have two stick-thin arms, it now had eight long whip-like tentacles that lashed out at the targets.

"Bonus level completed!" said the machine. "Level Eleven start!" Hishyoni clenched her fist as she watched the boy's score get higher and higher. The crowd watching him play the game got larger and larger, and the cheers got louder as well. The levels continued to get more and more difficult, adding more enemies and obstacles, but each time the boy managed another victory.

"Level Twenty finished!" called out the machine. "Bonus Level Two! Nega-ninja!" Once again the white Nega-ninja appeared. A titter of anticipation ran through the crowd. Once again the boy and his puppet began to do battle with the white ninja on the video monitor. Once again the boy's video game icon was being pressed slowly back.

"So now what?" called out a voice from the back.

"Once you've figured out the basics of how the game works," called out the boy, "your optimal strategy is obvious. All you have to do it keep changing your style." The puppet seemed to explode. Its joints separated, and the pieces began to whirl around the boy with blinding speed. He beat out a quick tattoo on each of the targets.

"Bonus Level Two complete!" the machine's deep voice boomed. A cheer rose from the crowd. "Level Twenty One! Begin!" The boy made a quick bow to the crowd, and then spun back and began to dance. A few of the kids watching began to move to the beat as well.

Hishyoni felt the cold ball of anger growing in her belly. "How dare that little punk show me up in front of everyone!" she thought. She eyed the back of the game machine where a thick, heavy, power cable snaked along the floor to an outlet in the wall.

"Flawless victory! Level Twenty Five complete! Level Twenty Six, begin!" boomed the machine. There was another cheer from the group at the front. Hishyoni eased a kunai from the pouch at her back, and held it lightly alongside her leg. "Level Twenty Six complete!" intoned the machine. "Level Twenty Seven begin!" She carefully eyed the power cord.

A huge slab of a hand landed on her shoulder. She flinched at the touch and the kunai dropped from her fingers. A giant of a man leaned down and plucked it from the floor. He brushed his long brown hair out of his eyes and smiled into her face. "Hello Hishyoni," he said just loud enough for her to hear him over the music. "I haven't seen you for a while. How have you been?"

Hishyoni regained her composure. "Akimichi-san."

Choji nodded once toward the Ninja-Ninja Revolution game. "It's quite the frustrating challenge isn't it?" he asked her. "I remember you used to be in here all the time with your old squad playing this game." Choji frowned and looked away for a second. When he turned back, he was all smiles again. "I'm a bit surprised to see you here this afternoon. It has been so long."

Hishyoni looked away. "Three years," she mumbled.

"That's right! The cafe had just become profitable, so Ino and I decided to add the arcade. Back when it first opened you were the first one to get the high score. Out of all the genin in Konoha, no one was in here playing as much as your team." He gestured at the machine. "You with your nunchaku, Hideo with his sword and Masaki with his insects. The three of you would pound away on this for hours." He smiled at the memory.

The last thing Hishyoni wanted to do right now was remember. "Look… Akimichi-san… I'm sorry… I won't…"

Choji waved away her apology. "There's something about this machine that frustrates everybody isn't there? Some of the most level headed shinobi I know have let fly at this infernal thing when it declares 'Game Over'. I've come in here so many times to find someone looking ashamed amid all the wreckage." He gave a small chuckle. "Ino insisted that I install the sign you know?" Choji pointed at the ceiling, and Hishyoni looked up.

Hanging from the ceiling was a large wooden sign stating: 'The following shinobi have been banned from playing the Ninja-Ninja Revolution game: Might Guy, Tsunade Senju, Rock Lee, Sakura Uchiha, Anko Hayate…' The list continued for another ten or so names.

"It looks like you haven't lost your edge. Good job getting the high score again, but that boy there seems to be giving you a run for his money with his puppet jutsu." Choji watched the puppet parts fly around the boy hitting the appropriate targets. "I wonder where he learned the puppet jutsu, that's pretty rare around here."

Hishyoni watched, still angry. "He said his mother is from the Hidden Sand village. His uncle is teaching him."

Choji raised an eyebrow in surprise, and turned to look closer at the boy. "Ahh... well… that would make sense," he said in a sad voice.

Hishyoni looked up at him. "Akimichi-san?" she asked.

Choji shook his head and handed Hishyoni back the kunai she dropped. "I know it's hard watching this little boy do better than you ever did, but it's just a game. It's not worth getting banned for." He smiled a sad smile at her. "It's good to see you Hishyoni-chan. Perhaps you could stop by the house sometime? Ino would be glad to see you."

Hishyoni looked away. She suddenly did not want to be here. "I will try Akimichi-san. But I... have a new squad now. I am often busy with missions."

Choji nodded. "Of course you are." He looked pensive for a moment. "We are all trying to keep busy these days." He sighed and gave her a commiserating grin. "Did you know Ino and I still still wake up in the middle of the night expecting him to still be there? I can only image how you must..." Hishyoni practically threw his hand off her shoulder.

Choji looked at her in surprise. Hishyoni bit her lip. Dammit. She'd broken down right in front of him. "Excuse me Akimichi-san," she murmured. "I have... somewhere else I must be right now." She bolted out of the arcade.

Hishyoni ran, not caring which way she was going. Tears blurred her eyes and made it difficult to see. Someone holding a towering stack of packages outside a store hopped in front of her. "Excuse me! Hishyoni-chan!" the shape called. She gave it a violent shove out of her way. There was a short scream. The packages all tumbled down, and the store's awning collapsed. She didn't care, she just kept on running.

* * *

Choji stared after her sadly. The poor girl. So much had happened to her and she clearly hadn't dealt with it. It was such a shame her parents couldn't help her more. He heaved a great sigh, and then stepped over to watch the boy on the game machine. "Level Twenty Eight complete!" intoned the game.

"The black top-knot and the narrow face," he thought to himself. "I see it now. He has his mother's green eyes though," he smiled, "and her desire to show-boat." The boy completed a series of difficult strikes and whooped with glee. Choji folded his arms and watched.

* * *

"Almost there!" thought Shikasu to himself. That older girl who had been staring at him had run off, and a good thing too, she was giving him the willies. She had the Hyuga eyes and he always thought that those were kinda creepy. She had been talking to this huge guy who was now standing just off to one side, watching him play. Shikasu shrugged. "No time to worry about that now," he thought again. "Mister Rubber Bones and me... we're in the zone!"

Truly, the puppet was responding beautifully today. His strikes and blocks came without a moment's hesitation. "Level Twenty Nine, complete!" said the machine. The crowd murmured excitedly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the giant grin. "Level Thirty begin!" The music pounded fast and furious, the lights flashed, his feet stepped in time to the music and the pieces of mister rubber bones spun through the air like leaves during a storm.

One by one, on the video game screen the enemy ninjas fell. "Level Thirty complete!" said the machine in its deep booming voice, and a hush fell over the crown. "Bonus Level Three! Nega-ninja!" Shikasu grinned like a madman as he felt every eye on him, waiting for his next move. His blood sang, even Mister Rubber Bones seemed eager as he orbited around him in a large defensive cloud. On the video screen, the white nega-ninja gave an evil smile. "Bonus Level Three, start!" Boomed the machine. As the Nega-ninja flew towards Shikasu's little screen icon, a storm of puppet bits flew up to strike the targets.

The puppet froze in mid attack. The nega-ninja charged forward, and with three quick hits, boom boom boom, it was over. There was a disappointed "Aww..." from the crowd.

"Game over," called the machine. Every one of Shikasu's joints was locked in position, creaking with the strain of trying to move. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the giant blink in surprise and then gave a knowing smile.

"Do you by any chance happen to know just how much trouble you are in right now?" asked an annoyed voice. The kids in the crowd looked at Shikasu, looked at Shikamaru and decided that it would be better if they were elsewhere.

"Sorry Dad," said Shikasu in a chipper way. "But it was such a drag waiting for Mom to finish shopping, you know? Besides, I left what's his name there to tell her where I was."

Shikamaru shook his head and released the shadow imitation jutsu. "If 'what's his name' is Ichisui Uchiha, I found him under a collapsed store awning, buried under your mother's shopping." Shikamaru crossed his arms. "It looks like someone had tied him up there with wire."

Shikasu did his best to look innocent. "Huh... That is so weird! Why would someone do that?"

The huge man stepped forward and held out his hand. "Shikamaru... It's good to see you again," he said in a deep rumble.

A small sad grin flashed across his Father's face. After the briefest hesitation, Shikamaru reached out grasped the proffered hand warmly. "Choji," he said with a sentimental edge to his voice. "It's been too long."

Choji pointed at Shikasu. "Is this your boy then? I have been watching him play the game here. He's quite good at it." Shikasu felt his jaw drop open as he slowly realized he was staring at the Choji Akimichi.

Shikamaru shrugged. "He should be, the last time we went to the Hidden Sand village there was a sandstorm that kept us cooped up for a week. All he did was play that blasted thing, day in and day out." Shikamaru looked away for a moment. "How is... your family?" he asked quietly.

"Excuse me?" asked Shikasu, excitement creeping into his voice. "But… You're Choji Akimichi? The Choji Akimichi? From Team Ten?"

Choji made an anxious little smile, and looked at Shikamaru. "I hope that you're only telling the good stories about me."

Shikasu smiled again. "This is great! This is so great! I met your daughter earlier today. She seems very nice," he babbled. "But now… Wow! I get to meet you!"

Choji leaned back, away from all the boundless enthusiasm. "Thank you. Inoji is..."

"But wait… That means that Ino has to be around here somewhere too! This is so cool! We could have like a Team Ten reunion!" He was met with a heavy silence. "Sorry... I know that you guys are probably busy right now, but do you think that maybe later we could all sit down together and you could tell me what it was like to be in the same squad as my dad?" Shikasu gave Choji his most winning smile.

He was a little shocked when Choji turned away. "I'm... not so sure that is going to happen," said Choji in a deep rumble.

"Please?" begged Shikasu. He waved a hand at his father, as he was reassembling mister rubber bones and wrapping him up again. "I keep asking him to talk about it all the time, and he'll tell me the stuff about when you were little... sure, but once we get past a certain point, everything is just 'too troublesome'." His father gave a tired sigh and stared at his feet. "Why doesn't anybody want to talk to me?"

Choji stared at the ceiling. "Some things really are too much of a drag to bring up again," he said quietly.

"But…" Shikasu started.

Shikamaru grabbed his son's arm and pulled. "We need to get going Shikasu." He turned to Choji. "Hey Choji... it was... good seeing you again." Choji nodded once, turned and walked stiffly away. Shikamaru pulled Shikasu out of the arcade.

"Ow! Dad! Calm down! What gives?"

"You are in a lot of trouble young man," said Shikamaru tersely.

"But Dad!" whined Shikasu. Shikamaru said nothing as he dragged his son away.

* * *

Ichisui slowly trod his way down the street, feeling every bruise from where the awning had collapsed on him. Karua had offered to help carry the packages, and he had accepted. Not because he really needed the assistance, but because he just really needed a sympathetic ear right now. "So... she just shoved you out of the way huh?" she asked again in an amused voice.

Ichisui shook his head. He wasn't going to find it here. "Yes," he groaned. "All I needed was a little help. It was worse than if she just ignored me!" They were walking about twenty paces behind Temari, Shikasu and Shikamaru, following them home.

Karua smiled. "I can't believe you fell for that! My brother managed to trap you to the packages and the awning. That must have been hilarious when it all came crashing down."

Ichisui sighed deeply. "It was pretty embarrassing. Definitely not one of my finer moments."

"Nope." Karua looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "But you have to admit, crooning to HIshyoni's parent's window… that definitely has this one beat"

"Ugh…" grunted Ichisui despondently. "I can't do anything right."

Karua gave him a pitying look for a second. "Well, I don't know about you, but personally, this was the nicest pretend date I've ever had." Taking a deep breath, she sidled up to him, stared hopelessly at the arm loads of packages that each of them was holding, and settled for nudging him with her shoulder. "It might not have been perfect… but I didn't think it was too bad."

Ichisui stopped and looked up thoughtfully. "So you thought parts of it... were nice?" he asked quietly. "Like... as far as dates go, it was okay?"

Karua nodded shyly. "It was." She paused and frowned. "Of course, things kind of went downhill after my mother showed up… but yeah, in the beginning it was okay..."

"Almost like a real date then huh?" Ichisui muttered, still looking up, still thinking.

"Parts of it," agreed Karua.

"I wonder… I wonder…" he started.

"Yes?" asked Karua, blushing.

"I wonder if that might be why Hishyoni was so upset with me?" his face was screwed up in thought. "I mean if the whole Chapter Four plan was working, she actually would be getting upset and jealous, right? Your brother and mother have assumed we are dating, why shouldn't she?" He looked over at Karua. "I mean that's a decent theory right?"

Karua was staring at him, her mouth hanging open. Finally, she closed it with a click. "Your powers of perception sometimes astound me," he heard her mutter in a disgusted voice. She stormed on ahead.

"What? You don't think it's possible?" Ichisui walked faster to catch up. Ahead waiting around the entrance to the Nara family home were Shikamaru, Temari and a sullen looking Shikasu.

"So Ichisui," said Shikamaru, when he and Karua had gotten closer. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping my wife carry everything home from their shopping trip today." He glanced at Shikasu. "In spite of everything that happened... So... Thank you very much." He held out his hand.

Ichisui juggled the packages around and managed to get one hand free. "It was my pleasure to help Nara-san," said Ichisui shaking his hand briefly. "Do you want me to carry them inside?"

"That would be…" Shikamaru hesitated as Temari nudged him with her elbow. "No... I guess I can take them in from here," said Shikamaru holding out his arms. Temari gave Shikamaru another nudge. "Oh! Um... We were wondering if you might want to join us for dinner tomorrow night? As a way for us to show our appreciation."

Ichisui bowed. "I would love to join your family for dinner. Unfortunately I have promised my father that I would help him put my younger brothers and sisters to bed that night as my mother will be out of town for a few days. May I respectfully suggest sometime later in the week?"

Temari shook her head sadly. "Oh dear, I am terribly sorry, you see I planning to leave the morning after to go visit my brother for a week."

Ichisui nodded. "I hope you have a good journey. Perhaps when you return?"

Shikamaru smiled. "Sounds like a plan." He took the stack of packages from Ichisui. "Shikasu," he called. "Take your sister's bags and come inside."

Shikasu shrugged. "Why? It's not my stuff. Ow!"

Temari had dinged him across the ear. "Take the packages from your sister and give her some privacy to she can say goodbye to her friend!" She gave a wink to Ichisui and Karua, and herded her husband and son inside.

* * *

A warm evening breeze lazily fluttered down the street. Ichisui stood there, either staring at his shoes, or licking his lips. She looked back at him coolly, wondering what would be the next stupid thing to come out of his mouth. That idiot had a one track mind when it came to Hishyoni. Seriously! He asked her for help and she just shoved him out of the way! How obsessed could he be?

Finally, Ichisui smiled nervously and opened his mouth as if to say something. He glanced up at her and shut his mouth again. This silence was drawing out too long. "What?" she impatiently asked.

"Is it true that your mother knocked out some guy who took you to the spring festival, then stripped him naked, rolled him in poison ivy, and strung him up by the main arch?" he asked, the words coming out in a nervous rush.

"Was Shikasu telling you that old story?" she sighed. Great, she'd have to think up some appropriately painful way to thank her little brother later. "Yes I did go to the spring festival with Makoto. Yes he was a jerk, and yes I did punch him in the face. Did my mother do all that to him afterwards?" Karua shrugged. "Maybe... Maybe it was someone else he had been a jerk to... I don't know. As far as I am concerned, everything between us was over when I hit him." She looked at him quizzically. "Why?"

Ichisui looked at his feet. "I need a another favor." He took a deep breath. "Would you punch me in the face if I was being a jerk?"

"What?"

"Or… You know, if I was doing something inappropriate… or stupid."

Karua put her hands on her hips. "I'm tempted to punch you right now... what are you talking about?"

Ichisui waved his arms around. "I mean this… This pretend date... thing. If my blundering about is offending you… Maybe… Maybe we shouldn't be doing it."

"What?"

"Just now you were mad at me… and as much as I'd like to test out this theory of making Hishyoni jealous, I'd much rather that you not get upset." He exhaled and looked her straight in the eye. "Your friendship is more important to me."

Karua blinked and looked away. Classic Ichisui. Just when you thought he couldn't be any more of an idiot, he did something to remind you that underneath all his naivete, he had the honor as strong as any samurai out of legend. He would always put other people's interests ahead of his own. That was why she still hung out with him. That was why she liked him… as a friend of course.

She realized he was still talking and came back to his words. "...whatever I messed up, I'd appreciate knowing about it. I don't have much… well to be honest any experience with dating, and I'm not sure what…

She waved at him to shut him up. "Forget about it. It's fine."

"Are you sure? Because I'd like to know what I did that…"

"I said it was fine… Sorry for snapping at you earlier." She glanced up at him and glanced away. "It's nothing you did... I'm just… a little on edge... After talking to my mom about you."

Ichisui grimaced. "Ah… Do you want me to explain things to her? I could…"

"No!" Karua yelped before getting her voice back under control. She cleared her throat. "No. Things will be… fine."

Ichisui nodded. He shuffled his feet. "So… should we stop the Pretend date thing or…?"

Karua exhaled and shook her head. "No… We might as well… give it a try." She felt her face give him a weak smile. "Like you said… you could use the dating practice."

Ichisui nodded again and glanced upwards. His dark eyes peering shyly out at her from under his bangs. "And you promise… If I'm being an idiot… You'll tell me, or punch me right away at least? I won't have to wait for your mother to strip me naked and string me up to find out?"

Karua laughed. "You are so cute when you are nervous." She smiled at him. "I promise, if you do anything that's inappropriate, I'll punch your lights out... And I won't tell my mother."

Ichisui hugged her. "Thanks Karua," he said, resting his head next to hers. "You are truly a good friend to put up with all of this."

Karua gave him a small hesitant squeeze. "That's what friends are for isn't it?" Ichisui smiled one more time, waved, and headed off home.

Karua gave a small wave to his turned back. Then she took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and went in to face her mother.

* * *

The sun slowly sank. Nestled beside a chimney on an adjoining roof, a dark figure furiously scribbled on a small scrap of paper. He tied the fragment around the leg of a small bird and flung it into the air. The bird circled and soared off. The figure then settled back to watch the Nara household.

* * *

**_Author's Note:_**

The concept of the Ninja Ninja Revolution video game was blatantly stolen from the movie "Scott Pilgrim vs The World" an extremely fun and clever film that I recommend highly. The idea of mixing a Dance Dance Revolution game and Ninja fighting just fit too well in the Naruto-verse (or at least this KCC 'flavor' of it) for me to ignore.

Hopefully, Bryan Lee O'Malley will accept this 'word of mouth advertising' for his wonderful creation as a 'fair trade'


	12. Chapter 7: Nightfall Part 1

**Chapter Seven: Nightfall**

"Thank you again for lending me your notes on sealing scripts. I would not have been able to make that breakthrough in my project without them," Kusumina said to Mibuki. The door to the Academy library swung shut behind them. They turned off the gravel path and walked down the darkening street. One by one the street lamps flickered and came on, lighting their way. "I never imagined that the underlying symbols sequence used in the summoning jutsu was so complex. The ritual itself is so simple! I am so lucky I happened to bump into you!" She smiled and looked at Mibuki. "You are not going to get into trouble for staying so late to help me are you?"

Mibuki shrugged. "Maybe a little... but it will definitely be worth it."

"Oh?"

Mibuki glanced at her. "You know how my mom is leaving tomorrow to visit Grandma Tsunade? Well, before she leaves to go on trips like these she usually likes to cook dinner for everyone. She says: 'It makes me feel like I'm saying a proper goodbye' you know?"

"Ah... I have always found your mother's cooking to be very... interesting," said Kusumina delicately.

The Uchiha boy gave an embarrassed smile and fidgeted with his glasses. "That's very polite of you to say so. I heard a story once that the interrogation squad had caught an enemy shinobi. For three days they questioned him with no result." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "On the fourth day they brought the shinobi a bento that my mother had made, and forced him to eat it. They said he would get a bento like that morning, noon, and night until he talked. Ten minutes later, they had all the information they needed."

Kusumina giggled. "That was clever. Almost exactly like something Jiraiya would say."

Mibuki grinned. "Thanks. It's an honor to be compared to your brother's wit." There was a pause as they they walked side by side, smiling at each other. "So what is all the study for anyway?"

Kusumina looked away shyly. "Well, you know how Hishyota has mastered shadow clone jutsu and the jukken forms?" Mibuki nodded. "And how Jiraiya is working with his water nature chakra and is trying to master the rasengan?"

"I'm sure you will find your own areas of expertise among your parent's jutsu," said Mibuki.

Kusumina smiled at him. "Oh, I'm sure I will, but with my siblings working so hard and doing so well, it felt wrong for me to just sit around and wait for for my parents to find the time in their busy schedules to teach me more jutsu. So I started looking for jutsu I could learn by myself."

Mibuki stopped. "Um, Kusumina, if you are thinking of trying to learn the summoning jutsu on your own, I should warn you that trying the summoning jutsu without entering into a contract with an animal is really dangerous."

Kusumina giggled. "Oh no, don't worry, I wouldn't try anything like that. Thank you for worrying about me though." She blushed bashfully. "I have something else in mind."

Mibuki looked puzzled. "Like summoning objects off of a scroll?"

Kusumina just smiled. "You are getting warmer, but I don't want to tell anyone unless I can make it work. Okay?"

"Can't you at least give me a hint?" asked Mibuki.

She shook her head. "I shouldn't."

"Please?"

Kusumina thought for a moment. "All right," she said. "Here's a hint. It is an old family jutsu, but neither of my parents mastered it."

"Hmm… Is it from the Hyuga clan?" asked Mibuki thoughtfully.

"I'm not saying anything else," said Kusumina playfully. "But if I can get it to work you'll be the first person I show. Okay?"

Mibuki shrugged. "I guess. Let me know if you need to borrow my notes again." They had arrived at the street where their ways home diverged. They stopped and turned to each other.

"I will," said Kusumina. "Thank you again for your help."

"Anytime," said Mibuki. "I'll see you tomorrow."

They parted ways. Kusumina happily strolled on home. She watched the fireflies twinkle in the air. Reaching the front entryway to her house she sat down and took off her shoes. Then she walked inside. She found Hishyota lounging in the living room, reading a book. "Sister," she called. "How are you this evening?"

Hishyota grunted in response. Kusumina reached out to slide open the door to the hallway. "I'd wait if I were you," said Hishyota. "Mom is... kind of upset right now."

Kusumina slid the door back closed. "What happened?"

Hishyota turned a page. "Well, from what I could make out between all the shouting, crying and protests of innocence, Jiraiya took Sasuko out for ice cream, and stuffed him full of free samples. Then the people at the ice cream place got upset, and Jiraiya got into a fight with them and caused what the ANBU have since declared was an 'indecent breach of the peace". Then our two brothers went on the lam for a grand total two hours before an ANBU patrol caught up with them and dragged them home. Mom, understandably, got upset and started yelling at Jiraiya." Hishyota took another breath. "And then… in order to deflect her wrath, Jiraiya showed mom where dad was hiding his secret ramen stash."

Kusumina cringed, and glanced at the decorative urn. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh is right," said Hishyota, turning another page. "It gets worse then that though. While mom is in the middle of raving about dad and his ramen addiction, Sasuko, who was supposed to be getting on clean clothes, starts puking all over his bedroom." Hishyota looked over the cover of her book. "Apparently, stuffing a three year old full of ice cream, and then have him run away from the cops is a guaranteed recipe for nausea. Who knew?"

Kusumina looked down. "I see." She slowly slid the door open. "Thank you for the warning Hishyota." Her sister nodded once and went back to reading. Kusumina stepped through the doorway and slowly padded down the hall.

She found her mother wearily sitting in the kitchen, her head in her hands. "Mother?" she asked politely. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Hinata waved her over and gave her a hug. "Just tell me that you didn't get into any trouble today."

"No Mother."

Hinata sighed. "Good. Some days, the men in this family are too much for me." She stood up and brushed down her formal clothes. She frowned at a suspicious stain on the sleeve of her jacket. "Kusumina, could you please get dinner started? Apparently some members of our family need to be eating much much healthier, so could you just start the rice cooking and cut up some fish and vegetables? There will be nothing fancy tonight. I need to change and get this cleaned up if I don't want it ruined by pre-digested ice cream. I'll be back down as soon as I'm dressed." As she was leaving the kitchen, she turned to Kusumina. "Thank you dear, for always being such a big help."

Kusumina smiled. She got out the big pot and filled it halfway with water and set it to boil. She pulled out the vegetables and began to wash them. "Psst!" hissed a voice. She did not even turn around.

"Jiraiya," she said in a cool voice. "You should really come here and help me."

Jiraiya slunk out from behind the corner and into the kitchen. "Hey Sis," he said glumly.

"Go get the fish out of the refrigerator," ordered Kusumina. Jiraiya did as he was told. He placed the fish sheepishly next to Kusumina on the counter.

Kusumina still refused to look at him. "Now, go get a knife and scale the fish." Jiraiya pulled a knife from a drawer and got to work. "You need to apologize," said Kusumina coldly.

"Sorry," murmured Jiraiya.

Kusumina turned. "Not to me! To mother! Do you know what an embarrassment that was for her to have you brought home by the ANBU? How many members of her clan will have heard of this by tomorrow? Do you know what this will do to her standing? What were you thinking anyway?"

Jiraiya turned red. "I was thinking, Hey! Free samples."

Kusumina glared at him. "And how many of these free samples did Sasuko eat?"

"A lot," admitted Jiraiya.

"Do you think he would have been sick if you had only bought him a small ice cream cone?" she said in an acidic tone.

"No," said Jiraiya in a small voice.

"Do you think he would have been sick if you had just paid the shopkeepers instead of fighting with them and running away like maniacs when the police chased you?"

"No."

"Did you help mother with the clean up?"

"No," whimpered Jiraiya.

Kusumina snorted in disdain. "You need to apologize."

"Sorry," Jiraiya muttered.

Kusumina glared at him. "Not to me... You need to apologize to Mom."

Jiraiya sighed. "But I was just trying to..."

Kusumina held up a finger. "Ah?"

Jiraiya closed his eyes and exhaled. "Fine." He quickly filleted the fish. He tossed the strips into the wok and added the vegetables that Kusumina had chopped. A cloud of steam and a savory smell filled the kitchen.

Hinata walked down stairs dressed in loose fitting pants and a top. "Kusumina something sure smells delicious! Did you...?" She caught sight of Jiraiya standing sheepishly in the kitchen and paused.

Jiraiya stared down at his feet. "I'm sorry mom," he mumbled quietly. "I really screwed up this time."

Hinata stepped up to him and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry as well. I shouldn't have gotten as upset as I did." She squeezed him close. "I love you."

"Ack!" said Jiraiya, who was getting smothered.

Hinata smiled at him and mussed his hair, then she turned. "Kusumina have you seen your father? I hope he's not going to be late."

Kusumina shook her head. "I didn't see him on the way home, Mother."

Jiraiya raised a hand. "I saw him this afternoon... I think he was... going somewhere with Sasuke-san."

Hinata sighed. "Well I hope he doesn't take too long." She narrowed her eyes. "I desperately need to have a talk with him."

* * *

Ichisui thoughtfully walked back home. He kept replaying the events of the afternoon in his mind. "Hishyoni definitely did seem upset, and I am... almost positive it was because she saw me out with Karua." he decided.

Their 'date' had been nice… very nice. True, helping Temari-san with all of her diplomatic purchases was not exactly what he had in mind, but it was good to spend time with Karua. They didn't see each other as often since they'd been promoted to chunin, and he had been missing her. Thinking about the was she smiled at him, the way the sunlight shone off her hair, the way she held his hand, he idly wondered for a second or two what it would be like to actually go on a real date with Karua Nara.

He quickly shook that idea away. Karua was a wonderful friend, nothing more. It was clear that she would never have an interest in him romantically. One clumsy afternoon with him was enough to try her patience. The only woman who'd ever shown a moment's passion for him had been Hishyoni Hyuga.

He'd be better off spending his time trying to figure out how to get back in her good graces. Ichisui pulled out his copy of The Art of Getting Any Woman You Want and leafed through it.

"Chapter Five," he read under his breath, "Setting the Bait. By now you will have attracted the attention of your quarry. The next step is to lure them into a successful romance. In order to accomplish this you will have to find the perfect balance of what the woman desires and finds scary. Another way to look at this is yin and yang. Too much desire (yin) and the woman finds you boring. Too much scary (yang) and the woman finds you unappealing. Women are constantly seeking the type of man that I like to call the 'sensitive warrior'. They want a challenge, but they are also looking for potential that they can work with. This is best summed up in the following absolutely true story that happened to me after a mighty battle. I had been grievously wounded in the thigh and sought shelter in a cow shed. Unfortunately the only way to treat my injuries meant that I had to remove my trousers. As I was sitting there, doctoring myself, a milkmaid just happened to..." Ichisui bumped into someone and dropped the book.

"Hey, watch where you're going Uchiha!" an angry voice snarled.

Ichisui bowed. "I am terribly sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. Next time I shall be more careful."

There were three chunin crowding him, a tall one, a fat one, and a short skinny one. The tall one grinned a feral smile at him, and casually stepped on the fallen book. "What's the matter Ichisui? Are you trying to pick a fight here?" he asked.

"Please," said Ichisui. "I will apologize as many times as is necessary, but I would like to have the book back. It doesn't belong to me you see."

"Book?" said the fat one innocently. "I don't see any book. Do you see a book?"

"Nope," said the skinny one. "No books here. Just a little Uchiha who has forgotten his manners."

"I'll tell you what," said the tall one leaning over. "Maybe, just maybe if you get down and apologize properly for bumping into us, we'll help you look for this book you... lost." He ground Sai's handbook into the street with his foot. "What do you say to that?"

Ichisui sighed and knelt down. He touched his forehead to the street. "I am terribly sorry for bumping into you sirs. It was my fault and I shall be more careful next time. Please do I have your forgiveness?"

Silence was his only response. "Please do I have your forgiveness?" he asked again. Slowly he lifted his head and looked up. The street was empty except for "The Art of Getting Any Woman You Want' lying forlornly in the middle of the road. "Huh,"he said.

He reached out and picked up the book. He looked around a second time and got to his feet. A chill gust of wind stirred the leaves littering the boulevard. A little worried he started to walk home again at a much faster pace.

* * *

The tall chunin opened his eyes. He was standing on hard packed black sand that stretched as far as the eye could see. Overhead bright white stars gleamed in the nighttime sky. "What the hell?" he asked as he turned around.

His companions were there as well, looking equally confused. "Where did the village go?" asked the skinny one in a quavering voice.

"Where are we?" muttered the fat one. A cool breeze began to blow across the black desert, driving a fine cloud of stinging sand with it. As the breeze died down the crunch of approaching footsteps could be heard.

"Stay close," whispered the tall one. He and his companions drew kunai and stood together back to back, in a tight triangle. The footsteps grew closer. "Who's out there?" called the tall one. "Show yourself!"

The footsteps stopped. A figure cloaked in black could be barely seen, outlined against the stars. "What's happening?" asked the skinny one. "Who are you?" The figure remained silent, watching.

The wind began to blow again. But this time, as it shifted the sand, it carried with it the sound of voices. "Who... Are... You?" the wind and sands seemed to echo back.

"What do you want?" called out the fat chunin, trembling.

"What... Do... You... Want?" murmured the breeze.

The tall chunin maintained his courage. "We are shinobi of the Hidden Leaf village! If you mean to harm us, know that we will defend ourselves."

"Harm... Harm... Harm..." The shadowy figure raised its head and began to step forward again. This was too much for the skinny chunin. He hurled his kunai at the figure. The shadow raised one arm, and the knife froze in mid-flight. It hovered for a second and then clattered to the ground. The other two chunin threw kunai and shuriken as well, but the cloaked figure dismissed these as well with a wave of its hand.

The fat ninja performed a series of hand signs. "Fire style, great fireball jutsu!" he called out. The figure made the fire ball vanish with a snap of its fingers. With the second snap, ice began to form around the fat chunin. It crackled around his body and left his mouth frozen in a silent scream.

"Earth style, stone spears jutsu!" called out the skinny chunin. A hedge of stone spikes erupted from the ground towards the dark figure, but it kept on walking. As the stone points touched the cloak, it crumbled and turned to dust. The shadow slowly raised one hand. The fine sand swirled around the skinny chunin, plastering itself to his skin, clothes and hair. When the swirl of dust had passed the he looked like a skinny statue carved from black marble.

"Keep back!" the tall chunin called out. "I mean it!"

The black figure stopped walking forward. It tilted its head as if looking at the tall chunin up and down. "Leave... Uchiha... Alone..." whispered the wind.

"What?" gasped the chunin.

"Leave... Uchiha... Alone..." was again whispered on the breeze.

The tall chunin narrowed his eyes. "Leave the Uchiha alone?" He glanced quickly at his companions. Then he looked quickly at the landscape. "This is a genjutsu," he smiled cruelly. "Nice try Uchiha," he laughed. "You managed to snare my buddies, but you'll never beat me." He closed his eyes and focused his chakra. "When I get out of this, I'm going to beat seven kinds of hell out of you. Release!" he called out. He opened his eyes.

The dark figure was still there on the sand, looking at him quizzically. The tall chunin tried again. "Release!" he called out. Nothing happened. "Release" he called out more desperately. The figure stepped forward again. Crunch, crunch crunch, went its feet on the sand. "Release!" cried the chunin one last time.

A dark tentacle snaked from the cloaked figure and yanked he chunin from the ground. It hung him upside down in front of the shadow's face. The tall chunin could see a pair of red eyes glowing under the hood.

The figure gave a small chuckle. "This is indeed a genjutsu," it rasped. "But I am not Ichisui. You are very clever. But not clever enough to escape. Consider this a warning for you and your friends." The tentacle shook him and the chunin yelped with fear. "Leave the Uchiha alone." The tentacle dropped him on the sand where he landed with a thud. The shadowy figure began to walk away. "As a punishment, I will leave you here for eight hours. If you do not heed my warning, next time I will leave you here forever."

"You can't do this to me!" shouted the chunin. "You can't leave me here alone! I will figure out who you are and I will make you and the Uchiha pay!"

The figure stopped. It snapped its fingers. The fat and skinny chunin immediately unfroze and collapsed to the sand, gasping for breath. "You are quite right," rasped the shadow. "I give you back your companions." A tremor shook the ground. Far away, against the stars, something raised its huge head and screamed into the night. Rows of teeth gleamed in the dim starlight. "I also leave you a friend of mine." The shadow gave a rough chuckle. "I would start running if I were you... this nightmare will last for another seven hours and fifty eight minutes… That's a long time to be eaten." Its footsteps receded on the sand. "If I hear of you three bothering any Uchiha again... I will pay you another visit." The earth trembled as the huge beast drew closer.

The chunin turned and started to run.

* * *

In a nearby alleyway, Hana Uchiha stared at the three chunin she had left lying amongst the trash. They moaned with fear and their legs twitched as they ran from their nightmares. She gave them a cold smile. She was getting much stronger. It had been easy trap the three chunin in her genjutsu... four chunin if you counted making Ichisui see nothing but an empty street. It had been so very easy… but still satisfying. Hana pulled up the hood on her cloak, carefully checked to make sure no one had seen her, and headed for home.

* * *

"...So smile! Stand tall! Let's do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Bacchikoi bacchikoi baybee! Hooo!" sang Sasuke and Naruto as they danced down the street. Naruto tripped over a loose cobble stone and sprawled face down. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"You are such an idiot!" chuckled Sasuke.

Naruto smiled. "Hey, if the Hokage can't walk down the street singing bad karaoke, then what's the point of being the Hokage?" He stood up and brushed himself off. A pair of elderly women were gaping at him from the other side of the street. He gave them a big smile and an extravagant bow. "Ladies," he called out. "A lovely evening for a stroll isn't it?" The pair glared at him disapprovingly, and stalked off. Naruto dissolved into the giggles.

"You my friend, are drunk," Sasuke pointed out.

"I most certainly am not," Naruto said pulling himself upright. "A tiny bit tipsy perhaps, but not drunk. Are you insinuating that I can't hold my liquor?"

Sasuke smiled. "No, not at all, I'm sure that the street jumps out in front of you all the time, seeking revenge."

"Hmp," said Naruto turning up his nose. "Well if I'm drunk it's only because I whipped your butt so bad in that sparring match that you had to buy three extra rounds."

Sasuke smiled and shook his head. "That's not how I remember it. Besides, you bought me way more beer than I bought you."

"Oh yeah? Prove it!"

"Okay, I will!" said Sasuke. He pondered for a moment. "Okay! Here's what we'll do… We'll have a race. If you win, that means that I'm drunker than you and I won the sparring match, because I drank more. If I win that means, it means I'm the better runner."

Naruto nodded once. "Right! I've got you beat here." He froze for a moment. "Hey, wait… that doesn't make any sense!"

"The finish line is the clock tower," said Sasuke, ignoring him. "Ready, set go!" he yelled rapidly and immediately took off running. Naruto sprinted after him.

They raced through the streets. Naruto grabbed the back of Sasuke's shirt, slowing him down. As Naruto passed him, Sasuke stuck out his foot causing him to stumble. "Later slowpoke!" Sasuke called over his shoulder as he sprinted up the side of a building and cut across a rooftop.

Naruto growled and charged after him. They leaped from rooftop to rooftop through the evening air. Around chimneys and over water towers they dodged and weaved. An old man leaned out his window and bellowed, "Go home you rotten kids!" at them as they ran by.

Sasuke glanced back. Naruto was ten or so paces back. "Heh. There's no way that doofus will catch me now," he thought. He turned ahead and gaped in surprise. He had run into a huge flock of pigeons roosting on the roof for the night. The pigeons let out a huge choral squawk and took flight. Sasuke covered his face with his arms as he was bombarded by flapping wings.

The rooftop was thick with pigeon guano, and his boots gave him no traction. He slipped and skidded and somehow found enough purchase to come to a halt. He looked down through the cloud of feathers. He was teetering right on the edge of the roof.

Naruto barreled right through the cloud of angry birds and crashed into him. They both screamed and went over the edge. Sasuke twisted in the air and managed to grab the gutter on the roof. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's foot. They hung there as the cloud of pigeons fluttered around and made a ruckus.

"Nice move there Hokage-sama," said Sasuke.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who stopped right on the edge of the roof in the middle of a race," grumbled Naruto.

"I wasn't the one who decided it would be a good idea to run through a cloud of birds into something I couldn't see!" yelled Sasuke.

Naruto looked sheepish. "I thought it was some new jutsu of yours… I didn't want to let it slow me down." He looked up at Sasuke. "What are you waiting for? Pull us up already."

"I can't," said Sasuke. "The roof is covered with crap. It is too slippery. It's all I can do just to hang on here. Can you swing over and reach the wall? Oof!" Sasuke groaned as Naruto swung out and kicked his feet at the wall.

"Nope," said Naruto. "It's too far."

Sasuke looked around. The birds were still flying around him making a fuss. "Well, at least someone will be bound to see us up here."

"I hope they hurry up, my arms are getting tired," grumbled Naruto.

"Your arms? How do you think mine feel?" retorted Sasuke. "Hey get off!"

"Are you crazy?" called Naruto. "It's a ten meter drop!"

"I'm not talking to you," said Sasuke grouchily. Naruto craned his neck to look up. There was a pigeon roosting on Sasuke's head, cooing quietly to itself.

"Dad?" called up a voice from the street.

Both Sasuke and Naruto looked down. "Hana!" called Sasuke. "I am glad to see you!"

Hana raised an eyebrow at the pair of them. "Dad, why are you hanging from a roof?"

"It's a long story sweetie, do you think you could... Ack! I said get off!" Sasuke yelled at a second pigeon that had landed next to the first one.

"Is that the Hokage holding on to your foot there?" asked Hana.

"Hi Hana!" called out Naruto. "How was your mission today?" He tried to wave, and almost slipped off Sasuke's foot. He scrambled madly to regain his hold.

"Arg! Quit it Naruto!" groaned Sasuke in pain. The gutter he was holding on to gave an ominous creak. "Hana, do you think you could… Get lost you stupid birds!" Two more pigeons had stopped their flapping and landed on him.

"Dad?" said Hana. "Why are there a bunch of pigeons on your head?"

Naruto giggled. "That's because your dad is a chick magnet! Get it?"

Sasuke sighed as another three pigeons landed on his shoulders. He looked down at Hana. "Sweetie, listen to me. I really need you to…" There was a screech of tortured metal as one end of the gutter gave way. The gutter slowly bent down under the weight of Sasuke, Naruto and seven pigeons. There was a sharp 'ping' as the other end broke, and dumped them all very unceremoniously in a pile of trash on the side of the street.

"Hmm," said Naruto sitting up. "That was smellier than I was expecting. But it was softer too, so I guess that it's okay."

Sasuke groaned. "I really don't want to know what I'm lying in do I?"

Naruto looked over. He poked at the oozing trash bag with one finger. "Nope, you really don't want to know."

Hana took a few tentative steps towards them. "Dad, why are you here? Shouldn't you be heading towards home?"

"Oh Gods." Sasuke pulled himself upright. "Your mother is making dinner tonight isn't she?"

Hana's face looked carefully blank. "She said she wanted to make something special for her family before she has to leave."

Sasuke nodded. "Well, we can't be missing your mother's special dinner then... can we?"

"Hey!" called out Naruto. "What about the race?"

Sasuke shrugged. "We'll have to finish it another time. You of all people should know what Sakura is like when she is mad."

"I think you're just afraid you'll lose," said Naruto

Sasuke turned. "I was in the lead! There was no way you could catch me. Look, I just need to get home so my wife doesn't get angry at me!"

"Sasuke is a chicken! Cluck cluck cluck!" called Naruto.

"Oh, like an angry Sakura doesn't frighten you." Sasuke folded his arms.

Naruto stood up, folded his arms and stared back at Sasuke. "The Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village fears no man!" he declared.

Hana covered her nose and took a step back. "The Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village needs a bath." Sasuke laughed. "It's not funny Dad," said Hana. "You need one too. You smell as bad as he does."

Naruto grinned. "That's us Hidden Leaf shinobi for you: Fearless, but stinky." He turned to Sasuke. "Come on Sasuke, let's just finish the race, it won't take long the clock tower is right over there." Naruto turned and nodded at the clock tower. He did a double take when he saw the hour. "Crap! Is that the time? Hinata is going to kill me!"

"I thought the Hokage feared no man?" asked Sasuke, amused.

"Hey," said Naruto. "When Sakura gets mad, she punches you once and then it's all over. When Hinata gets mad, she doesn't say anything. She just does this angry stare thing, and then I have to go through every little thing that I might have done, until I find whatever it is that I did that made her mad… and half the time the other stuff just makes her more mad! If I'm lucky, she bursts into tears and no matter how much I apologize, it still takes weeks to make it up to her. I'd rather deal with one punch any day." Naruto bowed to Sasuke and Hana. "Hana it was good to see you. Sasuke, I'll have to kick your ass next time." He jogged off.

"Naruto! Your house is that way," Sasuke called.

"I know!" Naruto called back. "I'm going to go jump in the canal real quick. I'd rather come home soaking wet than smelling like this!" Off he ran.

"Huh," grunted Sasuke thoughtfully. "That's not such a bad idea."

Hana shook her head. "I wouldn't dad. If you want to clean off, find someplace else."

"Why not use the river?"

Hana shrugged. "It's goose mating season. They are really territorial and freakishly aggressive." She smiled a little. "There are also about three hundred of them swimming in the canal right now."

* * *

Hana walked home with her dripping wet father. "So, you aren't worried about exposing your daughter to your life of petty crime?" She and Sasuke had snuck back to the grounds of the Hokage's mansion and taken a quick dip in the koi pond, much to the consternation of the fish. Hana had very quietly kept watch while her father had quickly rinsed off.

Sasuke shook his head. "Nope. I'm sure that as far as crime goes, that was one of the smaller ones you've ever taken part in."

Hana looked away. "I don't know what you mean."

Sasuke shrugged. "After our meeting with the Hokage today, Kakashi-sensei quietly asked me if I happened to hear anything about a series of genjutsu assaults that were occurring in the village. He said something about how they tended to go beyond the usual pranks and tricks. He said they pulled stuff straight from your nightmares."

"Really?" asked Hana in a quiet voice.

Sasuke nodded. "Yup. He then asked me if I had ever had any encounters with this long list of shinobi. All of them were younger than I was, but I said I recognized some of the names from my children's classes at school. He asked if I was aware that most of these young ninjas were known bullies, or were observed to have picked on Ichisui, you, or Mibuki." Her father paused meaningfully. Hana just kept looking at the street. "The ANBU are treating it as just a regular tussle between kids, but Kakashi wanted to give me a little warning to pass on. He said there was some real high-level genjutsu being used. He told me the ANBU medics were quite impressed." He glanced at Hana. "...and nervous. He said that there was quite a bit of concern that if the genjutsu had been just a little bit more powerful, some of those kids would need some serious medical attention." Sasuke stopped at looked at Hana. "He asked me to make sure that no lines were crossed."

"So? What am I supposed to do? Let everyone just keep on picking on my family?"

Sasuke smiled. "My daughter the avenger," his smile faded. "No. I'm telling you to cool off a little bit. Your brothers are from the Uchiha clan. They can take care of themselves. They don't need some mystery vigilante fighting their battles for them."

"Fine. Whatever." Hana rolled her eyes.

Sasuke put his hand on her shoulder. "Hana... Kakashi was kind enough to let us off with a polite warning here. We are lucky we have friends in high places. If not for them, many of the villagers, councilors and shinobi here would be very happy to seize on this sort of thing in order to make life very… unpleasant for us."

"More unpleasant than it already is… gee, that takes some imagining." Hana frowned. "Why are we here anyway? If everyone wants us gone so bad… Why don't we just leave?"

Sasuke smiled at her. "Not everybody hates us. We've got our share of friends here as well."

"Things were a lot easier when we were all alone. The friends we have don't make up for everything else," Hana fumed. She looked up and saw her father smiling softly at her. "What?" she asked.

"You just remind me of someone."

"Who?" she asked.

Her father suddenly stopped and looked around the street. "This almost looks like the place, you know?" he said half to himself.

"What place?" asked Hana confused.

Sasuke smiled. "The place where your mother first told me she loved me," he said quietly. Hana looked at him quizzically. "It wasn't really here. That street was destroyed along with the rest of the old Leaf village. But Tsunade-sama tried to keep as much of the plans and designs for the new village the same as the old one." He nodded to the new street. "Same style benches, same style cobblestones, same cherry trees lining the way."

"Wait. I thought you were still… away when Pain destroyed the village."

Sasuke smiled at her. "I was. This was before all that." He took a deep breath and inhaled the air. "The cherry blossoms are blooming. Do me another favor and keep an eye out as I go on another crime spree." Sasuke hopped up on a stone wall lining the street. Standing on tiptoe, he could just reach one of the low hanging branches.

Her father was reminiscing. This was... incredibly unusual. The only time she'd ever heard him talk about his past had been in the context of dire warnings about how unscrupulous people would try to steal their sharingan. "So when was this, exactly?" asked Hana, delicately trying to keep him talking.

"Hmm?" Sasuke was busy sawing away on a branch with a kunai.

"When did all of this happen?"

Sasuke smiled. "Oh… A long, long time ago." He glanced at Hana over his shoulder. "It was the very night I left the Leaf Village. Your mother was smart enough to figure out that I was going, so she lay in wait for me on the way out of town."

"So what happened? Did she beat you up to get you to stay?"

Sasuke laughed. "Sakura was... a very different person back then. She wasn't the chief of surgery, she wasn't the prize student of the fifth Hokage... Believe it or not, there was a time when your mother wasn't able to level a building with a single punch." He paused and wiped sawdust from his face. "She was incredibly smart, and had fantastic chakra control, but other than that she was a completely average genin." He made a small snort. "I also thought she was annoying as hell."

"What?" asked Hana, shocked.

"Keep in mind, I was just a twelve year boy at this point." Sasuke changed his grip on the branch and started sawing the other side. "Sakura was always saying 'Ooh Sasuke, let's go on a romantic walk!' or 'Sasuke let me help you with that!' Or trying to talk to me about some silly thing I couldn't really care less about. All I really cared about was getting stronger, and building a name for myself and…" Sasuke frowned. "Well you get the idea."

"Anyway, Orochimaru had made me an offer. 'Come join the Sound village and I'll give you all the power you will ever need.' I was angry. All I could think about was getting my revenge." Sasuke paused.

"So... this was about Uncle Itachi?" asked Hana.

"Itachi, yeah," said Sasuke. He stood there balancing on the wall, one hand holding on to a branch, staring at nothing. "I wanted him dead. He was stronger that I could ever imagine back then. So I took Orochimaru up on his offer." Her father sighed. "I decided, who needs friends? I packed my things and left. On the way out of the village I stopped to look at each of the places that should have meant something to me... the academy, the Hokage's office, pictures of my teammates... I convinced myself that all of them meant nothing... less than nothing. They were just chains holding me back. All that mattered was my revenge on my brother. If I was going to be successful... I needed power."

"Like I said, your mother figured out I was going. I don't know why I was surprised, she was the smart one on our team. She waited for me on the road here and told me not to go. I told her to keep her nose out of my business. She tried to remind me of all the good times we had in our squad... she tried to tell me that revenge wasn't the answer." Sasuke sighed. "All that proved to me was that she just didn't understand... That no one would understand. I tried to tell her that this was the path I had to take. This was my choice." Sasuke stopped and looked at the street.

"Go on," prompted Hana.

"She said that I had shown her that loneliness was a terrible thing, and here I was isolating myself again. She said she knew how painful it was to be lonely. She said she might have a family, and friends, but if I left... she would feel all alone."

Sasuke looked up at the stars, just starting to appear. "Then she said that she loved me. Since my parents... died, no one had said that to me. There was always a crowd of girls following me around, vying for my attention, being annoying. For the longest time I thought she was one of those." He smiled. "At the start she was one of those. But she slowly proved herself to be something more… I thought about staying. I almost stayed. Almost." Sasuke surreptitiously wiped his face.

"So what happened?" asked Hana quietly.

Sasuke shrugged. "I made the wrong choice. I left. I decided that the one goal I was fixating on, my revenge, was more important than everything else in my life... And it almost cost me everything." He started sawing on the branch again. "Thankfully, I was lucky. I got a second chance. It wasn't as good as it might have been, but I decided to make the most of it." The branch broke with a loud crack. A rain of fragrant petals floated through the air and drifted down to the street. Sasuke caught the branch and looked at it critically. "What do you think?" he said holding it up for Hana's inspection. "Too big? Too small? Will your mother like it?"

"It's good." said Hana. She looked at her father and decided to ask the big question… the one he always avoided. "So... Dad. Why did you come back here?"

Sasuke looked at the branch. "It is a good one," he said happily.

"Dad," said Hana quietly. "I asked you a question."

"I came back because Naruto brought me back," said Sasuke. "And before you start asking me for more details, I will tell you now, I am not drunk enough to tell you." He started to walk back to his house. "Come on, your mother is waiting for us."

Hana followed him. "Does Mom know why you came back?"

Sasuke shrugged. "She knows that I love her enough to endure hell for her. I think she's satisfied with that."

* * *

Naruto jogged down the street. He was covered in bruises, and dripping wet. Bits of garbage were still stuck to his back, and feathers were clumped in his hair. He quietly eased open the gate to his house, and started to sneak down the pathway to the main door.

The door was wide open shedding a long rectangle of light into the yard. Hinata's shadow stretched out onto the lawn.

Naruto gulped. Then he put on his brightest smile and stepped forward. "Hi beautiful!" he called cheerily. "Sorry I'm late! You would not believe the day I just had at the office!" Hinata stood there in cold silence, one foot rhythmically tapping on the ground. Naruto's smile faltered. "Well, I'm not really late because of the office, Sasuke and I had a sparring match and it went a little late." Tap, tap tap, tap. "...And well, then the winner of the bout had to buy the drinks for the loser, only we couldn't quite figure out who won, so we ended up buying drinks for each other." Tap, tap, tap, tap. "...And then we went out for karaoke?" he said in a nervous voice. The tapping continued. "...And then we had a race, only we were attacked by pigeons and fell in a dumpster." Tap, tap, tap, tap. Naruto looked down at his feet. "...And then I tried to clean myself off by jumping in the canal, but then I was attacked by a flock of geese, and that is why I'm late," he mumbled. "I'm really really sorry," he said quietly.

Naruto glanced up. Hinata was still glaring at him, tapping one foot. Naruto raised one eyebrow. "You're not mad because I'm late? Oh!" he said, relief in his voice. "Well, let me take a shower really quick and I'll join all of you for dinner." He took a step towards the open door.

Hinata blocked him with one upraised arm. Pinched between her thumb and forefinger was the paper lid attached to a cup of instant ramen. Hinata tapped her foot again. Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Naruto looked from the cup, to his wife and back again. "Oh no," he breathed.

"Oh yes," said Hinata very quietly. She turned and shut the door very softly. She stepped towards him, so close that they were almost touching, and burst into tears. "I can't believe that you would do this to our family," she said in a hoarse whisper. "Is this… This cheap cup of ramen really worth more to you than us?" She shook the cup in front of his face. The dry noodles rattled. "You know what Sakura said. You need to start eating healthier and exercising more! It's not much of a problem now, but if you don't change your habits it's going to get worse!" Hinata prodded Naruto in the chest with her finger.

Naruto hung his head. "But it's just ramen…"

"Just ramen? Just ramen?" cried Hinata, raising her voice. She shook the instant noodle cup again. "This is loaded with cholesterol and sodium. According to your doctor if you keep eating this garbage you could be looking at a heart attack inside five years." Hinata buried her face in his chest, sobbing. "I love you more than anything in the world Naruto. I want to be with you, I want to grow old with you and play with our grandchildren!" She sniffled loudly and stepped away. "But if eating ramen is more important to you than our future together… I'll do my best to accept that."

"Hinata I… I'm really sorry. I just…" Naruto sighed. "I'm making excuses now," he said to himself. He hugged her. "I'm sorry. I'm being stupid and selfish." He tilted up her face. "I promise no more instant ramen."

Hinata wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I've just had a really hard day."

"Tell me about it." Naruto reached out and wiped a tear from her nose.

Hinata sighed. "Preparation for the clan meeting is going horribly. Honan Hyuga, you know the shipping merchant?" Naruto just stared. "The guy who looks like a pirate?" she said to Naruto's blank look.

"Oh, yeah... him."

"Well, he's apparently making a big fuss about holding the meeting out at the beach resort where father is. He says it's pandering to the old ways when we should be embracing the new. He says he wants to streamline the way that the Hyuga family does business. He wants to make it more modern and improve its profits." Hinata looked down. "I think he's making a play for becoming the head of the Hyuga clan"

"Don't worry, you can handle the likes of him." Naruto smiled at her.

Hinata smiled back. "I'm not worried about him." Her smile faded. "It's the rest of the clan. Honan has a lot of money, and a lot of influence these days. Many members of the branch houses are already allowing him to speak for them."

"Is that so bad?"

"He wants to do away with the traditions of the clan."

"You did that already," said Naruto.

Hinata hit him playfully. "I got rid of the caged bird seal binding the branch families to the head family. That was causing problems for years." She frowned again. "Honan wants to stop doing business with many of the craftsmen we have been dealing with for some time. He wants to end the clan support network. He wants to drop the quality of many of the things we make or import, but still charge the same amount. He calls it maximizing our profits. He wants the clan to be more like a business," she sighed. "I want it to be more like a family." Hinata looked up at Naruto. "The worst part is that so many of the clan are beginning to agree with him."

"I'm sure they will come to their senses," said Naruto soothingly.

Hinata took a deep breath. "And then, well Jiraiya and Sasuko got dragged home by the ANBU, and then Jiraiya showed me the ramen hidden in the urn in the living room, and then Sasuko started throwing up everywhere, and then you come home late, soaking wet and smelling like garbage." Hinata wrinkled her nose and pushed him away.

"Does my earlier apology still count?" said Naruto smiling.

Hinata smiled back. "Go clean up." She opened the door and started to go back into the house.

Naruto held onto her hand, keeping her outside. "I'm really sorry to tell you this after the day you just had. But you really should know this…" he said very quietly.

Hinata looked at him quizzically. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto took a deep breath. "I'm sorry… because I'm about to make your day much worse, But I don't want to tell you this in front of any of the children, especially Hishyota." he looked into her eyes. "I heard a rumor today…"


	13. Chapter 7: Nightfall Part 2

Tenten slid the door to the house open and shook off her shoes. "Honey! I'm home!" she called loudly. There was the padding of footsteps in the hallway. Neji appeared leading Hizashi before him, Hishyoni padded along behind. "Something smells delicious!" Tenten exclaimed. "Did you help make it?"

Hizashi grinned and started to bounce up and down "Yes! Father said we could…" Very quietly, Neji cleared his throat. Hizashi guiltily stopped and bowed. "Hello Mother," he said in a more polite, more subdued voice. "I am very happy you are back from your mission early. Was it a success?"

Tenten glanced up at Neji. Mister Hyuga and his manners. With exaggerated formality she turned to her son. "It was. Thank you so much for asking." She turned to Hishyoni and bowed. "And how are you today my daughter?"

Hishyoni bowed back. "I am well," she said simply.

Neji cleared his throat and gave her a small smile. "We have been practicing our etiquette today. Someday soon our children will be expected to attend the Hyuga clan meetings," he placed a hand on Hizashi's shoulder. "Hopefully they will bring honor to the clan." Hizashi grinned.

"Oh, before I forget," said Tenten, pulling out a small scroll. "I managed to pick up something for you Hizashi." She unrolled the scroll on the floor and reversed the summoning jutsu. There was a puff of smoke. A medium sized statue of a dog sat on the scroll.

"What is it?" asked Hizashi eagerly.

"Come and see," called Tenten. With one hand outstretched, and one hand brushing the wall. Hizashi walked forward.

Tenten felt a hard lump form in her throat. She watched her happy smiling baby boy carefully make his way towards her.

He bumped into the dog with his knee. He knelt down and felt it with his hands. "It's a Komainu?" he asked hesitantly.

Tenten smiled. "That's right! It's a lion-dog! On my last mission I met a stone cutter who was carving the guardian statues for a new temple. Only when he finished with the two main Komainu, he still had a significant chunk of stone left over, so he carved a third, smaller one. He couldn't use it for the temple, so it just sat around in the cutting yard. The other townsfolk called this lion-dog the blessed cub." Tenten leaned closer and whispered. "They say it is a magic statue. The rumor had it that if you prayed to the Komainu every night and were pure of heart, the Komainu would come to life and grant you your dearest wish."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! " said Hizashi. "I know just what I'm going to wish for!" He turned. "Dad, can I put it in my room?"

Neji smiled. "Of course. Your mother got it for you. It's yours to put wherever you please."

Hizashi started to pick it up, and realized how heavy it was. "Father can you help?" Neji nodded and grabbed one end of the lion-dog. Together they shuffled down the hallway.

"So, how was your brother while I was away?" Tenten asked her daughter in a quiet voice.

Hishyoni shrugged. "I away on a mission most of the day. I didn't get back until this afternoon. Did you pick up anything for me on the mission?"

Tenten gave her a sad look. "No... I'm sorry dearest. It was quite the small village, way out in the sticks and... I didn't see anything there that I thought would interest you."

Her daughter looked away. "You could have still gotten me something," she said in a quiet little voice.

Tenten closed her eyes and nodded. "You are right, I should have. I'm so sorry." She smiled brightly. "I'll make it up to you next time I promise." She walked past Hishyoni and called, "Is the Komainu set up yet? I want to see how it looks!"

* * *

Hishyoni stood in the doorway staring out into the street. She clenched her fists tight and dug her fingernails into her palms. She could barely hear the chatter her parents were making inside her brother's room. She clamped her eyes shut and focused on the dull ache in her palms. "Hishyoni! Come eat!" her mother called. Her face impassive she turned and walked back into the house.

Her family was already seated at the table. Neji was handing around small bowls of rice, and placing large common bowls of meat and vegetables on the table. Tenten came in with a large pitcher. Hizashi was feeling around for his chopsticks and bowl. "Would you like me to get you anything Hizashi?" Tenten said. Hishyoni knelt down at the traditional low table, glancing up briefly to her parents. Of course, no one even bothered to say anything to her.

"Thanks Mom," he said cheerily. "But I'm supposed to practice getting everything on my own." He slid his chopsticks along the surface of the table until they touched the platter of meat. With a little hopping motion, he put them in the platter and grabbed up two pieces. He carefully brought them back to his bowl. Both Tenten and Neji were beaming at the sight.

"Hey, Dad?" asked Hishyoni quietly. "Will you have time to go over some jukken training with me before you leave tomorrow?"

Neji frowned. "I have to leave pretty early if I'm going to make it to the clan meeting on time." He watched Hishyoni carefully. "I suppose, if you could get up an hour earlier we could squeeze in some training time."

Hishyoni smiled faintly. "Thanks Dad."

"Can I train with you guys?" asked Hizashi eagerly.

"I don't…" started Hishyoni.

"I don't see why not," interrupted Neji. "It will be good practice for the both of you."

"Dad, don't you think we won't have enough time if Hizashi trains with us too? We'll only have an hour," said Hishyoni pointedly.

"Oh, that is plenty of time to give you some pointers and to help out your brother," said Tenten brusquely. "I bet there's even time for a sparring match."

"Yes Mother," said Hishyoni. She didn't know why she even bothered to reason with them. Hizashi always got what he wanted. She focused on her dinner.

"So…" said Neji, turning to his wife. "The mission went well?"

Tenten smiled. "It was no problem. A completely routine delivery of medical supplies. It did give me a nice chance to sightsee in the country side." She turned to smile at her family. "I sure missed everyone while I was away though."

Hizashi spoke up. "Hishyoni, you had a mission today too. Didn't you?"

She nodded. "It was an escort mission."

"Well? Tell me about it. Please?" asked Hizashi.

Hishyoni shrugged and kept her eyes on her plate. "There's not much to tell. We escorted a convoy. We were attacked by some bandits. We made the delivery. End of story."

"What was the bandit attack like?" Hizashi asked eagerly.

"Why are you asking so many questions?" grumbled Hishyoni.

"Hishyoni," said Tenten warningly. "Your brother is just curious. Try to be polite."

"Fine," muttered Hishyoni. "What do you want to know?" she asked Hizashi.

Hizashi smiled. "Whatever you think will help me in my training Sis," he said. "I'm going to need all the help I can get if I'm going to be a ninja!"

There was a long drawn out silence. Hishyoni chewed her dinner. "Well," prompted Tenten. "Go on, tell him."

"Fine," said Hishyoni in a cold voice. "I used my byakugan, you know my eyes?"

"Hishyoni!" snapped Neji.

"Be more respectful!" said Tenten.

"What? He wants to know what I did? I'm telling him!" snarled Hishyoni back to her parents.

"That is no excuse to be so…" started Tenten.

"Please Mother!" interrupted Hizashi. "I want to hear what happened." His smile faded. "It doesn't bother me, honest," he said in a small voice.

Neji and Tenten glared at Hishyoni. "I was using my byakugan to scout ahead and I saw the ambush that had been set up," she continued, scowling back at the pair of them. "There were seven of them. When we were thirty meters away from the ambush site I used explosive tags attached to kunai to take down the trees that their three archers were hiding in. The four on the ground charged us anyway. I took out two with a bolo, one with a weighted chain, and the last one I engaged with my nunchaku," she shrugged. "It really wasn't that big a deal."

"Wow," said Hizashi with admiration. "You are really something. I wish I could do that." Hishyoni smiled faintly.

Tenten reached across the table and laid a hand on his arm. "Don't worry, you will find what you're good at, all it takes is time."

Neji frowned and looked at Hishyoni. "What did the rest of your squad do?"

Hishyoni snorted. "That bunch of losers? Nothing. They didn't even know we were being attacked until I had already taken care of everything."

"You mean you didn't even tell them about the ambush before you engaged the enemy?" Tenten was slightly taken aback.

"It wasn't a big deal. I knew I could take them," said Hishyoni.

"But what if there were others? What if it was a trap? What if you needed back up from your squad?" asked Hizashi in a quiet voice.

"Those idiots will never be my squad!" exploded Hishyoni. "They are nothing like my squad! My squad is gone!" She slammed her fist down on the table, upsetting her bowl and knocking over her water cup. "I could tell it wasn't a trap," she snarled at Hizashi. "I could tell, because I could see it with my byakugan. Something that you will never be able to do!"

The realization of what she just blurted out slowly sank in. The only sound was the slow drip of Hishyoni's spilt water making a puddle on the floor.

"Hishyoni… Leave this table now," said Neji in a cold firm voice.

"Dad, It's okay… I…" said Hizashi very quietly.

"Hishyoni! Your father told you to go! Now!" ordered Tenten.

Hishyoni stared down at her plate. "Fine," she said calmly. She threw her napkin into the draining puddle on the table. "I'll go." She stood up and stepped away from the table. She padded away from the dining room and headed off to her bedroom.

* * *

From the dining room, you could hear Hishyoni's door open and quietly slide shut.

Hizashi heard the rustle of cloth as his Father rubbed his hand tiredly against his face. This was followed by a drawn out, pained exhalation. There was another sliding shift to his left as his mother reached over and gave Neji what sounded like a reassuring pat on his knee. The silence got too uncomfortable. "Mom?" said Hizashi in a soft voice. "I'm really sorry... I shouldn't have bugged her so much."

"It's not your fault Hizashi," said his mother. "Your sister just needs to... cool off for a bit."

Hizashi lifted his head and faced where he thought his mother was sitting. "It's not her fault either mom… She's not the one who took my eyes… Hishyoni is just telling the truth."

* * *

Choji reached out with a burning taper and lit the four candles surrounding the shrine. He then touched the taper to a stick of incense, and pinched the taper out. The whole family knelt before the shrine with hands folded in prayer. Clouds of sweet smelling incense hazed the candle light. After a minute Choji climbed up to his feet, he helped up Inoji and his younger son Chodu.

Ino stayed and continued to pray.

"Come everyone," called Choji softly. "Let's get the table ready for your mother."

Choji carried the main dishes, Inoji the bowls and other utensils. Chodu had the cups and a large pile of napkins. Little by little they managed to arrange everything on the table. Choji smiled and nodded at his children as they set everything up.

Chodu kept glancing over at the little household shrine. He reached up and pulled on the hem of his father's shirt. Choji glanced down. "What is it Chodu?" he asked quietly.

"Daddy, is cousin Hideo ever going to come back?" whispered Chodu, glancing at his mother.

Choji knelt down in front of his son. "I don't know. We hope so."

Chodu fidgeted. "It's been a long time since he went away."

"It's been three years," said Choji. "You were still wearing diapers and Inoji was just a little bit older than you are now."

"I miss him a lot." Chodu fidgeted some more. "Is he in heaven with his mommy and daddy?"

"We don't know, okay?" said Inoji in a slightly harsh whisper. "Why do you keep asking the same questions when you already know the answer?"

"Inoji," Choji said in a soothing voice, putting one hand on his daughter's shoulder. "It's fine." She'd been in a bad mood ever since she and Ino had told her plainly that she didn't want her associating with Shikasu Nara.

"But mommy keeps praying all the time... So I was wondering if the praying had brought him back yet," said Chodu.

Choji looked at Ino for a long while. He sighed. "Chodu, your mother prays because Hideo is her nephew. When his mother and father died, he came to live with us. She misses him a lot. He was like your big brother. Your mother prays because she hopes that somehow, somewhere he is well. "

Chodu looked up at his father. "Daddy are you going to disappear? Am I going to have to pray for you so you are well somewhere?"

"I'm not going to disappear." Choji smiled and mussed his son's hair. "I may have to leave for a bit now and then, but I will always come back."

Ino clapped her hands twice and rose to her feet. "Thank you so much for setting the table everyone!" She beamed happily at her children. "You are such good helpers."

"You're welcome Mommy!" called Chodu.

"Well, dinner smells delicious, so let's eat!" said Choji. Everyone took their seats. Ino filled up a small bowl for Chodu. Choji and Inoji passed the main dishes back and forth. Eventually everyone had what they wanted and started to eat.

"So, I bumped into Hishyoni Hyuga this afternoon," said Choji casually.

"Oh?" Ino looked up. "How is she? I haven't seen her in forever."

Choji took another bite and chewed before answering. "She looked about... as well as could be expected."

Ino shook her head. "The poor girl," she said sadly.

"Mom?" asked Inoji quietly. "Is this Hishyoni Hyuga the same Hishyoni who used to be on the same squad as cousin Hideo?"

Ino nodded her head. "Do you remember her?"

"A little. She always wore her hair in braids right?"

"That's right."

"Is she still a shinobi?" asked Inoji timidly.

Choji spoke up. "She told me she was still going on missions when I met her today."

Chodu was looking back and forth, following the conversation between his father, mother and sister. "Who's Hishyoni?"

"You probably don't remember her," said Inoji. "She used to come over to our house sometimes when she and Hideo were on the same squad." Inoji screwed up her face in thought. "It was Hideo and her and... what was the other guy's name?"

"Masaki," said Ino in a very quiet voice.

"Right, Masaki," said Inoji. "I always wanted to play with them and try out their gear, but they always told me I was too little."

"Is Masaki missing too?" asked Chodu innocently.

"No," whispered Ino. "He's in heaven."

"Oh." Chodu turned back to his meal and started eating. "I bet he told Hideo's mommy and daddy that he and Hideo were friends."

Ino quietly put down her chopsticks and stared down at her plate. Choji reached over and gently held her hand. Ino took some deep breaths and squeezed her husband's hand tightly. She then picked up her chopsticks again and resumed eating.

"Hey Mom?" asked Inoji quietly. Her mother grunted. "Why can't we be friends with the Nara family?"

Ino stiffened. "I really don't want to get into that right now sweetheart."

Inoji stared at her plate for a long time. "But Mom, you are always telling me that you want me to have more friends, and how I should have different friends from Mako and Tsudemi." She glanced quickly at her mother. "Shikasu seems to really want to be my friend, and I just don't see why we…"

"Inoji!" snapped Ino. Inoji stopped abruptly and stared back down, her face reddening. Ino sighed, and forced herself to be calm. "I'm sorry. I just… We are going to have to talk about this some other time," she said weakly. Ino went back to picking at her food.

There was a very long pause. "I met Shikasu Nara today," murmured Choji.

"Really?" asked Inoji in an eager voice.

Choji nodded. "I bumped into him and his father in the arcade today. He seemed like a... nice enough boy." He watched quietly as Ino scratched at her food.

"Did Shikamaru say anything?" Her voice was cold and hard.

Choji nodded. "He asked if we were well."

"Hah!" grunted Ino. She took a drink of water.

Choji drummed his fingers on the table. "I was just thinking, that maybe... Inoji being friends with Shikasu wouldn't be such a bad thing." He glanced at Ino, sitting statue still. "I mean, just because we... don't get along doesn't mean our children can't."

"No," said Ino simply.

"But Ino…" started Choji in a reasonable voice.

Ino slammed her hands down on the table. "No buts! I said no! I will not have it!" Chodu gaped at his mother's outburst in fear

"But why mom?" asked Inoji.

"Because if you start associating with that boy, then sooner or later I'm going to have to talk to his parents. If I ever have to see that cowardly little bastard again it will be too soon!" snapped Ino. "And it will be a very cold day in hell before I can speak to that Sand bitch without trying to kill her!" she exploded.

Chodu burst into tears. "Mommy! Don't be mad!" he wailed.

Choji reached out for Ino. "Ino…" he said quietly.

Ino pushed his hand away. "I just... need to lie down... I'm sorry." She hurried upstairs.

Choji picked up Chodu and comforted him. "It's all right," he cooed. "Mommy just needs a timeout to calm down, that's all."

"Is Mommy mad? Is she going to disappear too?" wailed Chodu.

Choji gave him a big hug. "No, I promise you we will always be here for you."

He looked across the table at Inoji. She was sitting there staring at the table shaking slightly. "Inoji," he said quietly. "Your Mother is just having a hard time right now." He smiled at her. "I'm sure it will be okay if you are friends with Shikasu." He dropped his voice to a stage whisper. "Just... let me talk to your mother about it first."

"Thanks Dad," Inoji smiled back.

* * *

"… No! You are not going to be associating with anyone from that Akimichi family young man, and that is final!" Temari glared at her son.

Shikasu rolled his eyes. "Sure Mom, I have seen the error of my ways and will now listen to everything you have to say."

Temari pointed her finger. "Don't you dare roll your eyes at me!" She turned back to her supper. As soon as she looked away, Shikasu rolled his eyes again.

"Dad, back me up here, wasn't Akimichi-san being friendly? I don't get what the big deal is!" Shikasu said, chasing an errant bean around his plate with his chopsticks.

Shikamaru leaned back in his seat. "Well…" he started. Temari noisily cleared her throat and glared at him. "You should really listen to your mother," he said. He hunched forward over his plate and started eating again. A long silence settled over the table.

"So," said Temari as everyone was finishing up. "I enjoyed meeting your… friend today Karua. He was very courteous and helpful."

"I know Mom," groaned Karua. "You have been talking about it all day."

"Well, I just keep wondering... what is wrong with him?"

Karua looked up at her mother. "Excuse me?"

"Well, there has to be something wrong with him. He's handsome, well spoken, and a complete gentleman besides. That good night hug on our doorstep was just the perfect combination of being forward and reserved. Many young men in his position would have tried directly for a kiss and more."

"Mom… Were you spying on us?" Karua asked incredulously.

"Of course I was spying! I take my daughter's well being very seriously. You never can tell what men will attempt when their passion is aroused." Temari winked at Shikamaru. "During our first date, your father tried to take my bra off."

"Mother!" Karua blushed.

"Gah! I need to erase that from my brain!" yelled Shikasu, running from the table. Shikamaru didn't say anything, he just covered his face with his hands

"What?" said Temari innocently. "I said tried. He couldn't do it." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I had to help him."

Shikamaru sighed wearily and stood up. "If anyone needs me, I'll be doing the dishes." He started to pick up empty plates. "Try not to embarrass me too much in front of our children dear." He walked to the kitchen carrying a stack of plates and bowls.

"Good, now it's just us girls," Temari whispered as she turned back to Karua. "Seriously though, is there something wrong with him? I can think of at least twenty women in the Sand village who would jump at the opportunity to sleep with him for the sharingan alone. Do you know how powerful that bloodline is?"

Karua cringed. "Mom… Look, there's nothing wrong with him. He's just... a friend okay?"

Temari looked puzzled. "Is this some sort of Leaf village 'the Uchiha should all be outcasts' thing? Because, let me tell you, that is the biggest load of…"

"No Mom! No." Karua sighed. "He's not... interested in me. He likes someone else," she said weakly.

Temari frowned. "Not the girl he fell into the pile of dung while running after?"

Karua nodded. "Yes."

"Uh-huh," said Temari thoughtfully. "I don't suppose this Hyuga girl likes him back at all does she?" Karua shrugged. "Well," said Temari. "Maybe we'll just have to help him notice that there are other fish in the sea then," she said brightly.

"Mom…" groaned Karua, pinching her nose, "can we just drop this, please? He thinks we're just friends. That's all."

"Just friends… are you sure about that?" Temari held up a hand and began to count off on her fingers. "He dropped everything to help your mother. He displayed an extensive knowledge of your lineage. He even took the time to shamelessly flatter your little brother, which seemed a little bit excessive, even to me."

"And then he tried to tell you a story about... Sarutobi-san's underwear," said Karua with a shake of her head.

"He's still a boy…I don't expect him to be perfect. Besides, I'd already heard about that leopard print monstrosity." Temari leaned forward. "What impressed me was that you told him to stop… and he listened to you! He did exactly what you asked. Do you know how rare that is?" She sat back in her chair. "At first I suspected it might be because the pair of you were sleeping together…"

"Mom!" growled Karua, feeling like she was going to scream again. "I told you ...We are not…"

"I know dear. Ever since you were a little girl, I have always been able to tell when you're lying." She gave Karua brief smile. "Why do you think I asked? But what I saw today was a young man willing to put an awful lot on the line for your sake. If it isn't for sex… what is it for?"

"Friendship!"

"That might be what you see… But what if he's hoping for something more?"

"Mom! I… We're just… Why can't you… Ugh!" Karua let her head fall to the table with an exasperated thud

Shikamaru came back into the dining room and gathered up the serving dishes. Temari put her hand on top of Karua's "Sweetie, I'm trying to look out for your best interests here. Your father and I talked it over and we decided that after that dating that horrid Matoko, you need to experience what a relationship with a true gentleman can be like." She looked up at her husband. "Isn't that right Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "As long as he takes some singing lessons before he comes by serenading you, I think it's a great idea." He smirked as he walked back into the kitchen.

"Thanks Dad… You're being a huge help," said Karua sarcastically. She lifted her head and looked back at her mother. "Mom, look… He's just not interested in me that way. He's only been interested in Hishyoni for as long as I can remember. There is nothing I can do to get his attention okay?" she sighed. "And I'm not even sure I want to at this point."

Temari nodded. She drummed her fingers on the table in thought. "I'm going to let you in on my little secret weapon," she said quietly. She rearranged her dress so that the slit up the side exposed her legs higher than mid thigh. She loosened the neckline of her blouse.

"Mom?" asked Karua, a little frightened. "What are you doing?"

Temari held up one finger. "You'll see in one moment." She mussed her hair a little, crossed her legs and leaned forward in her chair. She cleared her throat. "Shikamaru," she called in a deeper, throaty voice. "Could you... come here for a minute?"

"Can it wait? I'm right in the middle of cleaning up," Shikamaru called back.

Her mother frowned. She picked up a chopstick left on the table and tossed it down on the floor. "No dear, I'm afraid not," she called back sweetly.

"Oh, man this is such a drag," muttered Shikamaru. He stuck his head around the doorway to the kitchen. "What is it?" he asked a little annoyed. He looked at his wife and his eyes widened. There was a crash as the dish he was holding slipped to the floor.

"I just wanted to apologize for making you do all the cleaning up, while Karua and I were having a chat out here," she purred.

Shikamaru blinked. He closed his mouth. "Yeah…Okay…" he said a little stunned.

Temari stretched and let out a big sigh. Shikamaru ogled her. "I was also wondering if you would mind bringing back the rest of the dishes so that Karua and I can finish our little talk?" she asked, leaning forward suggestively.

Shikamaru nodded, but his eyes never left the neckline of her blouse. "I can do that." Temari leaned forward more and smiled at him. Shikamaru walked to the table, blushing and collected the glasses.

"Oh!" said Temari in surprise. "Something just fell on the floor!"

Shikamaru smiled and looked under the table. "It's just a chopstick. I'll get it." He got down on all fours and crawled under the table to get it. Temari smiled a feral smile. Slowly and deliberately, she uncrossed and re-crossed her legs.

There was loud thump, as if someone under a table suddenly sat up in surprise. "Ow!" yelped Shikamaru.

Karua covered her face, embarrassed. "Mom!" she hissed.

"What happened dear?" asked Temari innocently.

Shikamaru emerged rubbing his head. "I hit my head."

"Oh, you poor man." She kissed one finger and touched it to the tip of his nose. She smiled mischievously at him. "Tell you what, later tonight I'll kiss it and make it all better." She winked at Shikamaru. He grinned and walked back to the kitchen, happy.

Karua shook her head. "Oh... my... Gods… Mom!?"

"What?" asked Temari, rearranging her clothes back to normal. "That was a real life lesson for you my dear." She pointed to the kitchen. "Men are so easily distracted. And if you distract them enough you can make them do anything. Your father is a tactical genius, but I, if you will forgive the pun, just set a booby trap for him."

"Mom, I'm not going to do any of that!" said Karua firmly.

"I never said you had to. Do you want this boy to notice you?" Karua opened her mouth to angrily respond. Her mother held up a hand. "Stop. Don't lie. I want you to answer that as honestly as you possibly can."

There was a long pause while Temari stared at Karua with a knowing smile. Karua reddened and looked down at the floor. Finally after a minute or so, she shrugged. "That's more truthful at least," said Temari smugly. "Well, if you decide that you do, you may have to put some effort into it. Men can be idiots. Sometimes, you have to beat them over the head before they get the message." Temari sighed and looked critically at her daughter. "But I suggest you start with something simple yet sexy, a mini-skirt perhaps." Temari smiled and got a faraway look in her eyes. "That was what your father noticed about me when we first met. He liked my legs."

"Honey?" called Shikamaru from the kitchen. "Do we have any of that whipped cream left? I was wondering if you might like... a sundae later tonight."

Temari smiled and waggled her eyebrows. "Of course," she whispered conspiratorially to Karua. "If your relationship does progress to the point where it includes… certain activities… I'll have a whole other list of recommendations."

* * *

Tsudemi looked up from her book. It was well past dusk, and there was still no sign of her father. She closed the book, and got up from the couch. Akakaru lifted her head up as well. Tsudemi looked at her dog and shrugged. "I guess Dad is not going to make it back for dinner then."

She walked over to the refrigerator. Akakaru's claws made a clicking sound as she followed. She opened the door and started pawing around the various Tupperware and half-eaten casseroles scattered about the interior of the fridge. Akakaru barked and pawed at her leg. "I know girl," Tsudemi muttered. "I'll get you your dinner too; just give me a moment here." She chose a container at random and carefully sniffed it. "Phwaug!" she exclaimed wrinkling her nose. "How old is this garbage?" She deposited the bowl on the kitchen table, and began sorting through the rest in the fridge. Those that stank she stacked up on the table. Holding her nose, she scrapped those bowls into a trash bag and tossed the bag outside. She then washed and rinsed the bowls in the sink.

Akakaru whined at her. "I know girl, I'm sorry," said Tsudemi. "But I won't be able to eat anything If I'm smelling this the whole time." She dried the last container and put it away. Then she poured some kibble into a bowl, gave Akakaru some fresh water and put everything on the floor.

A second hunt through the refrigerator turned up something she thought was palatable. A mix of noodles, shredded carrots, and pork coated with sesame seeds. She remembered that Aunt Hinata had brought it over three days ago. She warmed it up in the microwave oven before sitting at the table. Akakaru put her head in Tsudemi's lap and made little whining noises. Every so often Tsudemi would reach into the bowl and toss a morsel carelessly into the air. There was a blur and a snap, and it was gone before it hit the floor. Tsudemi smiled. "Good girl," she said.

When she finished eating Tsudemi washed up that bowl as well. She stared at the empty sink for a moment, and then turned around. "Akakaru?" she called. "Do you want to go out?" Akakaru barked the affirmative, and jumped with excitement.

Tsudemi pushed open the back door and Akakaru barreled outside. She threw balls, wrestled with her dog, and played tug of war. Every now and then Tsudemi would stare at the road, looking for a sign of her father, but then Akakaru would get her attention and they would be off playing again.

Eventually it got too dark, so they went inside. Tsudemi sighed. "We should probably clean this place up, for when Dad gets home." She picked up the cups her dad had left everywhere, and put them in the sink. She gathered the dirty clothes that he had hung over the backs of chairs and doors and put them in the hamper. Akakaru helped, she dragged stained shirts from where they had been stuffed under the couch. "Good girl!" Tsudemi told her as she dusted off the portrait of her mother that rested prominently on an end table in the living room.

Tsudemi washed the new pile of dishes in the sink. She then got ready for bed. She brushed her teeth but kept one eye on the front door the whole time. She changed into her pajamas, said goodnight to Akakaru, got into bed and lay down.

She lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling. Her room was quiet. The house was quiet. She rolled over on one side and stared at her clock. She listened to it going 'tick tick tick' as the second hand spun round and round.

After lying awake for thirty minutes, she got up and took her blanket with her. She went down to the living room and lay on the couch with Akakaru. Bundled up in her blanket, she stared at the picture of her mother, studying her face.

After a long while Akakaru crawled up under the blanket and snuggled close to her. Tsudemi smiled and squeezed her gently. Holding her dog, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Mommy! Mommy! Look what I can do!" Toko jumped up from where she was sitting in the bath and did a belly flop in the water. Karin recoiled as the wave washed over the side of the tub.

"Toko!" she yelled frustrated. "How many times have I told you not to do that! If water starts dripping through Iwata-san's ceiling again, she's going to complain to the landlord!"

Dripping wet, Toko stood up again. "But it's fun!" she yelled and belly flopped again. Another surge of water slopped onto the floor.

"Toko!" bellowed Karin. A baby's cry filled the bathroom. Karin put her head in her hands. "Great... Now I've woken the baby... Lee!" she called. "Can you get Kiyo? I'm still trying to give Toko her bath!"

"I will take care of it right away!" Lee said in a chipper voice from the hallway. As he walked by the bathroom he stuck his head in "Ah Toko. I hope that you are listening to your mother and almost done with your bath?"

Toko grinned. "Diving practice Daddy!" yelled Toko. There was another belly flop.

"Toko! Stop that !" yelled Karin.

"Now Toko," said Lee firmly. "What is the first rule of being a shinobi?"

"Train hard!"

"Well yes, but I mean the other first rule."

"Oh," Toko's face screwed up in thought. "Listen?"

Lee smiled. "Good job!" he gave a thumbs up. "And what did your mother just ask?"

Toko sighed and sat down heavily. The wave rippled around the tub. "No more diving... But I want to train!"

Lee grinned. "Well then we had better hurry and get a good night's sleep, because tomorrow we are going to go to the pool and we will do real diving training there, Okay?"

"Yay!" Toko clapped her hands. Kiyo's crying had turned into a wail.

"Oops! I have to get your brother. Now listen to Mommy!" Lee smiled.

Karin grabbed his arm as he went past. "The little monster got me soaked to the bone," she hissed angrily, trying to wring out her red hair.

Lee turned and gave Karin a quick kiss on the cheek. "And never have you looked more beautiful," he said to her softly. He stared into her eyes and she blushed. He kissed her one more time on the lips, and went to check on Kiyo.

Karin looked at her daughter. She looked down at the puddle she was sitting in on the floor. "Toko, I'm all wet," she admonished gently.

Toko looked sheepish. "Sorry Mommy."

Karin finished the rest of his bath without incident. She was drying him off when she heard a loud baby squeal coming from Kiyo's room.

"What's that Mommy?" asked Toko.

"I don't know. Get dressed and we will see."

Toko hurriedly got into her pajamas. They walked down the hall and peeked into Kiyo's room. "Wow!" she said.

"Lee!" yelled Karin, in terror. "What are you doing?"

Lee looked at the door. "What?" he asked innocently. He was doing crunches with baby Kiyo. For each one he would toss him into the air as he crunched up, and then catch him as she came back down. Each time he flew into the air he would squeal with joy. Lee looked at his wife. "He seems to enjoy this quite a bit, and I wanted to finish my exercise."

"I want a turn! I want a turn Daddy!" Toko was jumping up and down with excitement.

"Excellent!" said Lee with a grin. "This is perfect! Toko, grab my feet!" Laughing Toko toddled over and grabbed her father's ankles. "Hold on tight!" With a grunt Lee hoisted her into the air.

"I'm flying!" Toko giggled.

"Oh, we are not done yet!" said Lee enthusiastically. He proceeded to do leg lifts with each crunch. Each time he went up both Toko and Kiyo laughed and squealed. Lee began to count out loud. "...Four...five...six... seven..."

"Faster Daddy!" yelled Toko.

"Nine, ten eleven..." counted Lee.

"Faster!" called Toko laughing.

"Thirteen-fourteen-fifteen-sixteen..." panted Lee.

Karin covered her face with her hands. "Oh, Gods," she muttered. "I have a family full of crazy people."

"Mommy! Mommy! Look at us!" called Toko laughing. Karin peeked through her fingers. The laughter of her children brought a smile to her face.

* * *

Sakura groaned and sat down heavily on the bed. It had been a very long day and her feet hurt. Her ankles were swelling up again. She felt sweaty and gross all over. "But at least the children are all in bed," she thought to herself. There was a quiet thump and the muffled chatter of chipmunks from Chyrio's room. "Or at least they are being quiet in their rooms." From Hana's room down the hall loud music started playing. Sakura sighed and collapsed back on the bed. "You know what? As long as they stay in their rooms, I don't care what else happens," she muttered. She felt a sharp kick from inside her stomach. "Don't you start getting impatient now," she said to the baby. "I've had a very hard day." She placed a hand on her stomach and the baby quieted down. She smiled.

Sasuke walked in to their room, his shirt off, brushing his teeth. He looked at his wife lying on the bed quizzically. "Is everything all right?" he mumbled around the toothbrush in his mouth.

Sakura shook her head. "I am so tired right now Sasuke," she griped.

Sasuke nodded and held up one finger as if to say, "Give me one minute." He left the room quickly. Sakura could hear him spit and rinse out his mouth. He came back into the room and held out his hand. "Let me help," he said gently.

Sakura grabbed his hand. Slowly he pulled her up to a sitting position. He knelt down and slowly worked her shoes off. Then, gently, he massaged her feet one at a time. "Ooh, that feels good," she said.

Sasuke smiled. "So, tell me about your day," he asked.

Sakura sighed. "What didn't happen?" she thought for a moment. "I had meetings all morning. I swear the board of administrators has had it out for me lately. 'Dr. Uchiha, why did you choose this procedure here? Dr. Uchiha why did this patient have a negative outcome? Dr. Uchiha, why are you only working ten hour days instead of twelve?'" She let out a huge exhalation of breath. "They kept me in that meeting so long I had to prolong my office hours through my lunch break." She frowned. "I was in surgery all afternoon. Three of them back to back." She lifted a foot so Sasuke could get a better handle on it. "I so need this visit to Tsunade, if only to relax for a bit." She smiled at her husband. "Thanks, that felt wonderful."

Sasuke smiled back. "I'm not finished yet." He motioned for her to lean forward a little. Then he climbed up on the bed behind her and began to massage her shoulders.

"Mmmm," hummed Sakura.

"Anything else happen?" asked Sasuke.

"Aside from coming home early for the sole purpose of cooking dinner for my family and finding everyone suspiciously absent?"

Sasuke grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that. Did bringing home the cherry blossoms make up for any of that?"

Sakura twisted her head to the side so she could kiss his hand. "That was sweet, thank you." Sasuke's hands moved lower, gently pressing along her spine. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother making supper. Everyone hates it so much," she said sadly.

"It was pretty good this time actually," said Sasuke. "The kids don't know what they were missing."

"Honestly?" asked Sakura.

Sasuke nodded. "I had two helpings." He smiled mischievously. "Of course I had been drinking."

"Sasuke!" Sakura swatted playfully at him.

"Here hold still," said Sasuke. He stopped rubbing her back, and reached up and untied the headband holding back her hair. Carefully he pulled out the bobby pins holding back her bangs. Then he reached over to the dresser, got a hair brush and began brushing out her hair. Sakura leaned back and sighed contentedly.

"Oh my! A foot rub, a back massage and now my hair being done. Sasuke you make me feel like a princess."

Sasuke smiled. "You're not a princess. You are my queen," he said simply.

Sakura turned and stared into his eyes. Then she kissed him. Sasuke broke the kiss first and sat down on the bed behind her, his legs loosely around her waist. He wrapped his arms around her chest and pulled her back gently into him.

Sakura stroked his hand. "What's going to happen?" she asked softly in a serious voice.

Sasuke shrugged. "It's just a rumor. Maybe the worst, maybe nothing. We need more information. But I'm not worried. If there is anything to this return of the Kurokaze, Kakashi-sensei will be able to find it." He began to lightly kiss her back and shoulders.

Sakura leaned back against him. "No, I mean what will happen now."

"Shikamaru thinks… Nothing just yet… He thinks we… Caught it fairly early," said Sasuke in between kisses.

"And the rumour... about you?"

She felt his hands hesitate for the briefest of moments. "The Hokage is keeping that part of it top secret. Nobody will find out."

"Good," said Sakura. "The last thing we need is another mob at our door."

She heard her husband snort. "Naruto may be a doofus, but he's not an idiot." He gently ran his hands over her chest, and caressed her belly.

Sakura leaned back further. She turned her head. Sasuke leaned forward and their lips met. Sakura turned, facing Sasuke more so that they could snuggle closer. She broke the kiss and smiled at him. "Are you trying to seduce me Mr. Uchiha?"

"The thought might have crossed my mind," said Sasuke innocently.

"Ugh! I have no idea why. I feel fat, sweaty and gross."

Sasuke picked up her hand and kissed each fingertip. "It's a little known fact that all pregnant women feel fat, sweaty and gross when in truth they are stunningly beautiful and sexy." He slowly pulled Sakura down on top of him.

Sakura giggled. "Really?"

Sasuke nodded with mock seriousness. "Really. Let me show you."

* * *

Hinata stared at the clock. She tried to close her eyes and to get some rest but her mind was too active. Beside her Naruto was snoring gently. She kept running her fingers over the scar on her abdomen, the same wound that had almost taken her life, and her son's.

Seeking comfort, she snuggled closer to Naruto. He murmured something in his sleep and rolled closer to her. He threw one arm over her and buried his face in her hair. Finally feeling safe, she slowly closed her eyes.

Someone cried out. Her eyes snapped open and glanced at the clock. Somehow two hours had passed. The crying continued and she recognized Sasuko's voice. Hinata untangled herself from Naruto's embrace and shuffled out of bed.

She strode down the hall to Sasuko's room. "Sasuko…" she called softly. "Sasuko? What's the matter?" She reached his door and opened it slowly. A pool of moonlight illuminated his bed. The blankets were all disheveled.

It was empty.

Hinata's heart jumped and her byakugan snapped on instantly. "Sasuko!" she called urgently. She found him curled up in a shadowy corner of his room sobbing uncontrollably.

"Mo-mo-mo-mommy!" he gulped, holding out his arms to her. Hinata rushed over and picked him up.

"There, there," she said stroking his hair. "There, there. It's all right now. Mommy's here." Sasuko clutched her tight. She picked him up and carried him back to his bed. It took a long while but eventually he calmed down. "It's okay Sasuko. Mommy's here. Can you tell me what happened? Does something hurt?" She glanced down. "Is it your stomach?"

Sasuko kept his face buried in her bosom, but he pointed with a hand to the window. "There were bad guys at the windows," he said his voice muffled. "They were looking for me. I had to hide."

Hinata's heart began to pound. Her head snapped up and she scanned the house for intruders. Then she scanned the yard, then the surrounding area. She let out a deep breath. "I don't see anyone sweetheart," she said softly. "It's all right you're safe."

Sasuko looked up. "The bad guys are gone?"

Hinata smiled and kissed his nose. "I don't think they were here. I think it was just a bad dream."

Sasuko stared at the window. "They were there, I saw them." He pointed with his hand. "Right there!"

"I know dear, I know… It's okay… Why don't you tell me what happened?"

Sasuko frowned in concentration. "I was playing with my toys, and someone was trying to tell me something, like whisper in my ear." He stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around. "But they were too far away and I couldn't hear them. Then I looked out the window, and the whole village was on fire, and I could hear people screaming." He swallowed. "And then the bad guys were at my window and they were staring in at me." He looked up at his mother. "And then I heard the whisper, it was telling me to run and hide."

Hinata smiled at him. "Honey, it was definitely a dream, you weren't playing with your toys, you were asleep." She rubbed his back.

"I want to sleep with you and Daddy," muttered Sasuko in a tired voice.

"No sweetie, you are a big boy now. You need to sleep in your own bed. You are a big boy now." She kept rubbing his back and he slowly relaxed. She lay him down and covered him with his blanket.

Sasuko reached out and grabbed her hand. "Stay here, for a little bit longer?"

"I will sweetie, I will," said Hinata soothingly. She kissed him gently on the forehead. "Those bad guys must have had very scary faces to frighten you like that."

Sasuko eyes were slowly closing. He shook his head. "Couldn't see them," he murmured.

Hinata leaned closer. "What was that dearest?" she whispered with a smile.

"Couldn't see their faces," he said with a sigh. "Faces were covered up… with black scarves." He snuggled down into his pillow.

A chill ran down Hinata's spine. She snapped her head up again and did one more scan of the house and yard. Nothing. She extended her gaze, stretching far across the Hidden leaf Village. Everything was peaceful. Her heart still beating fast, she scooped up Sasuko with both arms from his bed.

He pried one eye open. "Mommy?" he said sleepily as she carried him down the hall.

"I changed my mind," she said as calmly as she could. "You can sleep in our bed tonight after all."

* * *

_End of Book One_


	14. Book 1: Cast

**Konoha Children's Crusade: Dramatis Personae**

**Uzumaki-Hyuga Family:**

Naruto: Sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. Keeper of Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox demon.

Hinata: Current Head of the Hyuga clan

Hishyota (F13): Reluctant Kunoichi

Kusumina (F11): Prim and proper

Jiraiya (M11): Troublemaker. Budding con man. Best friends with Mibuki Uchiha

Sasuko (M3): Always Hungry. Likes ramen

**Revived Uchiha****Clan:**

Sasuke: Retired shinobi

Sakura: Head of Surgery at Konoha hospital

Ichisui (M15): Obsessed with Hishyoni Hyuga. Friends with Karua Nara

Hana (F13): Goth girl. Genjutsu user

Mibuki (M11): Brilliant. Mischief-maker. Studies sealing jutsu. Best friends with Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga

Chyrio (F7): Surrounded by Chipmunks

Fugawari (M3):

**Hyuga Family:**

Neji: Retired Shinobi. Juken instructor

Tenten: Transport specialist

Hishyoni (F15): Weapons master. Huge chip on her shoulder.

Hizashi (M8): Blind

**Nara Family:**

Shikamaru: Advisor to the Hokage. General for Konoha

Temari: Ambassador for Hidden Sand Village

Karua (F15): Wind user. Uses a fan. Friends with Ichisui Uchiha

Shikasu (M10): Puppet user. Video game addict

**Akimichi Family:**

Choji: Retired shinobi. Owner of Konoha Emporium. Manages 'The Flying Pig' cafe and the Market

Ino: Retired shinobi. Owner of Konoha Emporium. Manages pharmacy.

Inoji (F10): Shy. Teased because of her weight

Chodu (M5):

**Inuzuka Family:**

Kiba: Dog trainer. Long range scout

Karui: Deceased

Tsudemi (F10): Wild and angry. Owner of Akakaru. Friend to Mako Aburame

**Aburame Family:**

Shino: Communications and Intelligence gathering

Mei: Shino's ex wife. Returned to Hidden Stone Village

Mako (M10): Bug user (wasps) Friend to Tsudemi Inuzuka

**Rock Family:**

Lee: Retired shinobi. Martial Arts sensei. Runs his own Dojo

Karin: Owns a perfume store in the Konoha Emporium

Toko (F2): A complete spaz.

Kiyo (M6mo):

**Hatake Family:**

Kakashi: Commander of ANBU secret police

Anko: Retired shinobi. Housewife... a very scary housewife.

Hebisu (F17): Bubbly. Ditzy. Dangerous. Obsessed with Asuma Jr. One half of 'Fang twins'

Chirosu (F17): Sarcastic. Laid back. Dangerous. Obsessed with Asuma Jr. Other half of 'Fang twins'

**Other Leaf Shinobi:**

Asuma Sarutobi Jr. (M19): Only son of Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi.

Konohamaru Sarutobi: Ladies Man. 'Successor' to Naruto as Hokage

Ookami: Female ANBU. Wears a wolf mask.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

So... I had a few requests for a cast list. I can totally see why. The list of characters here is huge and is only going to get bigger.

I am aware that 'Lists' aren't quite accepted as kosher here on , but I figure that if you've stuck with the story this far, you probably won't mind terribly if I bend a few rules.

Right now, My plan is to post an updated list upon the completion of each new 'Book'. I hope that helps with any confusion.

My ultimate goal here is to write the best story I possibly can, so if any of you happen to have any other ideas, suggestions or comments, please let me know.

-Cas


	15. Chapter 8: By red morning's light part 1

**Konoha Children's Crusade: Book 2**

* * *

**Chapter 8: By red morning's light**

Naruto quietly slipped out of bed, padded out the door to their bedroom and shut it behind him with a soft click. Hinata had had a really rough night.

Of course, he hadn't slept that much either, with Sasuko squirming and kicking in their bed for most of the night. "But I," he thought, suppressing a yawn, "don't have to leave on a journey for the Fan-Fan resort in two hours. I can let her sleep for at least another hour."

He crept down the hallway past the doors where all his other children were sleeping. Sasuko had gotten out of their bed about thirty minutes earlier, and now there were suspicious noises coming from his room. Naruto peeked his head around the door jam. Sasuko had taken out all his blocks and was building an enormous wall in one corner of his room. He picked up each block and looked at them intently. "No. These ones are too heavy, they'll have to go on the bottom," he muttered to himself.

Naruto silently stepped inside. Without looking up, Sasuko called out to him. "Hi Daddy!"

Naruto smiled. "Good job noticing me!" He walked over to Sasuko's structure. "What are you building over here?"

"I'm building a fort," he said, digging through the mound of wooden blocks at his feet.

Naruto blinked sleep from his eyes and looked at it admiringly. "That's going to be an awfully big fort. Are you going to have your toy ninjas attack it?"

Sasuko shook his head. "It's not for toys Daddy, It's for me."

"Oh? Are you going to play in it?" Naruto got down on his knees and examined the wall, it was almost as tall as Sasuko, and relatively sturdily built. He was a bit surprised his three year old son could build something that solid.

"It's not for playing Daddy. It's for hiding in." Sasuko looked around. "Daddy, could you get me that box of blocks over there?" he pointed to the box. Naruto reached out and dragged it closer. Sasuko started digging through that box looking for the blocks he wanted.

Naruto looked at the block wall again. "Be careful hiding in that buddy, okay? It could fall over really easily and then you might get bonked."

Sasuko shook his head. "No it won't fall over. When we're done putting it together, Kichiko and me are going to use your hammer and nails to keep it from falling over."

Naruto frowned. "I don't think so... A hammer and nails are grown up tools. I'm pretty sure you're not old enough to use them yet… You could stick them together with glue… that should hold them in place."

"Hmm," said Sasuko. He sat back and looked at his wall. "That's not going to work. Kichiko says we'll need something really strong to hold the blocks together. He says glue will stick them together, but if it gets bumped the glue will break and the wall will all fall apart."

"Kichiko is right about that," said Naruto nodding. "Who is Kichiko anyway?"

Sasuko looked up at Naruto. "He's my new friend. " Sasuko leaned forward and whispered. "Nobody can see him because he's invisible."

"Oh," said Naruto with a knowing smile. "An invisible friend. I understand. Well... does Kichiko mind if I help out with the fort?"

Sasuko paused for a second and then shook his head. "No It's okay."

Naruto sat down and looked over what Sasuko had built so far. "So what do you need it to look like when we're done here?" he asked.

"It needs to be this high," Sasuko held up his hand. "And to fit in right here in this corner of the room. It also needs a door for me to get in and out."

Naruto tilted his head. "Do you want it to have a pointy roof, or is a flat roof okay?"

Sasuko nodded. "Flat roof." he said.

"Oh, so basically all that you need is a big box," said Naruto.

Sasuko nodded. "Big enough for me to hide in."

Naruto smiled. "That's easy enough...We can build you a box."

Sasuko smiled. "Really? Can we do it right now?" he asked eagerly.

"No. Right now, we have to make breakfast and then say goodbye to Mommy remember? She is leaving on her trip today."

"Oh," said Sasuko, disappointment on his face.

"But after that," said Naruto. "I suppose I can take the morning off at least. I can help you build it then if you like?"

"Yay!" said Sasuko, jumping with excitement.

"Shh!" hissed Naruto, smiling. "Everyone is still asleep," he whispered. "How about right now, you head downstairs with me and help me make breakfast."

Sasuko smiled. "Okay," he whispered back.

Naruto picked him up, pretending to act all stealthy. "Okay, here's our mission... we have to get down to the kitchen without waking anyone up. Do you think you can do that?"

Sasuko nodded with earnest seriousness. "Yes Daddy!"

"Okay let's go." Naruto slipped out of Sasuko's room, holding him in his arms. They snuck down the hall and reached the staircase leading down. Naruto stopped and stared intently at the stairs. "Hmm," he said with mock seriousness. "The stairs may be booby trapped. What should we do?"

Sasuko bounced with joy. "Walk on the ceiling!" he shouted.

"Shh!" hissed Naruto again. "Be quiet or we will wake up the guards." Releasing chakra through the soles of his feet to make them stick, Naruto slowly walked up the wall and ceiling until he hung upside down. Then holding tight to Sasuko he walked above the steps on the ceiling. Sasuko giggled furiously the whole time.

When he stepped from the archway above the stairs to the kitchen ceiling proper, he slowly lowered Sasuko to the floor. "Alright," Naruto whispered. "I need you to check for enemy guards before I get down."

"Okay Daddy!" Sasuko saluted. Then he raced about the kitchen peering into corners, while Naruto hung upside down from the ceiling and smiled at his antics. "Okay Daddy, All clear!" he called after searching all the places a three year old would think were good hiding spots.

"Good job!" said Naruto. He tucked and stopped clinging to the ceiling. In the middle of the air he flipped and landed right side up.

"Wow!" said Sasuko in awe. "Do that again Daddy!"

Naruto smiled, ignoring the twanging muscles in his back. "Maybe later... right now... I need your help making pancakes."

* * *

Hishyoni ignored the soft unsure footsteps that stopped directly in front of her door. She continued sliding her legs farther apart until she was in a full split. She held that position for ten breaths and then lay flat on the floor. She also ignored the tentative knock at her door.

"Hishyoni-ne-san?" called Hizashi quietly. "Are you decent?"

"Would it matter if I wasn't?" she asked grumpily under her breath. She rose from the floor and leaned forward over her right leg. She pulled her torso down to it and held the stretch.

The door slid open and Hizashi stepped inside. "May I come in?" he asked politely.

"Sure, why not?" said Hishyoni sarcastically. "It's not like you were going to wait for my permission to come in anyway." She stretched herself down to the other leg, and held it.

Hizashi stood there quietly, not moving. Hishyoni placed both her palms down on the floor and shifted her balance. Slowly she rotated her body into a handstand while maintaining her split in the air. "Was there something you wanted Hizashi?"

"Sorry," he said. "I was listening, and trying to figure out what you were doing." He tilted his head. "I can hear your hands on the floor, and I can tell that you're moving, but your feet are…?"

Hishyoni rolled her eyes. "No... I meant was there something you wanted other than to just stand there, listening to me doing a handstand." She straightened her legs to the vertical and then lowered one down and sprung back on her foot. She looked at her brother. "Don't you have better things to do with your time? Shouldn't you be writing a haiku or something?."

Hizashi nodded. "Handstand," he said quietly to himself. "I'll remember that." Leaving one hand on the wall for guidance he knelt down on the floor. He bowed his head forward. "I wanted to apologize to you, my older sister," he said very formally. "I did not mean to offend you last night. I only wanted to join your sparring session with Father this morning."

"Oh," said Hishyoni. She turned and began walking around the room gathering up her gear.

She knew Hizashi was telling the truth. He didn't mean any harm. The kid desperately wanted to be a shinobi. He was constantly looking for some way to prove to everyone that he was worthy.

Hishyoni snorted. Fat chance of that ever happening. The clan barely looked at her as being worthy. Of course no one used the term 'half breed' anymore, not since Aunt Hinata had children with the Hokage… but just because people didn't say something out loud didn't mean they weren't thinking it.

Sure she had a byakugan… a byakugan as good as the average Hyuga. Could it see tenketsu like her father? No. She was skilled in every form of weapon based combat, with over a hundred hours of successful mission logged, far more than any Hyuga chunin her age... But all that mattered to the clan was that she had a... small issue with her chakra control that interfered with her jukken forms.

Training with her fellow clansmen had been an exercise in futility. She hated being made fun of. She hated being stared at. She hated how everyone just assumed that because she wasn't a 'pureblood' Hyuga she was somehow not as good as the rest of them.

Mom used to tell her not to worry, that she would master the jukken techniques eventually, it would just take time and practice. Dad used to come home from missions and train her every chance he got… before he got injured and had to retire.

Taking care of Hizashi had been expensive. Experimental healing jutsu, visits to medical-nin in other villages, home tutors… Now Dad spent all his time teaching jukken to the children of wealthy Hyuga parents… and Mom was gone for days at a time, taking every high paying, non-combat transport mission she could.

She threw her armful of scrolls and loose weapons on the bed in preparation for sealing them away and attaching them to her person. "Well, thanks for the apology, but it's not going to change Dad's mind… not when he and mom lay down the law like that." There was a small cloud of smoke as she sealed a batch of kunai away. "Have a nice training session."

Hizashi lifted his head a little and smiled. "Actually, I asked him if you could join us." Hishyoni froze. Hizashi must have picked up on the tension because he quickly said: "Father wasn't going to allow it at first, but I insisted, and eventually he relented."

Of course dad would relent, it was his precious Hizashi asking. There was a long pause while Hishyoni stared at the blind boy. "Why?"

Hizashi got to his feet and shuffled forward in the direction of her voice. "Because I wanted to train with you."

"Why? Dad has ten times the skill that I do. That's why I wanted him to teach me… just me. If you're there, he's going to insist on going over the very basic stuff. You're just going to be holding me back!" She felt her anger begin to boil.

Hizashi hung his head. "Please my older sister?" he asked formally. "I was really looking forward to sharing this training session with you."

Hishyoni stood with her back to him, not moving. "You just don't get it do you?" she said quietly.

"Get what?"

Hishyoni spun around. "You are such a pain, did you know that?" she snapped. "Mom and Dad are always coddling you and babying you because you can't see. Why should I have to suffer just because of your shortcomings?" She waved her hands at the trophies and medals lining the walls of her room. "I've won every single marksmanship prize the academy had to offer. I've been scouted by the ANBU twice, and the Council of Elders has written me, asking me to represent the village in the next ninja competition!" She took a calming breath. "But Mom and Dad don't even notice. All I ever hear is 'Oh, did you see what your cousins did this morning?' and 'That Uchiha boy may be really strange, but he is an extremely talented shinobi.' or 'Did you see the Fang Twins during the chunin exam? Did you see what they did?' and then there's you," she said in a cold brittle voice. "Everything is always about you… and what you need, and what you want," she snorted. "So go ahead, get what you want one more time. Go take my training session with Dad, but don't expect me to be a part of it." Hishyoni buckled on her shuriken holster and tied the summoning scroll to the back of her belt. She turned and looked at Hizashi standing in her doorway. "Would you move already? I'm going to need to get to the training field early, if I want to get there before everyone else shows up."

Hizashi didn't budge. "I'm sorry for being such a burden to you all the time." he said very quietly. "I'm sorry that I'm not being a better brother. I just wanted to spend some time training with my big sister this morning. You're better at weapons than Dad. That's what I really wanted to work on… that is all." There was pleading crack in his voice. "You are the greatest shinobi I know. Just give me the chance to work with you… Please?"

Hishyoni looked down a little guiltily. "I'm not that great," she muttered.

"You are!" insisted Hizashi. "You just listed all of your accomplishments. How could I not want to train with you?" Hizashi rubbed his eyes where a single tear traced down his cheek. "You are right... Mom and Dad do coddle me. If I'm going to be a shinobi I need someone who will train me hard. Not someone who praises me for doing the most basic things." He reached out his hand toward his sister. "Please Hishyoni, will you help me practice?"

Hishyoni sighed. She was more than a little flattered. "Fine. But do me a favor? If this session with Dad starts getting too hard just drop out okay? We only have a limited amount of time this morning and I want to make the most of it. If you get lost, I'll try to show you the moves in more detail after he leaves. Deal?"

Hizashi smiled. "Deal. Thank you big sister." Hishyoni tied on her forehead protector, and led the way down the hall and outside.

* * *

Neji stretched calmly in the courtyard behind the house. His pack rested near the back gate. Every once in awhile he would glance up at his bedroom window, wondering if Tenten was awake yet. He promised he would let her sleep in this morning, but he also really wanted to say goodbye to her before he left for the clan gathering. He hoped the training he promised this morning wouldn't run too long.

He looked up as his children fastened their boots and stepped into the courtyard. His face was stern, but inwardly he was smiling. Despite the hardship of Hizashi's accident and Hishyoni's attitude, pride still rose in his heart looking at the pair of them. "Good," he said in a stern voice. "I take it that there are no hard feelings anymore?" Both children nodded, Hizashi grinning, but Hishyoni keeping her face carefully blank. "What did you want to focus on for this morning?"

Hizashi turned his head slightly toward Hishyoni to indicate it was her choice. "I would like it if you could run us through the kata for the jukken finger strikes Father."

Neji frowned. "That is beyond your brother's current ability. We definitely need to start with something simpler."

Hizashi spoke up." It's all right Father. I promised Hishyoni that we would practice what she wanted and then later she could help me with weapons training."

Neji looked back and forth between them. He shrugged. "All right," he said. "Step into the first stance. Both children assumed the basic jukken stance. Neji walked over to Hizashi. "Try to hold your jabbing arm out more." He reached out and straightened his arm a little. "Now widen your stance, you want your legs to be more at an angle to each other, not in a straight line." Hizashi adjusted his feet. "That's good," said Neji. "Stop there." He glanced over at Hishyoni. "Excellent form Hishyoni. We'll start with a few palm strikes."

"Dad, I said I wanted to work on the finger strikes," said Hishyoni with just a hint of impatience creeping into her voice.

"We're only doing this as a warm up," said Neji glancing at Hizashi. "Focus on the tenketsu in the center of your palm now." Neji held up his own hand as an example. "Feel the chakra build up behind it like a little dam. Now, each time you strike," Neji snapped his hand forward. A little burst of blue chakra burst from his palm. "All you have to do is open the floodgate." He nodded toward his children. "Let's see what you can do."

Neji watched as his children went through a series of kata. Hizashi stayed with the basic one-two forward palm strikes. Hishyoni went through a much more complex series of strikes involving a combination of palm thrusts and sweeping wrist strikes, occasionally interjecting with an upward angled blow. "Hizashi," called Neji. "Make sure you have built up sufficient chakra before you release it with the blow. Some of those looked weak." Neji watched a little bit longer. "Better, now your chakra strength looks more robust, but you are releasing it a little on the early side. Hold it until just before you strike your target." He strolled over to Hishyoni. "Very nice Hishyoni, very nice indeed." Hishyoni smiled grimly, as her father slowly circled her. "Your technique is coming along excellently. Keep it up and you will be as good as your cousin Hishyota." Hishyoni froze in her stance. Neji looked back. "Why did you stop?"

Hishyoni stood up. "I've had enough warming up. Can we practice finger strikes now?"

Neji nodded. "I am short on time today, so I don't see why not." He stepped toward Hizashi. "Hizashi give me your hand." Neji took Hizashi's outstretched hand and folded his ring and pinky fingers down, then he held his index and middle fingers together. "This is the basic hand position for the finger strikes. The reason why the basic jukken strike is with the palm is because the tenketsu there are very large and easy to build up chakra behind it. However, you can build up chakra behind any tenketsu on your body and release it from there. One of the more useful places is your fingers."

"Why?" asked Hizashi.

Neji looked at his daughter. "Do you know why?" he asked Hishyoni.

"It's a smaller area, you can use it to hit a much smaller target." She looked up at her father. "Like someone else's tenketsu in the eight trigrams attacks."

"Oh," said Hizashi. "But I won't be able to see anyone's tenketsu."

"That's just the most common way the Hyuga use it," said Neji hastily. "I've found many other uses over the years."

"How?" asked Hizashi.

Neji smiled. "Well the first time was when it saved my life."

Hishyoni looked up, a flicker of interest on her face. "When was this Father?"

"A long time ago, back when I was still a genin. I was battling this elite ninja from the Sound village, he was very spider like."

"Spider like?" asked Hizashi.

"That's the best way to describe it. He had six arms, could make webs, summoned spiders, and eventually turned into a spider-demon creature." Neji waved his hands in a dismissive gesture. "Anyway, he had trapped me and the rest of my squad in his webbing, it was strong stuff, infused with chakra. Our kunai couldn't cut it, so, I did this," Neji held up his index and middle finger. A thin strand of chakra joined the tips in a sharp 'V'. "I made a chakra thread that went from the tenketsu on my index finger to my middle finger," he explained to Hizashi. "I used that to cut the webbing, free the rest of my team and defeat the Sound ninja."

"Wow," whispered Hizashi in awe.

"That wasn't the only thing I had to come up with that day to defeat him," said Neji, reminiscing. "He summoned a giant spider that gave birth to thousands of little spiders that tangled me up in their webs and prevented me from using kaiten to protect myself." Neji smiled ironically. "And then while I was all caught up and couldn't move and couldn't block, he started shooting arrows at me while he was hidden in the trees."

"How did you escape?" asked Hizashi.

"I didn't escape, said Neji. "I beat him. First I started releasing chakra to slow down his attacks, just enough that I had a chance to block them or dodge out of the way. The problem was he was attacking from so many directions that a few of them were hitting the blind spot for my byakugan. Once he noticed that, he started launching attacks at my blind spot."

"How did you evade that attack?" asked Hishyoni looking impressed.

Neji grinned. "I didn't. I was injured worse than I have ever been in my life. But since he was trying to kill me I considered it a success." Neji tapped the back of his neck. "I released chakra from my tenketsu back there, just enough that when the arrow was coming in, I could sense it and dodge it just enough that the wound wasn't fatal." He ruffled Hizashi's hair. "If you two are really interested in seeing a more example of what you can do with molded chakra, talk to your Aunt Hinata sometime. She has fantastic chakra control and has used it to make some fascinating jutsu over the years. There was this one time she made a modified kaiten that..."

A booming voice called from over the hedge lining the yard. "Ho! Neji-san! It's good to see you up so early in the morning!" Neji turned and stared at the grinning face waving at him from beyond the fence.

"Honan-san." He nodded to the man, careful to hide his feelings of annoyance. "What brings you by my humble abode?"

Honan plodded up to the gate and opened it. He pulled out a silk handkerchief and wiped his sweating face as he approached. "I need an excuse to talk with my relatives?" He smiled and waved at Hizashi and Hishyoni. "Good morning children! Is your father training you hard?"

"We're learning the eight trigrams sixty four palms technique!" chirped Hizashi excitedly.

Honan slapped his belly and chuckled. "Fantastic! Just what I would expect of the children of such talented shinobi."

"Do you have any tips on the technique Honan-san?" asked Hizashi eagerly.

"Alas no, that was one of a vast number of shinobi skills that I was never able to master." Honan sighed dramatically. "My failings have forced me to eek out a living as a most humble merchant." He lifted one hand and touched Neji's shoulder. Jeweled rings sparkled on every finger. "I beg of you children, let me borrow your father for the briefest of moments. There is the... smallest trifle that I wish to discuss with him."

Honan lumbered his way back to the gate. Neji caught the smallest of frowns on Hishyoni's face as he turned to follow him. Neji kept his own face carefully blank.

His uncle, Hinata's father, the previous head of the Hyuga clan, disliked Honan with a passion. The Hyuga clan was well known for its reserved, noble demeanor and its honor. Honan had neither.

He began life as member of the branch family but unsatisfied with a life of servitude, he did the unthinkable… he fled. His running led him to a life at sea serving on one merchant vessel or another calling at ports all over the world. He learned the trade as a young man and earned / borrowed enough money to purchase his own ship and set up his own import export firm. He struggled along for many years, until suddenly he had a huge, unnatural boom in business. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time." Honan would say with a great belly laugh. It was a shameful family secret in the Hyuga clan that Honan's big break occurred when he started smuggling. His byakugan could spot patrol boats many miles away. The profits enabled him to build a much larger ship and hire a crew. Soon there were whispered tales that he dabbled in piracy. His fortune grew, and he kept adding ships to his fleet. He rapidly became one of the wealthiest shipping magnates in the Fire nation. With his jovial appearance and flaunting his wealth at every opportunity, he soon became very popular at the Daimyo's court increasing his power and influence further. However, Hinata's father and the more traditional members of the Hyuga clan always looked upon him with scorn.

Honan stopped and leaned on the gate to Neji's courtyard taking some of the weight off his feet. He stared unabashedly at Hishyoni who was trying her best to teach Hizashi the finger strikes. "Your son has grown taller since I saw him last," he said thoughtfully. "I don't see him around town very much."

"It's been hard for him," said Neji. "Since the accident, he's been learned to get around the house and yard, but he finds the village too chaotic to navigate."

"Poor lad," said Honan quietly. "It happened three years ago?"

Neji nodded. "He was six."

"Your daughter has grown into a beautiful and charming young woman as well. Look at how she dotes on her younger brother."

"Mmm," grunted Neji, without comment.

"I am impressed by how you are continuing his training," rumbled Honan. "Most parents would have given up on that, given everything that has happened."

Neji shrugged. "Hizashi himself insists that we continue, and my wife and I agree that no harm is done by encouraging him."

Honan nodded. "And how is your lovely wife?"

"Well. She came back from a mission yesterday, and leaves for another today, so she is currently resting. Why do you ask?" Neji asked, a hint of brusqueness coming into his voice. It wasn't quite proper Hyuga etiquette to stop the pleasantries so quickly, but they didn't have time to spend half an hour chatting about inconsequential things.

"I wanted to make sure we wouldn't be interrupted. I need to discuss some... private business, Hyuga family only."

"Tenten took the Hyuga name when she married me," said Neji coldly. "She is a member of this family as well."

Honan chuckled. "No doubt, no doubt... You will have no argument from me on that claim. However, shall we delicately say that there are some in the clan who believe that one's birth dictates one's position?"

Neji frowned. "That is hardly news." He shook his head. The man was being a boor, but that was no surprise. "I am sorry, but my time is precious this morning. I promised my children I would spend time with them and I would appreciate it if you would get to your point."

If Honan was offended by his bluntness he didn't show it. "My dear Neji," smiled the merchant. "I refer to the fact that the clan is old and set in it's ways. The seal on our foreheads may be long gone, but to some, there is nothing that will ever wash that stigma away. Officially we may no longer use the terms 'branch' and 'head' families, but why kid ourselves, the distinction is still there. The head family still has all the power. These are the same people who leisure away in their mansions while the rest of us support them through our clan dues. To them it's just the way things will always be. They believe that the branch family is still there just to support the head family." He eagerly leaned closer to Neji. "But what if… what if one of the branch family were to somehow the highest seat of authority in the Hyuga clan?"

"You are speaking of removing Hinata from her position as the Head of the Clan," said Neji in a flat, cold voice. "My cousin… My blood… After all she has done for us."

"Hinata is a wonderful girl," said Honan in a soothing tone. "Surprisingly modern in her way of doing things," his voice dropped an octave, "for a member of the Head family. She banned the use of the caged bird seal, this much is true, but what has she done for us lately?" he snorted. "She may speak as if we were all one big happy clan, but she still panders to the head family. Plus, as much honor as it does bring us, her being married to the Hokage raises the suspicion of who really dictates the policy of our clan. Are we truly independent, or are we merely carrying out the Hokage's will?" He idly waved a hand in the air. "Mostly though... well... it's Hinata," he said disparagingly. "What has she done to prove herself as a leader? No one has followed her into battle. All she is known for is being the shy, quiet daughter of Hiashi Hyuga."

Honan stared up at the clouds. "She's done a fantastic job of maintaining the status quo. But that is all she has done." He knocked his fist on the gate. "It's a new Age! Our clan, needs to be revolutionized! It's no secret that because of our traditions and our kindness we have gathered up a lot of responsibilities over the years. I've been looking at it with a critical eye for quite some time now. Sure, we make good as we are, but there are so many ways that we could be much better. For example, these craftsmen we do business with, we've had a good relationship with them for many years and we make a modest profit on it." Honan got a twinkle in his eye. "But what if we bought them out? Then we would own the production. We could lower costs and increase our profits threefold," he grinned. "We could even get some of the pensioners to assist with distribution and marketing. I bet we could raise profits a further 100%." He looked at Neji imploringly. "There are just so many ways we could streamline the clan expenditures, cut out all the dead wood and run it more like a business." He opened his arms wide. "Think what we could accomplish if we made just a few small changes. Instead of being old, stodgy and stagnating the Hyuga clan could be strong again, powerful again, and the envy of all." Honan smiled benevolently. "And all we would need is the right person at the helm."

"And that person would be you I suppose?" said Neji dryly. He shook his head. "I'm sorry I cannot be a part of this folly. To betray the honor of the clan in this way…"

He was interrupted by a roar of laughter from Honan, it lasted so long that Honan needed to support himself by holding on to the gate. "Oh that is rich," he said wiping a tear from his eye. "I admit, I would want to have the new Clan Head's ear from time to time to make a few... choice suggestions, But I could never serve as the new head of the Hyuga clan. I'm too colorful. I'm not respectful enough. Oh no…" Honan took a step forward. "Many like-minded, forward thinking Hyuga and I have been discussing this issue amongst ourselves for quite a while."

He moved forward and smiled at Neji. It was a wide toothy smile. "There is only one branch family man with the strength, and the honor to take over as Head of the clan… one man who, everyone agrees, commands the respect to unite us and bring us forth into the bold new future!" He took another step forward and leaned into Neji's ear. "It's you," he whispered.

Neji quickly recovered from his shock, but not quickly enough. "Surely, something as paramount as that would be worth talking to me for… oh, a few paltry minutes?" asked Honan with a knowing grin.


	16. Chapter 8: By red morning's light part 2

Tenten rolled over sleepily and felt the other side of the bed... No Neji. She slowly lifted her head and listened to the sounds coming in from the open window. She could hear something going on in the courtyard. She stretched lazily, wrapped a sheet around herself, and padded to the window.

She couldn't help but smile as she gazed at Hishyoni trying to teach Hizashi some jukken style attack. She loved seeing her children working together, it happened so infrequently. Hishyoni was distracted though. She kept looking over her shoulder towards the yard gate and frowning. Tenten followed her gaze and saw Neji talking to an obese, well-dressed man. "Good morning Neji! Good morning kids!" she called. She waved to them out the window. Hishyoni waved back, and Hizashi smiled in her general direction, but Neji jumped, startled, and glanced up at her guiltily. The large man pulled on his sleeve and started to talk to him with quick, sharp gestures.

Tenten stepped back from the window with a puzzled expression on her face. Neji… Looking guilty while talking to another Hyuga… This didn't bode well. She hurriedly pulled on a pair of pants and a tank top and rushed down stairs. She quickly stepped into a pair of sandals and started across the courtyard. "Hi Mom!" called Hizashi, as he heard her pass. "I'm learning the eight trigrams!"

Tenten jogged by. "That's nice dear. I just have to talk to your father for a second." The large man stopped whispering as Tenten approached. His eyes narrowed for a second. Then his face broke into a wide jolly grin.

"And this must be Tenten Hyuga. Please, join us my dear! I never see you at any of the Hyuga clan gatherings. It's a shame that Neji never brings you and the children with him." He reached out for her hand and Tenten extended one. Instead of shaking it, he gently turned it over and kissed its back. "You are truly a vision of loveliness." He nudged Neji with his elbow. "I see where your daughter gets her good looks from."

Tenten extracted her hand, and tried to call forth all the subtleties of Hyuga etiquette Neji had drilled into her. "You flatter me and my family with your kind words. However you seem to have me at a disadvantage."

The fat man chuckled. "That is hardly your fault my dear. The rest of the family doesn't like to talk about me. I am the black sheep of the clan." He made a small awkward bow. "Honan Hyuga, at your service."

Honan Hyuga. She'd heard that name from Hinata before and it rang all sorts of warning bells. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance Honan-san." Tenten made a small bow in return. "Would you like to come inside, and maybe continue your conversation?"

Honan's friendly grin dissolved with a sigh. "I would love to my dear, unfortunately, I must get going If I am going to make it to the clan gathering on time." His face twisted into an obviously fabricated look of surprise. Honan grabbed Neji's shoulder and gave it an excited shake. "That's it! You should come with me my boy! I happen to be taking my wheelhouse to the clan gathering! It's very spacious you know, we could relax, travel in style and perhaps continue our little chat."

Oh no… Neji was not going to continue this little 'chat'… not until she had heard about it first. Tenten reached out and tenaciously grabbed Neji's arm before he could answer. "My husband is not quite ready to leave yet Honan-san. There are still some things he needs to take care of."

"Oh?" Honan glanced pointedly at Neji's full pack beside the gate. "He needs to travel with more than one bag?"

To the hells with proper etiquette. She wanted this Honan gone and she wanted him gone now. This would embarrass Neji to no end but... Tenten held on possessively to Neji's arm, and blushed. "My husband has not yet said goodbye to me properly," she mumbled shyly, biting her bottom lip.

Honan's mouth dropped open in surprise. So did Neji's. The stunned silence was broken when the fat merchant burst out laughing. "Of course… I understand completely." He turned and shook Neji's hand. "You are a lucky man to have such a loving wife, Neji-san." He turned to Tenten. "Tenten-san, I apologize for having intruded on your morning." He looked at her smiling. "Might I be able to convince you and the children to join us for this year's clan gathering? It promises to be a momentous one."

Tenten shook her head. "Unfortunately I have a mission, and we have already made plans for the children to stay with their cousins... perhaps next time."

Honan smiled and nodded sadly. "Perhaps… It was a pleasure to finally meet you." He made a little wave and waddled down the street.

"What was that all about?" asked Tenten under her breath.

"Just some clan business," said Neji just as quietly.

Tenten narrowed her eyes. "Really?"

Neji let out a big sigh. "Really," he said. "Just a little… something to do with the meeting."

"Right." Tenten grabbed his arm solidly and began to pull Neji toward the house.

"Uh, Tenten?" Neji asked, confused. Tenten kept pulling him.

"Mom?" called Hishyoni in an agitated voice. "Dad said he would train us before he left!"

"You can have him back after I'm done with him," said Tenten firmly. "We have to discuss something first." She brusquely pulled Neji past his children towards the front entrance

"What did Dad do?" she heard Hizashi nervously ask his sister.

Tenten kicked off her sandals and dragged Neji inside the house. She pulled him into the living room and then stood in the doorway blocking the exit. She folded her arms and glared at him. "All right, tell me."

Neji shifted from foot to foot and looked uncomfortable. "Tell you what exactly?"

"Tell me what is going to happen at this clan meeting that has you so worked up," she said flatly.

Neji shrugged. "It's just some... private clan business, nothing to worry about."

"Honan-san said it would be a 'momentous occasion'. What did he mean by that and how are you involved?"

Neji looked away. "How did you know?"

Tenten sighed. "Neji Hyuga, I have known you for over twenty years. We have served on missions together, fought battles together, and last, but not least, gotten married." She waved an arm at the courtyard. "I have given birth to your children." She took a step closer to him. "I know what you look like when you are upset and nervous, and you are both right now." She took another step. "So you can just stand there and keep pretending there is nothing wrong and let it keep eating away at you, or you can talk to me and I will do my best to help." She took a final step and was centimeters away from him. "So, what is it going to be?"

* * *

Sakura nuzzled closer to Sasuke and sighed contentedly. There was a warm patch of sunlight on the bed that felt wonderful on her sore knees. Sasuke stirred, reached over and embraced her. Sakura smiled. "Hmmm, I could stay like this forever," she whispered. Sasuke made a contented noise deep in the back of his throat and started kissing her forehead.

There was a thunder of footsteps down the hall and the door to their bedroom burst open. Chyrio took a flying leap and landed on the bed. "Mom! Mom!" she shouted. "Are you leaving today? Are you?" She was holding four stunned chipmunks in her two hands. One of them squirmed its way out of her grasp and landed on the bed with a plop. "Do you have to go Mom? Do you have to? Can't you wait for another day?" Chyrio bounced up and down on the bed with excitement.

Before Sakura could answer, there was a wailing howl. Fugawari grabbed the blankets with both of his chubby hands and tried to pull himself up on the bed. "No Mommy! No Mommy! No Mommy no!" he cried. Fat tears rolled down his cheeks. "Don't go Mommy! Don't go! I need you here!" He began to rock the bed back and forth.

"Squeak!" said the fallen chipmunk, who between all the bouncing and rocking was starting to look a little green.

"Aaaand… so much for 'forever," muttered Sasuke. He threw back the covers and slowly sat up. "Alright, everyone give Mommy a chance to get up and get dressed." He started to usher the two children out of the room.

The exit was blocked by Mibuki. "Mom!" he roared, "Chyrio's stupid chipmunks got into my stuff! Look!" he held up a heaping double handful of shredded paper. "They destroyed a whole ream of sealing tags!"

"My furry little babies are not stupid!" yelled Chyrio, trying to kick him in the shins. "You apologize to Mister Whiskers right now!"

"Those tags cost me four weeks worth of allowance!" yelled Mibuki. "You need to pay me back!"

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" cried Fugawari.

Sasuke firmly, yet gently shoved everyone out of the room, then closed the door with a click. He sighed. Sakura started to get up. "Well, I guess I'd better try to help you sort all this out."

Sasuke dashed over. "No, don't get up. I've got this." He smiled at her and then looked around the floor of their room. The arguing outside their door grew more heated.

"Are you sure?" asked Sakura, leaning back.

Sasuke nodded. "I'm sure. You've got a long trip ahead of you today. I can handle this." He frantically started searching the room. "Just as long as I am wearing pants. You haven't by any chance seen mine have you?"

Sakura snuggled back down under the blanket. "I put them in the wash last night." she yawned. "Check the dresser, bottom drawer."

Sasuke found a pair and pulled them on. He kissed Sakura gently and stepped up to the door. He composed himself, counted to three and then flung it open. "Here comes the tickle monster!" he bellowed. Chyrio and Fugawari paused in their crying and looked at him. Then they both screamed and started to run. "Booga booga booga!" said Sasuke in a scary voice.

"Dad..." said Mibuki in a tired voice. "Chyrio's stupid chipmunks ruined the blank sealing tags I bought. Make her pay me back."

Sasuke clapped his son on the shoulder. "Tell you what. You help me find and calm down your little brother and sister, and I'll buy you two reams of tags to replace them. Deal?"

Mibuki frowned at him. "Only if I don't have to play tickle monster."

Sasuke shrugged. "Fine." He softly closed the bedroom door. "I just want to let your mother rest that's all. With the hours she's been putting in at the hospital..." His voice faded as he walked back down the hall with Mibuki.

Sakura closed her eyes and stilled her breathing. She was just on the cusp of falling back asleep when she heard a tiniest little scratching noise. She opened her eyes and scanned the room, but nothing was there.

She lay there waiting for the noise to repeat itself. After a long wait she felt herself getting drowsy again. She closed her eyes and started to drift back to sleep.

She awoke with a start with the feeling that someone was watching her. She listened closely but she heard nothing. The faint scratching noise hadn't repeated itself, but there was definitely the hackles raising, neck tingling sensation of being stared at in the air.

She opened her eyes. There, sitting centimeters from her face, on her pillow, was an abandoned chipmunk. The rodent blinked twice. "Squeak?" he inquired.

Sakura sighed. "I guess the universe has decided that I am not going to sleep in today, no matter what I do." She looked at the chipmunk. "Isn't that right?"

"Squeak," he said in a noncommittal way.

* * *

Most of the Uchiha clan was sitting around the breakfast table. Ichisui was outside completing his morning training routine, and Hana was still in bed.

"Please Mommy? Stay with us!" whined Fugawari.

"Do you really have to go Mommy?" asked Chyrio "Can't Grandma Tsunade come here instead?"

Sakura sighed and sipped her tea. "I already promised Tsunade-sama that I would go and visit. I won't be gone that long."

"Besides, we have a lot of fun things to do while Mommy is away," said Sasuke, trying to distract Chyrio and Fugawari. "We will go to the park to play... maybe we could sail some of those new toy boats that the Hokage helped you make on the pond."

"Really?" said Chyrio, delighted. "That would be excellent! I bet Mister Whiskers would look great in a little sailor suit! Can I take all of the chipmunks Daddy? We could play pirates!"

"Pirates? With chipmunks?" asked Mibuki.

Chyrio nodded a faraway look in her eyes. "We could dress them all up. One boat of valiant sailors under the command of Admiral Whiskers, and the other boat would be the scary pirate ship of the naughty chipmunk pirate king Monkey D. Fluffy. We could sail them out into the pond, and they could do battle, and who ever sank the other's ship would win!"

Mister Whiskers popped his head out from the main pocket of Chyrio's overalls. "Squeak?" he said in a terrified way.

Sakura looked up. "Chyrio, you know the rules. No chipmunks at the table."

"But Mom!" wailed Chyrio, holding him tight. "He was lost this morning. He misses me so much! If I don't love him and hug him he would be very sad!"

"Squeak!" said the extremely muffled voice of Mister Whiskers.

"Hurry and finish your breakfast," said Sasuke. "Otherwise we won't have time to go to the pond."

"Okay daddy!" Chyrio grinned in a maniacal way and started gobbling up her rice as fast as she could.

"I don't wanna play pirates," said Fugawari, sulking.

Sasuke looked at him. "Well then what would you like to do today?"

Fugawari looked up, his lip trembling. "I want Mommy to stay home with me," he said quietly.

Chyrio looked up as well. "I want you to stay too, Mom. I need to show you this pirate battle! It will be amazing! We'll have dance routines! And songs! Ooh! And a love story! There will be a pirate boy who doesn't want to be a pirate anymore, and he'll fall in love, but the pirate king will take him back because he was born on a leap year! And there will be this Major General and..."

"How about this," Sasuke strategically interrupted. "Today we will have the pirate battle dress rehearsal. When Mommy comes back, we will have the real show"

Chyrio blinked. "Dress rehearsal?"

"Practice before the big show," explained Mibuki.

Sasuke leaned towards Chyrio and whispered. "It's bad luck to let the audience see the dress rehearsal."

Chyrio mulled that over as she chewed her last bite. "I don't know," she said. "I still don't want you to go, Mom."

Sakura pulled Chyrio close and kissed her on the forehead. "Sweetie, I'm only going to be gone for a couple of days. Wouldn't you rather have that time to practice and then you could show me a big fancy show when I get back?"

Chyrio thought about it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out Mister Whiskers. "What do you think Mister Whiskers? Do you think we should rehearse our pirate show?"

"Squeak!" said Mister Whiskers emphatically. Indicating he thought the whole thing was a horrible idea.

"You are absolutely right!" said Chyrio, giving him a kiss on the head. "Practice does make perfect! Let's go upstairs and see what costumes I can get for you." She bounced up the stairs to her room.

"Mommy, why can't you stay?" asked Fugawari. "I don't want you to go!"

Sakura leaned over to him. "Dearest, I already promised grandma Tsunade that I would come by for a visit. It won't be a long visit and I will be back before you know it."

Fugawari started to sniffle. "But I'll miss you!" he wailed. Tears started to pour from his eyes.

"Oh, my poor baby," said Sakura hugging him.

"Baby is right," muttered Mibuki. "He's certainly crying enough to be one!"

"I am not a baby!" screamed Fugawari. Tears and snot covered his face.

"Then why don't you stop crying?" teased Mibuki.

"Because I want Mommy to stay with us!" bawled Fugawari.

Mibuki pointed one finger at him. "Baby," he said matter-of-factly. Fugawari screamed at him in frustration.

Sasuke flinched and covered his ears. "Okay, Mibuki knock it off." He turned to Fugawari. "Try to cry more quietly will you? I'm going deaf."

"But he called me a baby!" sobbed Fugawari.

Everyone looked up at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. With hair disheveled and eyes barely open, Hana plodded her way down the stairs and collapsed into a chair. She held out one hand. "Tea?" she mumbled. Sasuke got her a clean cup and poured. Hana took a sip. As if she was fighting gravity every millimeter of the way, she slowly cracked an eye and looked around. Her gaze settled on Sakura. "Can somebody please tell me…" she said in a hoarse voice, "why Chyrio is stomping around upstairs singing 'Yo-ho, yo-ho! A pirate's life for me?'"

"Mommy's leaving today," said Fugawari with a little sniffle.

Hana's brow furrowed. "Is she leaving with pirates?" she asked dazedly.

"No!" said Fugawari with a half giggle. "She's going to visit Grandma Tsunade. Chyrio wants to play pirates."

Hana considered this, and took another sip of her tea. "And you're crying because you don't want to play pirates?"

"No!" said Fugawari grabbing Sakura's arm. "I want her to stay with us!"

Hana snorted. "Fat chance. Mom's visits to Tsunade-sama are very important to her, and to Tsunade-sama. She's never canceled them for anything."

"Never?" asked Fugawari in a small voice.

Hana thought. "Well there was this one time when Mibuki was little and he was sick with the flu. And I mean very sick, there was puke everywhere. She canceled it then, but that's the only time I can think of." She sipped her tea.

Fugawari stared at his big sister. He glanced at his Mother, and then went back to staring at his sister. "Really? She didn't leave when Mibuki was sick?"

Hana nodded. "Pretty much."

Fugawari nodded. Then he grabbed his foot and started crying again. "Mommy Mommy Mommy!" he wailed. "I'm sick! My foot hurts so much I can't finish my breakfast! Ouch!" He started coughing as well. "I have a bad cough! I don't feel good! I think my foot has the flu!"

Hana looked up from her tea. Both her Mother and Father were staring at her with frowns on their faces. "What?" she asked.

* * *

Tenten sat back and crossed her arms. She stared at Neji. Neji looked down at the table. "I think you are misunderstanding me here."

"Am I?" she asked in a soft, yet stern voice. "Then perhaps you can enlighten me as to what it is that you think you are getting yourself into. Because what it sounds like from this side of the table is a conspiracy to seize control of the Hyuga clan."

"It is not a conspiracy," said Neji in a pained voice. "It's just... politics."

"Let's see, sneaky backroom deals, backstabbing, sketchy figure pulling the strings," she counted off on her fingers. "Seems like a conspiracy to me. I don't see how you could do this to your cousin! Hinata is trying her best to keep the family business afloat, and I for one, think that she is doing a very good job at it." Tenten narrowed her eyes. "I was certain you were finished with this vendetta against her family."

Neji sighed. "Hinata is the epitome of kindness, and Hiashi has gone out of his way to bring me back into the family." He looked up at Tenten. "I have no quarrel with them." He rubbed his forehead. "I was afraid you wouldn't understand me. If you will permit me to explain?"

"Go ahead," said Tenten brusquely. "See if I understand."

Neji composed himself for a second. "Losing this mark that set me apart from everyone else was one of the greatest moments of my life. I finally felt free. I owe this gift to Hinata and the Hokage. I feel like I was finally able to live truly on my own terms." He looked up at Tenten."Do you remember what I said to you when we started dating?" He smiled slightly. "That first time we had that... delicate conversation about children?"

Despite her anger Tenten blushed slightly. "You said you didn't want to have children, to spare them the risk of potentially having the caged bird seal," she said quietly.

Neji made a small smile. "Do you remember how happy I was when it was removed?"

Tenten smiled back. "Yes."

"I felt free. My perception was that the whole Hyuga clan had changed. From that day forth it was a new era." Neji frowned. "Unfortunately it is very hard to change the course of traditions with so much inertia. While all the members of the branch family are free from the seal, many of the head family still treat us as if we were in bondage."

"Oh, come on," said Tenten. "Hinata and Hiashi have..."

"Hinata and Hiashi are the exception," Neji interrupted. "And I am speaking of former branch family members other than me… more than our family. There are members of the head family scattered about the Fire nation that still view us as servants. The profits of the family business go to line their pockets. The hard work of those in the branch family is slowly sucked away to support those who while away their hours in leisure, pining for the good old days when all these uppity branch family members still knew their place." He looked up at Tenten. "Hinata does a good job as the Head of the Clan. She has been the kindest and the most fair one we have had in ages. However even she must still pander to those other stodgy members of the head family to maintain her position. But what if we could change more than that?" asked Neji with a glint in his eye. "What if instead of just making a single important change in the Hyuga clan, we could turn everything on its head."

Neji took a deep breath and continued. "Hinata is bound by honor and tradition to maintain the current ties that the clan has. She is compelled to maintain the contracts and the pensions we have held for years, even when they are no longer in our best interests. I am nothing but an upstart. A mere member of the branch family. I am not bound to maintain those deals which are no longer in our interests. If I became head of the clan..."

"It would be a miracle," interrupted Tenten. "I agree with you that your family is definitely set in its ways."

Neji nodded. "But Honan thinks it is doable, and If I could become the clan chief, I would not be bound by tradition... I would have no problems making those changes. I could make the clan better for all of us. I could really turn the clan around and make it into something strong again."

Tenten looked at her fingernails. "Let's just suppose all of this happens exactly as you say it will, and through some miracle you become the head of the Hyuga clan. What does Honan want in exchange for his assistance?"

"Nothing. He's..."

"Doing this out of the goodness of his heart?" asked Tenten incredulously. "I don't believe that for a second, and neither for you."

"He wants to have a say in some of the business deals that the clan is engaged in. That's a small price to pay for..."

"Sticking it to the stuffy narrow-minded old geezers in your clan?" said Tenten with a smile. "I'm not saying that that doesn't have its appeal, or that I don't think that you would make fantastic Head of the Hyuga clan." Tenten smiled and put her hand on his arm. "You are the most level-headed man I know Neji, but when it comes to matters pertaining to your family, and your slighted honor, you always have had a weak spot… I know this… and I'll bet Honan knows this too."

There was a clatter of wood knocking together from outside. She glanced out the window where Hishyoni and Hizashi were training, and then looked back to her husband. "I trust your judgement and I know you have good intentions at heart, but I want you to keep these two things in mind: First, Honan's reputation as a charming rogue. As a merchant it is not in his nature to give anything away for free. He is offering this to you because he sees something in it that he can use to his advantage."

"I can handle Honan. Besides he's from the branch family, the same as me, he has as much to gain from my success as I do," said Neji calmly

"I'm sure he does," said Tenten. Hizashi and Hishyoni were making a considerable ruckus outside and Tenten had to raise her voice to be heard over them. "I have two main concerns regarding this. My first worry is what will happen to you once Honan gets all that he wants." Tenten waved her hands. "That's not so important, I am sure you can handle him."

She paused and glanced out the window again. Hishyoni had said something loudly in a harsh tone. "My second, and more important worry is: What will Hinata and Hiashi think when you and Honan surprise this little coup on them?" Neji looked embarrassed. Tenten nodded her head. "I thought as much." She leaned forward and held his hand gently. "You have some good arguments, But Hinata and Hiashi are going to be feel really hurt and betrayed. If you are serious about doing this, you need to tell them your intentions, and your reasoning behind them first. Talk to them," she said, shrugging. "Maybe they will agree with you."

Neji sighed. "You might be right. I haven't..." There was crash and a cry from outside. Both Neji and Tenten looked up and rushed outside.

Hizashi was sprawled on the ground, Hishyoni was standing over him holding a staff. "I told you to keep your guard up!" Hishyoni snapped at him. "See what happens when you don't block properly?"

"Hishyoni!" bellowed Neji. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"We were just training and he..." Tenten pushed her out of the way and dove to her son.

"Hizashi! Are you okay? Where did she hit you?" Tenten pulled him up to a sitting position, and hugged him.

"I'm okay Mom," Hizashi said, his voice muffled by Tenten's embrace. "It was just an accident… a little training accident. I'll be fine."

"See?" said Hishyoni. "He's fine, there's nothing to worry about. He just wanted me to show him some basic moves using a bo staff."

Tenten glared at her. "You're training with him using weapons?!" She pulled Hizashi to his feet. "He's not ready for that sort of thing yet!"

"But Mom, he asked me to! I was just trying to help out!" said Hishyoni.

Neji shook his head. "I really thought that you were more responsible than this Hishyoni. What on earth were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that since you were busy with all of your chit chat, Dad, and had no time to keep your promise to train me this morning, that maybe I should just go ahead and get what I could in." Her eyes flicked coldly to Hizashi. "He wanted to train so badly this morning... I figured I'd train with him."

Tenten stepped forward. "Really. You thought that your blind little brother would make a good sparring partner for you, Hmm? Is there anything close to an even match between your skills?"

Hishyoni's face twitched with fury. Hizashi shuffled his feet. "Mom it's okay," he said. "I asked her to help me! Please Dad, we were waiting a while." He tilted his head back and forth between his parents. "Can't you just finish showing us the jutsu?"

Neji stared at Hishyoni coldly. "I have doubts about whether your sister is ready to master the eight trigrams jutsu. One has to have a impeccable judgement and complete control to utilize it properly in battle." He paused and glared until Hishyoni looked away. "I fear you sister is lacking in both."

Hishyoni glanced at each of the members of her family. She reached down and picked up her fallen staff. "Fine," she said simply, and walked toward the gate.

"Dad, please! Can't we just continue? It was my fault, honest!" said Hizashi. Neji didn't answer. Hizashi turned to Tenten. "Mom, please... This really wasn't her fault."

"I'm sorry Son," said Tenten quietly. "But she is a chunin… She should really know better."

"Hishyoni," blurted Hizashi, trying to call her back.

She stopped but didn't turn. "I'm going to train by myself from now on," she said. "Don't bother me again." She reached out, opened the gate and stepped through. "You really are such a pain." She closed the gate quietly behind her.

* * *

Hishyota's hand was on the kunai hidden under her pillow before she was fully awake. The door to her room was slowly creaking open. "Psst! Hishyota? Are you awake?"

Hishyota forced her hand to relax and let go of the kunai. At least it wasn't dad being an idiot again. She poked one eye out of the pile of blankets on her bed. "What do you want Kusumina?"

Her sister slowly poked her head into the room. "Dad wanted you to know that breakfast will be ready soon. He sent me up here to tell you and mom."

Hishyota nodded. "All right," she grunted. "I'll be downstairs soon." Kusumina gently closed the door. Hishyota swung her legs over the side of the bed and put her feet on the cool floor. She peeled off the sweaty hair that had been plastered to her forehead. She hugged herself and shivered. Last night had been particularly bad.

Hishyota threw on her bathrobe and padded her way down to the bathroom. She turned on the cold water for the sink and splashed it on her face. She picked up her toothbrush and brushed her teeth. When she accidentally caught her own gaze in the mirror, she stopped brushing and froze. In her head she again heard the screams, and saw her mother fall. She remembered that young man's eyes, how they were so full of the promise of violence one moment, and then the next how the mindless rage bled away, to be replaced by pain and fear, as she thrust with the tanto sword up under his ribs and twisted it... just as they had taught her at the Academy.

Toothpaste dribbling down her chin snapped her out of her reverie. She leaned over the sink, spat, and then cleaned up her face for a second time. When she was finished she leaned her head against the mirror and rested against the cool glass. "I can't do this," she whispered. "I don't want to keep doing this."

* * *

Kusumina gently tapped on the door to her parent's room. "Mother?" she asked softly. "Are you awake?" Hinata grumbled and rolled over under the covers. Kusumina stepped farther into the room. "Mother?" she called.

Hinata slowly sat up, and looked around dazed. "Kusumina." She murmured and motioned her daughter towards the bed. "What are you doing up so early?"

Kusumina sat next to her mother and hugged her. "Um, Mother? It's not so early."

Hinata drowsily ran her hands through her daughter's hair. "Remind me to brush your hair before I have to leave. Your father never remembers to do it."

"Actually... Mother, I don't think you will have time to do it."

"What are you talking about? Of course I will. I will always have time for you."

Kusumina bit her lip. "Father sent me up here to wake you up. He has breakfast ready, you have to leave in about forty five minutes."

Hinata bolted up. "What!" She stared hopelessly at the clock. "Gods! How did it get so late?" She leaped off the bed and threw open the drawers to her bureau. "Oh, this is terrible, Kusumina!" said Hinata throwing clothes on the bed. "I'm sorry, but I need your help packing. Could you fetch down my suitcase please?"

Kusumina shrugged. "Father said that you were up in the middle of the night with Sasuko, and he wanted to give you a chance to sleep in." She stood up, opened the door to the closet, and reached up to the highest shelf. "Only I think you slept in a little later than he was planning." Kusumina unzipped the suitcase and stepped back.

Hinata dumped a double armload of clothes into the case and pushed it in so it would fit. "He still could have woken me up after he was ready with breakfast."

Kusumina shook her head very slightly. "Actually he needed to clean up Sasuko first. He was helping Father make pancakes."

Hinata stopped her frantic packing and looked at Kusumina. "Oh dear," she said.

"He got egg in his hair and shoved blueberries up his nose," reported Kusumina.

"Why on earth would your little brother put berries up his nose?"

Kusumina looked uncomfortable. "Apparently someone, who shall remain nameless, bet him ten ryo that he could sneeze out purple boogers, and Sasuko was so impressed he wanted to repeat the trick for Daddy."

Hinata nodded. "I shall tell Jiraiya that his allowance has been docked for yet another day," She said wearily. Hinata reached into the closet and pulled out two fancy dress kimonos. She held them up to herself. "Which one do you think I should bring?"

Kusumina looked at them critically. "The black one with the sunflowers is very somber and formal, very business like. The purple one with the crane is much more fancy, but less serious." Kusumina shrugged. "Why don't you bring them both? Won't you have the opportunity to wear either one?"

Hinata looked at them both. "I suppose I could." She flashed a quick grin at Kusumina. "I'm still not used to the idea that I don't have to pack light anymore."

"Why don't you bring this one Mother?" Kusumina fingered a silver kimono with black piping. The image of a fox running through a swirl of orange leaves swirled up from the hem. "I like it."

Hinata unzipped a garment bag and laid it open on the bed. "I like it too," she smiled. "I wore that one when your father was announcing his intentions to marry me, before the whole of the Hyuga clan." She packed the black and violet kimonos into the bag and zipped it closed. "Unfortunately It's not really appropriate for me to wear right now as the Head of the Hyuga clan."

Kusumina sat down on the bed and kicked her legs back and forth. "Why not? You like it, and it is fancy, so why can't you wear it?"

Hinata sighed. "Politics," she said in a pained voice. She started gathering up toiletries and zipping them into a smaller bag. "The first and only time I wore that dress... I was using it to drive home a rather... forceful statement to my family." She flashed a quick smile at Kusumina.

"That you were going to marry Daddy?" guessed Kusumina.

"That I was going to marry Daddy with or without their permission," Hinata said, reaching out and poking her daughter on the nose.

"Why did you need their permission?"

Hinata packed a few pairs of shoes into her suitcase. "Well, I didn't really, but If I wanted to remain on good terms with them…"

Kusumina gave her look of pure confusion. "Remain on good terms? You make it sound like Grandfather didn't approve of your marriage."

"Oh no... it was nothing like that. It was... just a different time back then. The clan was so very old fashioned." She pointed to a corner of the closet. "Could you hand me that travel bag?"

Kusumina handed her the small suitcase. "Hishyota says they're still old fashioned," she muttered. She looked up at her mother. "I don't understand. Why would there be any issues if you married Father?"

Hinata glanced up at Kusumina as she packed. In a few months, her daughter would be twelve years old. Soon after she would graduate from the academy and become a genin. In a few more years she would be a woman grown. Hinata had noticed how several of the boys in her class were already starting to cast shy looks in her direction.

She thought quickly as she opened more drawers, piling more clothes on the bed. Her children were growing up in a time of massive changes in the Hyuga clan. Sure, the old traditions and rigid formality that used to dominate the Hyuga were slowly being phased out, but as far as romance was concerned, there was still the unspoken expectation that it would take second seat to the family's financial necessity and political ambition.

She remembered when it started with Hishyota. Parents of eligible young sons would ask after her, invite her to come spend the day in their gardens, giving her lavish gifts. Hishyota had been entranced by all the attention, right up until the fourteen year old son of Kobayashi Hyuga, had told her that he was so happy she found his family's home so enchanting, because all this would be hers... once their families worked out the details of the marriage contract, that is.

Hinata did her best to calm an upset Hishyota (not to mention a Naruto who was threatening to summon a few giant toads to go have a 'chat' with Kobayashi Hyuga.) Hinata tried to explain to the pair of them that marriage proposals at that age were not... overly unusual among the Hyuga such things were to be expected when one comes from such an influential family as hers. She told Hishyota that she would deal with it.

It took a lot more negotiating than she was expecting to get Kobayashi to drop the contract. Apparently, he had witnesses that attested her eldest daughter had acted in traditional ways that showed she found his son's proposition quite acceptable.

Hinata blamed herself. As a young girl, she had never had any practice in talking to potential Hyuga suitors. No one had ever been interested her. She was inconsequential, the worthless daughter of Hiashi Hyuga, something to be treated as window dressing, or ignored, or pitied.

She had been foolish not to realize her daughters would not be treated the same way.

Even after the very long talk Hanabi had given her niece about all the little things one had to be careful not to say or do in the presence of a Hyuga member of the opposite sex, Hishyota still hadn't recovered her mettle. Hinata worried her eldest daughter would forever view everything her clan did with deep suspicion.

"Mother?" Kusumina's voice brought her out of her reverie. "Why are you being so quiet? Are there any issues that you married Father? Has the Hokage fallen out of favor with the Hyuga clan?" There was worry written all over her daughter's face. "Does this have something to do with the Kurokaze attack?"

Hinata wanted to spare her younger daughter the wariness and disdain Hishyota now felt for the Hyuga... But she also needed a good way to warn her what the more unscrupulous members of her clan might try to do…"No… Nothing of the sort… I was just... wondering... How much do you know about how your father and I got married?"

Kusumina tilted her head. "You mean how you confessed your love to him during the invasion of Pain, and then how he asked Grandfather for his permission to date you… and since daddy was the hero of the fourth shinobi war, Grandfather was honor bound to give his approval?"

Hinata slowly nodded. "That is… more or less correct…" She hesitated, still unsure if she should continue. There was a lot of history in this tale… and not all of it good.

"Does this have something to do with how Aunt Hanabi abdicated her position as Grandfather's heir?" Kusumina brightened. "Oh! I get it now! You were the head of the Hyuga clan, so Father had to ask your permission to marry you!"

Hinata smiled at her daughter. She was very clever. "You are getting closer, but it wasn't quite so simple as that." Her eyes grew nostalgic for a second, before she shook her head. "Here… help me pack and I'll tell you what I can."

* * *

**Author's note:**

Coming up next: Hinata's Tale... Conspiracies, politics, romance and growing up Hyuga


	17. Chapter 9: Hinata's tale part 1

**Chapter 9: Hinata's tale: Listen to your heart**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Okay, I'm trying something a bit different here...

Hinata is a very introspective person. While the main focus of her flashback here is a... particular moment that occurs about four years after the Fourth Great Shinobi war, she spends a good deal of time reminiscing about other significant points in her life... flashbacks within a flashback if you will...

Yeah... I know...

Anyway in an attempt to avoid 'time confusion' in my readers, regular type is considered 'present day' flashback (ie +4 years Fourth War) while events that happen in _italics_ have happened previously.

Does this work? Is it too confusing? Is it patronizing? Is it even necessary? I'd love to hear what you think.

-Cas

* * *

Hiashi Hyuga looked out sternly over the meeting. "…and for the final announcement," He paused and took a deep breath. "I would like to congratulate my daughter Hanabi for accepting a commission in the ranks of the ANBU." He frowned slightly at the whisper that ran through the room. "I am sure that she will bring honor upon the Hyuga family name." Hiashi scanned his notes quickly. "I believe that will conclude this portion of our business. We will now break for a short repast. Afterward I will see private petitioners in the back office." Everyone stood as Hiashi stiffly turned from the podium and made his way back to a side room in the gathering hall. The rest of the clan either headed back toward the refreshments, or gathered together in small groups of ones and twos to whisper amongst themselves.

As usual, Hinata found herself standing alone on the floor in an ever-widening circle. The Hyuga clan meetings were a time for family business, petitions and getting a chance to meet with distant cousins who lived very far away. It was also an opportunity to show off your social standing by rubbing elbows with the prominent and powerful.

Hinata sighed. She might be the Head of the Hyuga clan's daughter, but everyone knew where she stood in her father's eyes. The aloofness with which she was constantly subjected to at these gatherings would once leave her in a state of depression for days. Of course that was long ago, she was used to it by now... Unlike other members of her family. Wondering if he would benefit from seeing a friendly face, she started drifting about looking for Neji. She found him near the bar, fidgeting with a small drink, watching the crowd.

She nodded to him as she approached. "Well, I think my father handled that… about as well as he could have, don't you?"

Neji smirked, still scanning the milling Hyuga. "He handled it with his trademark restraint. Everyone else though seems very distraught." He snickered a bitter chuckle. "I can almost hear them now, complaining that your sister unraveled the intrigues of the past three years with her surprising little decision to become an ANBU. Why the very nerve of her!"

Hinata thought his comment was funny, but she didn't dare laugh. "Don't let Father hear you saying that," she said quietly. "He doesn't find anything amusing about how Hanabi enlisted without telling him first." Hinata looked around. "Did Tenten come?"

Neji shook his head slightly. "She decided it would be better not to. She said all the dirty looks she would be getting would be bad for the baby," he said with a growl. Many of his caustic feelings toward the Hyuga clan had resurfaced in the past year and a half. Since Hiashi himself had given his blessing to his nephew's union, there wasn't too much open protest, but Neji was learning the hard way that the clan had a thousand and one little ways to show its disapproval.

Hinata smiled. "I think she looks radiant. How far along is she now?"

"Four months." Neji sipped his drink. "I'm just glad her morning sickness is over. She was so miserable." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "How are you and Naruto doing?"

Hinata blushed. "We are doing quite well. He said he wants to take me out to dinner tonight. He said he has something special he wants to tell me."

"And Uncle Hiashi said it was okay to skip the clan banquet?"

Hinata nodded. "He did… at least he didn't seem to mind when I asked him yesterday morning." Hinata glanced around. Three separate conversations looked quickly away. Two more pointed in her general direction and began to chatter in an "I wish everyone would stop staring. When did I become such a focus for gossip?"

Neji sipped his drink again. "About fifteen minutes ago, when your father announced that his heir apparent was joining the ANBU."

"Ah! There you are Hinata dear!" called a thin elderly woman with iron grey hair, making her way across the floor using a cane. "It has been far too long since we have sat down and had a pleasant chat. Please, indulge an old woman with your company for a minute." Both Neji and Hinata put on wide, fake smiles as the crone approached. She was gaunt but imposing, like a rose bush that had grown too large and too thorny and had taken over the centerpiece of a garden. She moved with a slow grace and poise, shuffling forward, one slow, careful step at a time. She also moved with out a care for who was in her way, using her cane to rudely nudge other Hyuga out of her path. Once the packed in people figured out where she was headed, a pathway instantly parted between herself and Hinata.

Her name was Junko. Her husband had been of the head family, and was a huge lumber magnate. He had made his fortune selling building materials to neighboring nations. He had married Junko who was fifteen years his junior and they proceeded to have nine children. When he passed away, he left her all of his fortune and holdings.

If anything, Junko-sama was ten times the canny businessman that he was. She expanded the business until most construction in every nation was using Hyuga lumber. She was also a famous breeder of rare flowers; she had won many competitions with a new rare strain she had developed. She also ruled her family with an iron fist. She was the undisputed matriarch of countless sons, daughters, grandchildren, and cousins. She was also well known for her tenacity in arranging their marriages. Her nickname was the Mistress of Hyuga Husbandry. It was said she was constantly trying to weed out the undesirables from the Hyuga line.

She looked Neji up and down. "You look young and strong, help an old woman find a seat." Her hand shot out and she grabbed Neji's elbow in a crushing grip.

"Of course Junko-sama," said Neji wincing. "It would be my pleasure."

Junko raised her eyebrow. "I'm glad to hear it. There are far too many young people in the clan today who are getting ideas above their station, getting too uppity! Politeness and obedience towards one's betters is what this clan needs more of these days... Politeness and obedience!"

"Junko-sama. It is a pleasure to see you again. You are looking very well," said Hinata bowing.

Junko waved a hand dismissively in the air. "Enough with the pleasantries, I need to sit before I fall over." She tugged on Neji's arm. "Bring me to that chair," she commanded.

With Neji's help she hobbled over and collapsed into her seat. "Thank you so much dear." She smiled at him. It was not a friendly smile. "It's nice to see you still remember who your family is."

Neji glanced up startled. "Excuse me?"

Junko sighed and rolled her eyes. "Honestly Neji, someone of your skills consorting with a girl like that? If you were going to flaunt the good judgement of your elders couldn't you have picked a less hurtful way? I mean really! Diluting the clan's treasure," she pointed to her eye. "Our precious byakugan with some common floozy like that."

Neji's face froze. "That is my wife you are talking about Junko-sama."

"I am fully aware of that," she said, her voice dripping venom. "What did you find so objectionable about the fine women of the Hyuga family that you couldn't bear to take one of them to be your wife? Hmm? Didn't you give any thought to strengthening the bloodline?" She sneered. "Of course not, you just ran off with the first pretty face to catch your eye." She shook her head in disgust. "It's bad enough you dallied with a mongaikan… but to allow you to dress that orphan slut up with the clan symbol and then parade her around like it was some sort of accomplishment? What was your uncle thinking?!"

Junko's voice had carried. Several of the conversations surrounding their table had suddenly ceased. Neji stood glaring at her. His eyebrow twitched. Hinata quietly sucked in an anxious breath.

Neji somehow clung to his emotions. "Please excuse me," he said stiffly. He nodded to Hinata and stalked away.

Junko watched him go. "Did you see how rude he just was to me? Did you? He just walked off without my leave! Can you imagine that there are some people who suggest that the caged bird seal is no longer necessary for the branch family?" Her mouth turned like she had just drank sour milk. "I shudder to think what his ilk would get into if we let them run around unsealed… A firm hand… a firm hand is needed to keep the branch families in line"

Hinata edged away from Junko. "I would like to apologize for my cousin Junko-sama. I... feel that you were a bit too harsh in your words however. I have known Tenten for many years now and she is a fine match for Neji. She makes him very happy" Hinata tried to smile in an understanding way. "They are soon expecting their first born."

Junko sighed grumpily. "And I'm sure that will give rise to a whole other slew of issues that will have to be taken care of later." She glared daggers at Neji's retreating back. She then turned and gave Hinata a wide smile. "I'm sorry my dear, I didn't mean to spend so much time talking about your cousin. The topic I really wanted to discuss," she reached forward and patted Hinata's hand, "was you."

"Me?" asked Hinata with a shaky smile. "What could you possibly want to discuss with me?"

"Don't be nervous my dear, it makes you look so unattractive." Junko leaned back in her seat and waved a hand imperiously. A middle-aged man stepped forward. "Hinata, I would like you to meet my youngest son, Mikio. Mikio is a senior manager in the lumber business, and he has excellent prospects for further advancement." She turned to her son. "Mikio, this is Hinata, the eldest daughter of Hiashi-sama. Doesn't she look lovely?"

"She does indeed," said Mikio in a deep voice. He bowed to Hinata. "I am honored to make your acquaintance."

"It is nice to meet you Mikio-san," said Hinata politely.

Junko turned back to her son. "So Mikio, do you find anything objectionable about this young lady?"

Mikio stared at Hinata so intently that she inadvertently blushed. "No Mother. She is both pretty and demure."

"Good," said Junko, patting her son on the arm. "I approve as well. Run along now and tell Hiashi of your intentions."

Mikio bowed quickly to Hinata. "It was a pleasure meeting you."

"Thank you," said Hinata politely. "I hope to meet you again sometime."

Mikio gave her a strange look as he walked off. Junko made a small gurgling laugh. "…Meet you again some time," she chuckled. "You are quite the witty one aren't you?"

"Excuse me?" asked Hinata.

"Your little joke just now, it was clever."

Hinata looked confused. "I'm not sure I understand. I wasn't making any joke."

"Of course you were," smiled the old woman.

"I am really quite sorry," said Hinata. "But I feel like I am missing the point of the conversation here. Could you please explain to me what just happened when I met your son just now, and why you think I was making a joke?"

Junko glared at Hinata. "You are a dense one aren't you? Isn't it obvious? Mikio is going to propose to your father that you and he engage in a marriage contract." Junko shook her head. "It's a good thing that thick headed son of mine puts looks ahead of brains or he would be sadly disappointed."

"W-What?" asked Hinata, shocked.

"Oh come now, we can't allow the successor of the head of the Hyuga clan to be unwed can we?" Junko made a thin-lipped smile. "That sort of thing just isn't done."

Hinata felt as if the ground was tilting underneath her. "Um, Junko-sama, your son seems very nice but…"

"But what?" interrupted the old woman. "There is nothing to complain about. So he's twenty five years older than you are, a little maturity in a man is a very good thing let me tell you. He's rich, he's somewhat handsome, and he's completely obsessed with the family business." She smiled, showing her teeth. "He'll stay out of your way and let you have free reign over the household staff and raising the children."

The old woman's rudeness set off a spark of anger that stabilized her. "I was about to say that I already have a boyfriend." Hinata said with narrowed eyes.

Junko gave her a small saccharine smile. "Yes... I know all about that my dear. Your father will soon inform you that it's just not possible for you to see that Kyubi brat anymore."

"Father has never objected to me seeing Naruto!" snapped Hinata.

"Your father never objected to the daughter he considered worthless wasting her time with an unruly monster. I'm sure he will have a great many objections to his heir doing the same!" snarled Junko.

"You cannot tell my father what to do!" Hinata stood up from the table.

As fast as a cobra Junko's hand snapped out. She caught Hinata's wrist and applying pressure, forced her back into her seat. "I was once a shinobi too my dear, I still remember some tricks from the old days." She muttered quietly, staring deep into Hinata's eyes. "You are young and strong, you could break the hold, but then you'd have to explain to everyone what you were doing striking a defenseless old woman." She smiled at Hinata. "Your father wouldn't like that." She squeezed Hinata's wrist tighter. Bones creaked.

"Let me go," hissed Hinata.

"I will, but only after I've had my say." Junko glanced at the back room where Hiashi was sitting and then continued. "You are under the impression that I cannot tell your father what to do." She smiled. "You will soon discover that you are... very… very mistaken about that. The problem you see, with being the head of the Hyuga clan is that you need to maintain some level of cooperation between the head families, and you have to maintain order amongst the branch families."

She tapped her chin gently. "Let me try to explain this in a way that a dull girl like you could understand. When you are the Head of the Clan, like your father, the clan's peace and prosperity are your responsibility. Me?" Junko shrugged, "I have no such responsibility. If I make noise and waves, I'm not the one who gets blamed for it." She tapped Hinata gently on the arm. "The clan sees it as all happening on your father's watch and therefore it is your father's fault." She sighed. "I feel bad for Hiashi, having to maintain all those fragile alliances and keep begging and pleading for the funds to keep the basic operation of the Hyuga family proceeding on a daily basis." She leaned forward towards Hinata. "Where as I have so much money and so many connections, and I have to answer to no one… I could destroy your father with one word, and he knows this," she whispered. "He knows this... and the poor loyal, honorable fool will do anything to prevent the clan he has sworn to protect from falling into ruin."

Junko loosened her grip on Hinata's wrist. "So yes, Hiashi will approve of Mikio's marriage proposal. And yes, you two will be married. And if you honor your father and his position in this clan there is nothing you, or that obnoxious fox brat can do about it."

Hinata looked up. "Naruto is a great shinobi. He will be the Hokage one day."

"Ooh! The Hokage!" said Junko sarcastically. "Now there's an accomplishment." She shook her head. "The Hokage is an even weaker position than the Head of the Clan. Hiashi only has to deal the Hyuga families bickering. The Hokage has to deal with the whole village, the feudal lord, and each of the surrounding nations as well." She shook her head sadly. "That little Kyubi may be a skilled shinobi, but he doesn't have it in him to keep this village together." Junko shuffled slowly to her feet. "The way I see it, I'm doing you a favor by arranging this marriage to Mikio."

"How so?" snapped Hinata, her voice cold.

"Don't they teach history in the Academy anymore? How many of the Hokage died of old age in their beds?" asked Junko innocently. "Of the five we've had so far, three have died young, and all of them have died due to violence. Tsunade has managed to hang on for now, but I'm sure, one day she'll meet an untimely end." Junko leaned forward and grinned at Hinata. "If your little fox boy ever does become Hokage, I'm positive that his wife will end up a widow." Junko gave Hinata a little wave and shuffled off.

Hinata sat there stunned for a moment. Her wrist was throbbing. The viciousness with which Junko had just hijacked her life, and even worse the confidence with which she had done it has left her shaken. The threats to herself and her father were whirling through her head. The whole situation just made her want to cry. But she could feel the prying eyes on her, and she could hear the whispers starting, so she choked back her tears, dug her nails into her palms, and sat until she could regain her composure.

She sat, and wished Naruto was there.

* * *

_He always exuded strength, and more importantly to her, confidence. Even when he was broken, beaten and bloody he always managed to stand up and keep on fighting toward his goal. He never wavered in his belief that he could change the world and make it a better place. She smiled faintly, thinking back how he had matured over the years. He had grown from a hyperactive, clumsy, overconfident ne'er-do-well, into a skilled, caring, understanding young man._

_And he loved her..._

_That fact seemed to be a never ending source of surprise to her. Not that, of course, Hinata ever doubted her love for Naruto, she had always known that. The surprise was that he loved her back. He would gently touch her face, tracing its contours with one fingertip and say things like "Don't you think that it's really amazing that we ended up together? I mean... I don't know what I'd do without you." and she would blush and nod and snuggle into his arms filled with such content and happiness that she wouldn't be able to speak. For just as Naruto had always had his dream of being Hokage, Hinata had also always had a dream..._

_Of being with Naruto._

_When she was younger, she was intrigued by the small scrappy boy with the loud voice and the loud opinions, to whom all the grown ups gave dark looks to and whispered about when they thought no one was listening._

_The boy seemed to be so free, so different from her. He had no rigid structure to his day, no parents commanding his every move, no watchful minders making sure that everything was just so._

_As she watched him, she grew fascinated by this scruffy, rowdy little boy, who lived day by day with no parents and no rules. Some days she longed to live a life that free. Still, things were good. Hinata helped her mother, played with her baby sister, and worked hard to receive the faint praises from her father. She was happy._

_The Hyuga incident turned her life upside down. A shinobi from the Hidden Cloud village was sent as an ambassador to negotiate a peace between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud villages. Unknown to the Hidden Leaf, the ambassador had a secret agenda, to obtain a byakugan. When the ambassador tried to abduct Hinata, it was Hinata's father who encountered the kidnapper on the grounds of his house and killed him._

_After Hiashi rescued Hinata, her mother was found, lying in the corridor outside Hinata's room, with her throat cut. She had happened upon the kidnapper earlier and tried in vain to stop him._

_The death of the ambassador threw both villages back to the brink of war. Konoha did not have the resources to support another prolonged conflict and so they sued for peace. The demand from the Hidden Cloud village was the head of Hiashi Hyuga. Unwilling to part with the Head of the Hyuga clan and unwilling to let the Hidden Cloud village gain the secrets of the Byakugan, Hizashi Hyuga, Neji's father went in his twin brother's place._

_Hiashi Hyuga was never the warmest of men, but the double loss of his wife and his brother changed him. He never smiled anymore. He became a slave to his duties. To escape from the emptiness in his life he threw himself into the business of the clan. He became a skilled negotiator and leader. Under his guidance the clan prospered like it never had before._

_Hinata's life changed. Her father grew more and more distant. Without his wife there to cushion his reactions, every little mistake she made would be met with profound disappointment, or worse, would bring on a bout of cold rage. As her younger sister's skills began improve and then surpass her own, he became downright neglectful. She now knew what the scruffy boy was feeling. Pain, hurt, rejection and loneliness filled her thoughts._

_She began to daydream that maybe she and the boy could become friends, maybe run away together and go live somewhere else where they would be free to laugh and play._

_That thought made her even more sad after a while. She knew that it was only a dream, why would anyone like this boy even want to have anything to do with someone as worthless and hopeless and unlovable as her? Besides, she didn't even know the boy's name._

_She started another dream. She began to wonder if maybe she could find a new family, with a new mother that wasn't dead and maybe a new father... and this time maybe she would try harder… she would do a better job, and this new father would love her._

_This all changed when the boy saved her. Hinata was being picked on by some bullies, three older boys who were in her cousin Neji's class. They pushed her and shoved her and made her cry. Even complete strangers hated her. Everyone knew she was worthless. She didn't think her life could get any worse than that moment._

_The boy appeared. He stood up to the older boys and told them to stop. When they didn't, That clumsy little boy fought with them. He fought with them for her sake, to protect her. He even managed to knock one of them down, before the others jumped in to help their friend, and together they beat him bloody. Her minder, Ko-san stopped the fight, and dragged her away. She wanted to help him, but she just left him there, unable to do anything._

_The next day at school she made sure to learn the boy's name: Naruto._


	18. Chapter 9: Hinata's tale part 2

"There's nothing worse than a sad, pretty girl at a party." Hinata started from her reverie as a large man spun around a chair at her table and sat on it backwards. "It kills the whole mood. I mean how is a man supposed to get pleasantly drunk and flirt with other women equally as drunk, when there is a gorgeous example of womanhood sitting right in front of his eyes, weeping quietly in the corner." He took a swig from the enormous mug he was holding, and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He squinted at Hinata. "Was it a man that put you in this state?" the large man asked cracking his knuckles. "You don't have to say a word Princess, just point him out to me, I'll take him out back and gut him."

Hinata started at the man, He had the dark hair and the Hyuga eyes, but his skin was reddened by the sun and wind. His clothes were rich and finely tailored for his large frame, which was muscled but starting to go to fat. His clothes clashed with the scarf he had tied around his forehead to hold back his long curly hair. The scarf was old and tattered, bleached by the sun and stained by salt. The man saw Hinata staring at his clothes and grinned.

"Using your finely tuned shinobi senses on me are you? Gathering information?" He leaned towards her, his breath reeked of alcohol. "Good for you! You've got a career all your own. You're two steps up on this sorry bunch of parasites."

"I-I'm terribly sorry," stammered Hinata, taken aback by the man's bluntness. "I don't b-believe we've met before."

The man leaned back. "A shy one are you? That is adorable. This mystery man who broke your heart is getting closer to his grave with every passing second." He swigged again from his cup and made a small burp. All conversation in the vicinity ceased and all eyes locked on to him. The man glanced around. "And who can blame you for being shy? With all these prying eyes and busy-bodies sticking their noses in everyone's business, I'm feeling a bit bashful myself!" He said pointedly in a carrying voice. He took another long series of swallows, draining his flagon as everyone stared. As the last few drops trickled into his mouth he slammed the tankard down on the table. "A man would think," he roared, "that the lot of you had never seen a man enjoying his beer before!" He belched hugely, a long rumbler. The crowd stepped back in horror. "You're all welcome to stay and watch," he declared, "but I'm afraid it only gets worse from here on out." One by one the whisperers cleared, looking back at the man with expressions of disgust. The man signaled for another drink. A waiter hurried over and propped one up at his elbow. The man seized it and took a long pull. He nodded to the waiter. "Thank you lad," he said tossing him a coin. "Make sure you keep them coming."

He paused mid sip and noticed Hinata staring in dismay. He grinned and lowered his cup. "I would like to apologize for that bit of rudeness my lady. Normally I wouldn't have put on such a show," he winked at her. "But in the world of clan politics... sometimes it is to your advantage to be so crass that everyone storms off giving you a moment's privacy." He held out one large hand. "The most honorable Captain Honan Hyuga, of Honan's import/export at your service."

Hinata felt herself start to smile, it was hard not to at this larger than life character. "It is my pleasure to meet you Honan-san, I am..."

"Hinata Hyuga, yeah I know." Honan took another swig. "I won't pretend to insult your intelligence by saying 'fancy meeting you here' or some such nonsense. Everyone in this whole hall is right this very moment, talking about your father, your sister and you… trying to figure out what this situation means and what's the best way to turn it to their own personal advantage."

Hinata's smile faded. "And I suppose that you are going to tell me that you are the only one I should trust?"

Honana laughed. "Whatever gave you that idea my girl?" He saluted her with his mug. "I'm just as untrustworthy and scheming as every other scoundrel in the room. The only difference between them and me is," he drank from his flagon and sighed, "I'll admit it to your face."

She still didn't trust him. "All right Scoundrel-san, since you are feeling so honest at this moment, what sort of things do you import and export in your business?"

Honan looked at her over the edge of his tankard. "Small things, inconsequential things, things that no one would really miss," he took a sip, and his eyes glittered. "You know, a little of this and a little of that."

Hinata fixed her face in a polite smile and nodded once. She wasn't so far out of the Hyuga social loop that she hadn't heard of the rumor that some member of the clan had turned to a life of piracy. "Really? I'm surprised that they even allow you in the door at the clan meeting. Given that all you do is move around small, inconsequential things."

Honan pursed his lips and gazed carefully at the ceiling. "Well, you wouldn't think it, but sometimes, certain customers are willing to pay extremely large fees to move some very small things." Honan shrugged dismissively. "It's a funny old world." He took another drink. "A funny, very profitable, old world. If there is one thing you should have noticed by now, Princess," he said with a grin, "money is the one sure fire way to get the clan to open its doors."

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company Honan-san?" asked Hinata sitting back with a wary smile.

"Well, I must confess I had three little old reasons for visiting yourself." He sat up and made an apologetic face. "Not that I wouldn't have tried to bring comfort to a crying woman regardless of who you are."

Hinata bowed her head slightly. "How positively, gentlemanly of you," she said.

"Don't let word of that get around," whispered Honan. "It will ruin my reputation." He took another drink and continued. "First, was about that announcement your father made. I was hoping you might be able to clarify a few things up for me. When your younger sister ran off to become an ANBU, did you happen to know if she is planning to take the standard oath… the one that renounces all ties to family and clan?"

"I couldn't tell you," Hinata said with a shrug. "I was not present when she and my father… discussed that matter."

Honan nodded sagely. "That's probably a good thing… I can imagine it was an ugly conversation, the kind where you wish you hid the good china beforehand." He rubbed at his nose. "So… with Hanabi out of the picture... That makes you his heir doesn't it?"

Hinata looked down. "Father has not told me as much."

Honan waved a hand. "Well, unless dear old dad has an extra heir tucked away somewhere, the smart money says it's got to be you, don't you agree?" Hinata nodded slightly and buried her face in her hands. "Don't hide Princess! Take a look around…" He waved his hands at the crowd. "All these busybodies are finally noticing you! Coming together and whispering... trying to figure out who you are and what role you'll play in the game."

"What game?"

Honan grinned. "Why the backstabbing, money grubbing, ego massaging, power hungry game that is daily life in the Hyuga clan... That game." He pointed a finger at her. "You, my girl, are an unknown quantity, and you have every player in the room simultaneously squealing with excitement and pissing themselves with fear. They are in a mad tizzy right now trying to dig up every tiniest little shred of information on you, trying to figure out how to sway you, or control you." Honan met her eye, and shrugged. "Personally? I hate gossip. I figured I'd just stroll on over, sit myself down and see what kind of person you were first hand." He took another drink. "Did I also happen to mention previously that I have a preference for talking to pretty women?"

Hinata gave him a small smile, and nodded. "I believe you did. So while talking to me just now, did you learn anything of importance?"

Honan wagged his finger. "Now now now... we just met. It's rude to come right out and ask me to tip my hand this early in our relationship. But since you're very new to the game, I'll let that slide." He took another drink. "We all make mistakes when we're just starting out."

"I thank you for this lesson then," said Hinata slightly sarcastically. "You mentioned that there were some other reasons you wanted to meet me?"

Honan grunted, and swallowed his mouthful of beer. "The second reason… While I was strolling over here coyly wondering how to approach this vision of loveliness, I could not help but notice that you seemed to be deep in conversation with one Junko Hyuga."

"Ah…" said Hinata quietly. "Yes, we just met."

"Hmm," said Honan eyeing her, "and what was your opinion of Junko-sama?"

Hinata was always taught to be polite. "She came across as a very confident, strong willed woman."

Honan raised his eyebrows and drained his mug. "Really?" he said, signaling for another. "That's very political of you. I would have called her a meddling old baggage who can't keep her fat nose out of everyone else's business."

Hinata couldn't help but giggle. "I take it you've met before?"

Honan rolled his eyes. "I would prefer we never met at all. These days I have managed my schedule such that I only happen to see her at these charming functions... She tried to set me up with some second cousin of her son in law." Honan shivered. "The woman had the personality of a rabid wolverine. I merely introduced myself and asked her if she would like to take in some entertainment later. The daft biddy tried to claw my eyes out. She kept after me so strong that I had to beat a hasty retreat out of there, and believe me it takes quite a lot to make old Honan turn tail and run." Another drink arrived, and Honan paused as he took a large quaff. He looked at Hinata thoughtfully as he swallowed. "I can't stand Junko-sama," he said quietly. "I hate the way she looks down on me just because I'm from the Branch family and she's from the Head. I hate the way she thinks the rules of the game just don't apply to her. Most of all, I hate how everyone lets her run rough shod over them just because she's rich and powerful." He toyed with his mug and carefully watched Hinata. "She's a bully, plain and simple. She's the worst kind too, because everyone lets her get away with it. She's gotten so used to it that now, she thinks that this is just how the world works." Honan took a big gulp. "Well, I for one, don't like it. Fact is... if anyone needed any help with anything that she was trying to trap them in... say... an unwanted marriage for example, I would feel almost honor bound to give them a hand." He took another sip, and casually looked away.

Hinata hesitated for a long moment. She wasn't sure if she could trust this man, but asking for more information couldn't hurt. "She said she could ruin me and my father. She said that she could ruin the whole clan if she wanted to. I think she also threatened my boyfriend," she said in a low whisper. "Who is she? Can she do all this?"

Honan took another sip. "Your boyfriend. That would be the Uzumaki kid, wouldn't it?"

Hinata tilted her head in surprise at the change in subject. "How did you know?"

Honan pointed over his shoulder. "The lady in the ugly yellow dress talking to the guy who's wearing an obscene amount of perfume." He noticed Hinata's staring. "What? I said I don't like to gossip, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to hear it. Especially if the idiots doing it can't be bothered to whisper." He took another swig. "So who's the lucky member of Junko's brood she's throwing at you?"

"Mikio," said Hinata quietly.

Honan traced his finger through a small puddle of spilt beer. "Mikio huh? She's been trying to fob him off on some poor gal for ages." He took a swig. "He's a stuffed shirt, has the personality of a cold fish, and he smells a bit funny." He leaned forward and whispered. "He doesn't get outside enough and exercise, all that office work is bad for the digestion." Hinata giggled again. "Still," continued Honan, "he does have pots of money... if you are into that sort of thing, and his mother is one of the great powers in the clan… Money and power… both good reasons for an alliance."

"He's not the one I love," said Hinata firmly.

Honan smiled. "Love and loyalty can be a wonderful thing." He shrugged. "To be honest, I think the Uzumaki kid is a better choice as well."

"Really?" asked Hinata.

Honan nodded. "The kid has spunk, I'll give him that. He's done more in the past five years than Mikio has done in his whole life so far." He took another drink. "Your sister didn't like him either," he said in an offhand way.

"What?" asked Hinata, shocked.

Honan smiled a thin smile. "What... they didn't tell you? Junko's been trying to get your father to agree to the marriage of Mikio and Hanabi for at least three years now." Honan looked away. "She's been working on him little by little wearing him down. Slowing down a funds transfer here, stirring up a little trouble with employees there, digging up every small scrap she can use for blackmail, working away at him until he breaks."

"How bad are things?" asked Hinata suspiciously.

"Bad enough," said Honan quietly. "Hiashi's a tough old bird, he's not in deep trouble yet, but I would guess he sees the writing on the wall." He took another gulp. "I would guess your little sister did too. Why else would she run all the way to the ANBU?" he smiled at her in a sad way. "Were you and your sister close?"

"Well… sort of," said Hinata, her thoughts whirling.

"Did she harbor any ill will towards you?"

"No!" said Hinata emphatically.

Honan shrugged. "Well, most likely then, she didn't think that this would all fall on you." He drank and waved his hand to encompass the room. "She's in good company. None of these charming examples of high society saw it coming either."

Hinata looked up at him, her despair returning. "You said you would be willing to help me?"

Honan smiled. "Ah... and now Princess, we come to that third thing. I'm going to need you to agree to a little favor in return."

"What sort of favor?" asked Hinata coldly.

Honan blinked. "The sort of favor where I come up and ask you to do something and then you do it… Is there any other kind?"

Hinata lifted an eyebrow. "I would say that that definition goes slightly beyond that of a favor, wouldn't you?"

Honan sighed. "I know you are not this naïve, girl. That's the nature of the game Princess, that's the game." He took a large gulp from his beer. She watched some dribble from the corner of his mouth. The drops clung to his chin, wobbling there as he spoke. "Don't forget darling, I'm a player just like the rest of these bastards." He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. "I may speak plain and be awash in charm, but I'm looking to be able to predict and control you just as much as they are." Hinata kept staring at him. Honan shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, come on now, it's not all that bad. In exchange for just a little taste of influence with the future Head of the Hyuga clan, I'm willing to go toe to toe with Junko on your behalf. That's got to be worth something don't you think?"

"What sort of favors would you be wanting?" Hinata whispered.

Honan shrugged and tried to look innocent. "That's the funny thing about favors, you never know what they are going to be until someone cashes them in... do you?"

"Give me an example of what you want!" snapped Hinata.

Honan lifted his hands placatingly. "Easy princess, easy… I'm just trying to do business here." He took a long pull from his mug and stared at her thoughtfully. "Your beau, does he favor you?"

"Naruto?" Confusion flicked across Hinata's face again. Why did he keep asking about Naruto? "I love him and he loves me."

"Does he love you with all his heart?" Hinata looked even more confused. What was he getting at? This sort of subtle indirect questioning was never her forte. "Is there an understanding between you?" asked Honan, trying again.

Hinata blushed. "Well…"

Honan sighed. "Look, all I want to know is will he marry you or not? Be truthful now."

Hinata blushed bright crimson. "W-Well... he hasn't... e-exactly asked me to formally," she said, playing with her fingers. "B-But I'd like to think that he will."

Honan stared at her admiringly. "Gods, you're adorable. The man would have to be a fool not to marry you."

Hinata blushed even deeper. "Thank you."

Honan sipped his drink. "Right, so let's say that you and this Naruto kid get hitched. The rumor has it," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the crowd again, "that Uzumaki-san is on the short list to be the next Hokage, am I right?"

"Well..."

"For the sake of brevity, let's assume I am," said Honan waving his hands. "The Hokage is a powerful man. Not as much money as oh, say... the Hyuga clan chief, but much more influence. He has many more elbows to rub and ears to whisper into." He stared pointedly at Hinata. "Of course who does the whispering into the Hokage's ear?" He theatrically raised a finger in surprise. "Why the Hokage's wife might very well be a prime candidate! And say if one of her oldest and dearest friends happens to come by and say 'Oh Hinata dear, won't you please help old Honan out with this small trifle' you'll mention it to him, and he'll mention it to someone else, and little by little the debt will be paid."

"What sort of trifle?" asked Hinata.

"Beg pardon?"

"What sort of 'trifle' are you asking me to involve Naruto in?"

Honan grinned. "I told you Princess, that's the thing about favors, you never know…"

"Let me speculate for a moment," interrupted Hinata. "Everything goes as we hope, Naruto and I are living in wedded bliss and you want to ask me to ask him to oh, say change the patrol roster on a certain night in order to help certain small objects enter into a port more easily and with less fuss. Is that within the realm of possibility?"

Honan tried to look virtuous. "Well, I suppose it could be, although I have no idea why I would make such an odd request."

"Let us assume that you did, alright? Now unbeknownst to you some of these small trifles are dangerous objects that go on to harm the inhabitants of the Leaf village."

Honan's face reddened. "I would never do such a thing!"

Hinata gave him a sad sweet smile. "I am sure that you would never knowingly harm another living soul Honan-san. But tell me this, is it uncommon in your line of work to be given a locked box or chest and to be given specific instructions not to open said chest, but to deliver its contents discretely?"

Honan shut his open mouth with a click. "It's happened once or twice," he muttered embarrassed.

"Supposing the chest contains weapons? Unknown parties could carry out assassinations, maybe even on my hypothetical husband. Suppose the box contains poison? They could dump it into the well that feeds the school."

"Suppose it contains diamonds? We could all be filthy rich," countered Honan.

Hinata shook her head. "The risk is too great. I cannot take that chance."

Honan rubbed his chin. "Life is all about chances." Hinata looked back at him and shook her head firm. "So that's it then?" he asked. "Your dream of romance with fox-boy just crumbles to dust and blows away and you go off and live happily ever after with Mikio?" He looked at her, disappointed. "That is what happens if you stay here… trapped... alone... with no allies."

Hinata shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "Here is what happens now." She reached across the table and took one of Honan's hands in both of hers. "Honan-san I beg you as my friend, please help me. Help me find a satisfactory way out of this situation. You have some idea of what to do, tell me what it is and I will swear to you my eternal friendship."

"Friendship?" asked Honan with half a scoff. "How much is that worth?"

"Eternal friendship with the Hokage's wife? Why I bet that it's worth enough to turn a small yet extremely profitable smuggling operation into a vast shipping empire. Enough to make the chairman of said conglomerate a very wealthy man. Why I bet that friendship will be enough to loosen the import restrictions on certain rare and highly collectible luxury items for a few very select importers that can maintain the proper licenses, these items, after all, are already finding their way into Konoha's black markets. It should be no problem if they were to be bought and sold openly, at a considerable markup even." Hinata stared at Honan. "Well?" she asked quietly. "What would you say that type of friendship is worth?"

Honan sat there chewing his lip. He paused so long that Hinata prompted him again. "Well?" she asked.

Honan kept right on chewing. "It's a tempting offer, princess... certainly tempting." He looked down at the table. "But I'm going to have to respectfully decline." He looked up at her with sadness in his eyes. "Sorry, I'm not as young as I used to be. It will be hard at this stage to recreate my whole business model. I have doubts that these hypothetical profits you're pitching at me are worth gambling for... Stick to what you know best, is what I always say." He nervously looked around and took a swig from his mug. "If I may ask Princess, what's the difference? What's the difference between you owing me a favor, and you offering me your friendship?"

Hinata brushed back a lock of her hair. "In a word, trust. If there is one thing that I have learned from being with Naruto it's that friendship and trust are better tools to use in making your way in this world than force and threats. When you have the bond of friendship with someone, you trust them and they trust you. True, you are more vulnerable than if they just 'owed you a favor' but I have to believe that in the long run it is a better way than forcing someone to your point of view. That only feeds resentment, which in turn breeds distrust, which then leads to what we have here." She made a circle enveloping the room. "Instead of working together to better ourselves as a whole, we end up destroying our clan just to better ourselves."

Honan drank, but didn't look at her. "I like your world view Princess... I admire it even, I really do." He shook his head. "But I don't want to be hanging around when it all comes crashing down on your head... I'm sorry."

Hinata nodded calmly. "I understand. Thank you for your kind words." Honan nodded and slowly started to rise. "Please wait," said Hinata nervously. "Honan-san," she said softly her voice trembling. "even though you are not… comfortable... assisting me, beneath your gruff exterior you have the heart of a kind gentleman. I would be honored if I could count you amongst my friends."

Honan stared at her. "Princess…?" he asked quietly.

Hinata lifted her head and smiled at him, a single tear running down her cheek. "I offer it freely." She said quietly. "True friends do not count debts, nor do they need to bargain."

Honan sat back down at the table. As he opened his mouth to speak, Hiashi's family retainer, Ko, quietly stepped up to the table. "Hinata-sama," he said in a clear clipped tone. "Your father would like to speak with you on a matter of utmost importance."

"Thank you Ko," said Hinata her face a frozen mask. She gave a small bow to Honan. "Honan-san, it has been my pleasure making your acquaintance." She slowly stood.

Honan reached out and grabbed her sleeve. "One moment," he said.

Ko's hand clapped down on Honan's wrist. "Honan-san," he said calmly. "I believe that you have had a little too much to drink. I would recommend you leave Hinata-sama be right now. Her father needs to speak with her."

"Let go of my arm, or lose the hand," growled Honan. "Captain Honan Hyuga won't be ordered about by some pantywaisted, brown nosing, lick spittle of a man, who…"

"Ko?" asked Hinata, coming between them and gently pulling his arm away. "Could you let us finish our conversation please?" Hinata smiled at him. "It won't take very long, I promise." Ko nodded and stepped away from the table.

Honan stopped scowling at Ko and leaned forward. "Princess… you are smart, clever, honorable and kind. Learn to use it well, and men will willingly follow you into hell," he whispered.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hinata asked quietly.

"You asked me what I learned." Honan said in a low rumble. "I'm tipping my hand. This bloody lot thinks you are nothing but a weak little slip of a foolish girl, but you can show them, hit them where they least expect it." He grinned. "You could crush them all and wind up free."

"How?" whispered Hinata.

"Run," Honan murmured, "run and never look back. You say this Naruto lad loves you? Run to him. Go, live your life and be happy. If you leave Hiashi without an heir, these fickle bastards will rip each other apart trying to one-up another, the clan business will collapse." Honan's eyes flicked to Ko. "Your father's a smart man, I bet he'll make it through relatively unscathed, but the rest will be nothing but dead meat." He glanced at her. "Do you see it Princess? Do you see the power you hold over them all right now in this place?" He waved a hand at the crowd. "All these poor fools laughing and plotting at you, so sure they can bend you to their will… and they don't realize that you hold them in the palm of your hand." He made a fist. "Run Hinata, run and it all falls apart. That is my advice."

"If I run… I'll be an outcast," said Hinata very slowly, thinking it over.

Honan stared at her for a second, debating something in his head. He then made up his mind. "Let me show you something," he said quietly. He carefully lifted the scarf wrapped around his forehead, exposing his caged-bird seal. "Junko's husband gave me this when I was six," he said grimacing. "He said it forever bound me to his family. He said it was a great honor to be part of his house. Do you know what that great honor was? I was a bloody slave to him, his bitch of a wife, and his bloody damn fool children. So I ran. I ran as far away as I could. I became a pirate and a smuggler and a thief and a scoundrel. And one day I made enough that I could flash a bit of coin and those great doors of this meeting hall opened up for me, a runaway thief from the branch family and rub elbows with all of high society."

"But didn't they punish you? For running away?" asked Hinata.

Honan grinned. "Take a closer look at the seal, princess," he whispered.

Hinata looked, inscribed around the caged bird seal was a second, cruder looking line of sealing script. "What does that do?" she asked.

Honan re-tightened the scarf around his forehead. "Well the seal is still there. If I die, my byakugan is still sealed for good. A good thing too, otherwise I'd be a target for every other scoundrel out there with a hankering for a dojutsu." He tapped his forehead. "This little baby cost me a pretty penny. It seals away the punishment, princess… it stops the pain." He grinned. "It was so very funny watching Junko recognize me as I strolled in through those doors. She stood there straining, trying to activate the seal. I walked up to her calm as can be, "Excuse me madam," I said to that wrinkled old goat, as cheerful as any able bodied seaman walking into a whorehouse on payday, "Are you Ill? You seem to be having some indigestion." Honan chuckled. "I couldn't stop smiling for a week."

"You beat the seal?" asked Hinata with wonder.

Honan nodded. "I beat the seal. Here's the lesson Princess," he tapped his forehead. "They can mark you, they can hurt you, they can call you names and give you dirty looks, hell... they can even kill you if any of them would stoop to bloody their hands," He leaned forward. "But nobody can ever control you unless you let them. There is always a way to be free." He stood up slowly, drained his beer, and turned his mug over on the table and set it down with a click. "Run, Princess," he whispered to her. "Run and be free." He walked away.

Hinata rose, her head spinning with thoughts and plans. Silently Ko appeared by her side. "Hinata-sama," he said quietly. "You must not associate with people like him. It is not seemly for one in your position."

Hinata nodded absentmindedly, watching Honan go. "You are always telling me that, Ko." She turned to him. "Shall we see what father wants?"

* * *

_Her academy years were hard... hard and lonely._

_In school, she felt like a mouse, scurrying around beneath everyone's notice. Home was even worse; at home she felt like vermin. Her father made his feelings to her quite clear: she was a burden, a failure, a waste of his time. The most he expected of her was not be too much of an embarrassment to the family. He told her emphatically time and again that he did not have high hopes in this regard._

_She constantly watched Naruto, always from afar. After all, what possible reason could he ever have to want to talk to someone like her? She always stayed away._

_The funny thing was, he was a worse student than she was. Any information taught to him once never seemed to stick. If he was shown something enough times he would master it, but by then the rest of the class was far ahead. He kept making these grandiose promises and these boastful assurances, only to fail miserably._

_He never gave up though._

_No matter how bad things were, no matter how hard everyone laughed, or how much the teachers yelled, he always kept trying. She made sure she was there, silently cheering him on. As the years passed, her hopes and well wishes for him started to have an undercurrent of anxiety. As she watched him, she could see his resentment building._

_It came out in the form of pranks. Sometimes they were funny, sometimes they backfired. He ended up in trouble more and more. She noticed the teachers beginning to whisper about him, and giving him cold looks. Hinata felt a sinking feeling inside. She felt for him, though she had never managed to say two words to his face, she felt sadness for him. She could tell how much it pained him inside to be failing despite his best efforts. She wanted so badly to be able to comfort him, but she just couldn't. What sort of help could someone like her be able to provide?_

_Everything fell apart on the day of the graduation exam. He failed. She passed. That was it, their paths were no longer connected. Her father couldn't be bothered to congratulate her on her graduation day. She watched Naruto swinging sadly by himself as Ko came to take her home. In her head, she sadly bade him farewell._

_That night the village was in an uproar. Shinobi hunted through the streets. A group from her clan stopped by to inform her father of what was going on. They held a long whispered conversation. She thought she picked out the name "Naruto." Whatever had happened she hoped he was okay._

_The next day a miracle occurred. Naruto was back in class. He had graduated. Her heart sang, everything seemed better, brighter._

_And then he was assigned to a different squad, and they parted ways._

_Things actually became better for her once she was a full-fledged genin. She went away on missions, so she was away from home more. Without her father's presence constantly looming over her every mistake, she began to breathe a little bit easier. Her teammates were not what you would call normal. Kiba Inuzuka was loud and wild and more than a little scary looking with his pointed teeth and fangs painted on his cheeks. He teased her mercilessly until their sensei made him stop. His dog Akamaru was adorable though, and did a lot to ease his rough spots. Shino was quiet and aloof. He was a bug user. Many people considered him a freak and refused to associate with him, but Hinata accepted him. In return, they accepted her. In time, both Kiba and Shino became very protective of her, treating her sometimes like a younger sister. Her sensei, Kurenai, led them with a firm hand, but was surprisingly tender at times. The first time Hinata made a mistake in a mission, she was relieved when instead of storming away, Kurenai-sensei took it upon herself to gently explain to her what she did wrong and let her come up with a way to fix it. In short Hinata started to regain some of her long lost self confidence. It wasn't much, but it was something. She found herself feeling happy. She felt like she had found a family where she belonged._

_Kiba bounded up to her one morning vibrating with excitement "Hey Hinata!" he called. "Have you heard the news?" He and Akamaru skidded to a stop in front of her. "Kurenai-sensei recommended us for the chunin exam!" Akamaru leaped up and down barking wildly. "That's right boy!" exclaimed Kiba. "We're all going to be chunin! Whoo-hoo!" he howled._

_The chunin exam. An ice cold ball of anxiety filled Hinata's belly. What was Kurenai-sensei thinking? A chunin? Her? It took a whole morning of mulling it over for it to all make sense to her. In order to compete in the exam, the candidates needed to be in a group of three. Of course. Kiba and Shino were the ones who were ready. She was just along for the ride._

_Butterflies were swarming in her stomach waiting for the test to begin. She knew that she wasn't going to make it. She just wasn't good enough... But, she was more nervous that she would fail her new 'family'. She worried that she would be the one to mess everything up and they would all be disappointed in her as well._

_And then he walked into the room, and nothing else mattered anymore._

_He was slightly taller, a little more muscular, but he still oozed confidence from every pore. Hinata let out a little gasp as he nodded and greeted her. Naruto's team was taking the test as well! She could see him again!_

_First came the written exam. She found herself sitting next to him! The test was easy, it was obviously full of trick questions to examine how well one could gather information, something her squad excelled in. Her elation was short lived however as she noticed Naruto struggling beside her._

_Gathering her courage she spoke to him. "Naruto... you can copy the answers off my paper... if you like?"_

_Just as he was about to, the exam proctors began to throw out people for cheating. Naruto looked at her and refused. He refused because he didn't want to see her get in trouble as well. Hinata blushed, but her heart sank. It was clear to her that once again Naruto would fail._

_Except, once again against all odds, he didn't. The final question on the test was a trap, it was a trick designed to test one's resolve. As the test proctor tried to intimidate him into quitting, he just yelled back "I never go back on what I say! That is my ninja way!" Naruto passed with flying colors. His stubbornness inspired many of the other participants as well, all in all there was a record number of genin passing the first stage of the chunin exams._

_Much later came the one-on-one matches. When Kiba drew Naruto as his opponent, Hinata was at a loss of who to cheer for. Naruto was out of his league. He was outclassed. He was double teamed by Kiba and Akamaru and pummeled all over the arena... And yet somehow, he was able to pull off a victory._

_As Naruto came back to the sidelines, Kurenai-sensei nudged her forward. At her prompting Hinata offered Naruto some of the Hyuga clan's secret ointment for his wounds. And he accepted! He thanked her!_

_She left Naruto's side to comfort Kiba. As he was being carried out of the arena on a stretcher, he grabbed her arm. "Don't fight Hinata." Kiba whispered. "If you get matched with Neji or Gaara, don't fight. Drop out... give up... they are all too strong."_

_She was paired against Neji._

_Her legs trembled as she walked down, into the arena. Kiba's words kept echoing in her head. Neji picked up on this and taunted her. He called her a failure. He taunted her with the very words that her father used. The same words that spun around inside her own head, the words that weighed her down and kept her a small little mouse. She almost cried. She almost quit... Almost._

_"Don't let him talk to you that way Hinata!" a voice bellowed. "Show him what you've got! Kick his sorry ass!" Everyone turned and stared. There stood Naruto cheering her on._

_The match began. Neji began fighting her in a casual, contemptuous style, expecting the easy victory. It was his error. With Naruto edging her on, Hinata battled as she had never had before. She drove Neji back, she pressed him hard, and to everyone's shock, especially her own, she landed a blow. She managed to land a hit on skilled, dangerous, Neji._

_Neji was incensed. It wasn't enough anymore for him to defeat her, he aimed to destroy her, but she refused to give up. Beaten battered and bloody, each time she was knocked down she kept standing up. Naruto's voice filled her with courage._

_"It's over!" Neji yelled at her "You're beaten! Accept it!"_

_"I will never go back on my word," gasped Hinata. "Because that is also my ninja way."_

_"Give up!" he shouted again. "You are fighting against fate. There is no way you can defeat me! Why do you struggle against what cannot be changed? Once a failure always a failure!"_

_"You are wrong Neji, for you are suffering more than I am." Neji, crazed, moved in for the kill._

_The match had to be stopped._

_When Hinata awoke in the infirmary, Kurenai was sitting at the foot of her bed. "You did well Hinata. You have exceeded all of our expectations. You have improved so much in such a short period of time. We are all very happy to have you on our team. We are all very proud of you."_

_Hinata blushed. "Thank you."_

_Kurenai gave her a small smile "Your secret admirer was impressed as well."_

_"What? M-My admirer?" yelped Hinata._

_Kurenai leaned forward. "The boy who was cheering for you, Naruto," she whispered. "After your match, he swore he would avenge your defeat on Neji." Kurenai laughed. "I wonder if he thinks he's being romantic?"_

_Hinata passed out._

_She came to a few moments later. Kurenai, Asuma, and a few medical-nin were all hovering over her, staring at her intently. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she insisted, to get them to stop prodding her. Eventually the medical ninja lost interest in her and went over to bother Choji, who had just been brought down._

_"Hey Hinata," said Asuma-sensei. "I wanted to congratulate you on your match just now. You really showed some fighting spirit." He looked up a Kurenai and smiled. "You've got quite a student there Kurenai."_

_"Thank you," said Kurenai. Asuma nodded and sauntered back to where Choji was being examined._

_"Kurenai-senei?" asked Hinata. "What do you think of Asuma-sensei?"_

_"Asuma?" Kurenai shrugged. "I don't know. He seems to be a nice enough human being. He smokes too much though. Why do you ask?"_

_Hinata blushed. "Do you... Like him?"_

_Kurenai drew back. "Like him? That hairy ape? No!"_

_"Oh," said Hinata, and closed her eyes._

_"Why do you ask?" asked Kurenai, quietly._

_"Because he's always looking at you," said Hinata. "And every time he looks at you, he smiles."_

_Kurenai looked up. Sure enough there was Asuma looking back. When their eyes met, his smile grew. Kurenai quickly looked away and blushed._

_When Hinata was well enough to get out of the infirmary, Naruto was gone. She desperately wanted to talk to him, but no one knew where he had gone. "He's off training with some weird old guy," was the best that anyone could offer her._

_The damage she took from her match with Neji was very extensive. She was off missions until she healed, so she had nothing to do but to stay at home and rest. Since home was such an uncomfortable place for her, she spent most of her days wandering the village, trying to find ways to keep herself occupied. Many of her fellow genin were doing the same thing. Members of the various squads were either in training for the final part of the exam, helping other members of their teams train for the finals, or on leave until they recovered from injuries suffered in previous trials. The squads were a shambles. She didn't see Kiba, Shino or Kurenai-sensei that much, they were all off helping Shino train._

_One day she happened to go into the dango shop and took a seat behind Ino and Sakura. They were complaining pretty heavily about their broken squads. "... and I'm just so worried about him! No one has seen him or Kakashi-sensei for days!" complained Sakura._

_"Well at least you can bet he's training," said Ino. "Shikamaru started hiding in order to get out of all the extra exercises and drills Asuma-sensei is making him do."_

_Sakura sighed. "At least you know what's happening to him." She slumped down in her seat. "I feel so lost without my Sasuke."_

_"Your Sasuke?" said Ino incredulously. "I hate to break this to you, but Sasuke-kun is mine!" Ino smiled mischievously. "You can have Naruto. He's the one who is always running around drooling after you."_

_"Ew!" said Sakura, sticking out her tounge. "I wouldn't touch that little twerp with a ten foot pole."_

_"But he looks at you with such big puppy dog eyes," teased Ino. "How many times has he asked you out on a date?"_

_Sakura shuddered. "Too many. But none of that matters." She sighed dreamily. "I only have eyes for Sasuke." She quickly turned to Ino. "So keep your hands off him!" she snapped. Hinata got up and walked away, leaving her dango untouched._

_She saw him the day before the chunin finals. She and Kiba agreed to go to the arena together, so she was waiting for him at the training field. She was standing there, just thinking, wondering what she would have to do for just once, just once the universe to send some happiness her way._

_"Hinata?" called Naruto from behind her. Hinata jumped. For once they talked and she didn't blush too hard, for once they talked and she didn't stammer. For once she could talk to him, and she almost felt... normal._

_Naruto was different. She had never quite seen him like this before. His confidence was gone, he was down and depressed. He did not think he could beat her cousin. She tried her best to cheer him up, telling him he was strong, telling him that thanks to him and the fact that he believed in her, made her feel stronger, made her feel like a better person. She said that in her eyes that made him strong._

_"Do you really think so?" asked Naruto. "I may look strong to you but, all I do is mess up. It's all just an act because I can't do any better."_

_"That's not true at all!" said Hinata forcefully. She had never seen Naruto vulnerable like this before. In this moment she knew how he felt. "You make mistakes, but because of those mistakes you have gained the strength to overcome them. I believe that this is what makes a person truly strong." She looked away and began to nervously play with her fingers. "I believe that you are an incredibly strong person Naruto-kun."_

_He smiled at her. "Thank you Hinata." A tingle ran up through her, from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. "I don't know what came over me just then. It's not like me at all to get depressed, is it?" He grinned and stretched "I feel much better now!"_

_He paused as he was walking away, and looked back. "You know what Hinata? I always thought..." Her heart started to beat faster. "I always thought you were gloomy, timid and weird." Hinata looked down crushed. "But you know what?" He called over his shoulder as he started walking again. "I really like people like you."_

_Everything for the next hour was a blur. Somehow Kiba led her to the arena. "Are you sure you're okay?" He kept asking her._

_Naruto's match with Neji was heartrending. No matter how hard he tried, Neji could one up him. Hinata began to feel sick with worry. Then she began to cough. Then spots swam before her eyes._

_When she woke up, she was back in the hospital, and everything in the village had changed. Konoha had been through a war. The third Hokage was dead. Her father and Neji had come to some sort of a reconciliation. Her father had softened a little._

_And people no longer spoke about Naruto with disgust in their voices. Now there was a little bit of awe as well. "Did you see his match against the Hyuga boy?" they would say. "Did you see it?" "Did you hear he beat that Sand kid single handed? Did you hear it?" Inwardly Hinata smiled. She smiled for him. People began to look at him not as just a pest, but maybe, just maybe, the way that she had always seen him… that he was something special._

_And then came the day that Sasuke left, and everything changed again. Naruto became driven as he had never been before. His every move was focused towards one goal, getting back his friend._

_They went on missions together, they shared adventures. She could talk to him with too much embarrassment now. There were still distressing moments, like the time he had accidentally seen her practicing her new jutsu by a waterfall. It was dark and she didn't have a change of clothes, so she took them off so they would stay dry. In the middle of the night, Naruto happened to stumble onto her training site. All he could talk about the next day was how he had seen the most beautiful woman in the world dancing by a waterfall. But all in all, they were becoming friends. The ghost of Sasuke was always there beside him though. Driving him on, pushing him forward._

_Six months later, he was gone. Off training with Jiraiya-sama, one of the legendary Sannin. She couldn't blame him really. If she had had the opportunity, she would have done it too._

_She tried to bring up the courage to say goodbye to him, she really did. But she just couldn't find the nerve. "I'll train hard so I can catch up to you Naruto," she thought as she watched him walk away._


	19. Chapter 10 Hinata's Tale part 1

**Chapter Ten: Hinata's tale: Heart of steel.**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hey everyone... Same for this chapter as the previous. Regular type is Hinata's flashback, current day (~3 years post Fourth Shinobi War) The parts in _Italics_ are Hinata's internal reminiscing during 'present day' in the flashback.

I hope that makes sense... Does it make sense? Gods I hope so.

-Cas

* * *

Ko discretely stepped between her and the entrance to her Father's office, effectively preventing her from getting close enough to hear what might be discussed behind the closed door. "Please wait here Hinata-sama." He said with a polite bow. "I will inform your father that we have arrived." He climbed up three steps and slid open the door to the back room.

"...and you don't understand what it's been like Hiashi-sama!" A very frustrated woman's voice cut through the opening. "We can barely make ends meet as it is! Are we not Hyuga as well? Do my children not have Hyuga blood in their veins?" Hinata's father replied in a soothing tone that couldn't be heard over the back ground noise in the room. "Join the branch family?!" the woman screeched. "I'll pretend that you did not just insult me in such a way. My husband..." Her voice was cut off as Ko slid the door shut.

Hinata stood demurely by the steps leading up to the door and waited. There was an undercurrent of tension in the room. A few of the gossiping parties had noticed Hinata waiting outside her father's 'office' and word was spreading through the crowd like wildfire. Hinata looked down and tried to ignore all the eyes staring at her.

The door slammed open, and a crying woman rushed out. She spun around to face the occupants of the office. "You unfeeling bastard!" she screamed through the doorway. Blinded by rage and tears she tripped over the top step and fell to the floor of the main assembly hall. A titter ran through the crowd.

The woman slowly climbed up to her hands and knees and stopped. A series of muffled sobs forced their way out from between her lips. Hinata knelt next to her. "Please let me help."

The woman gave Hinata her hand. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you... Oh gods, I must look like such a mess right now."

Hinata pulled her up and gave her a smile. "It's not too bad," She gently pulled on the woman's hand. "Come, let's get you cleaned up. Ko?" Hinata called in the general direction of the open door, "I'll be back in a moment, I just have to visit the ladies room." Towing the woman, she headed to the bathroom.

Once inside the woman used handful after handful of paper towels to clean up her face. "That bastard," she whispered in a harsh voice. "That insensitive, uncaring bastard."

"Do you mean Hiashi-sama?" asked Hinata nervously.

"Hiashi and every other uptight, money grubbing, heartless Head family member standing out there," she snarled. She blew her nose several times and calmed down some. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so angry, but I'm at the end of my rope here," she sniffled, pressing the wad of paper towels up to her eyes. "Ever since my husband passed away, things in my house have just been going downhill. My oldest son is having so much trouble in his classes that he doesn't want to go to the Academy anymore, and my five year old doesn't even remember his father." She took in a deep breath. "The benefits we get from the village and the clan is never enough, so I have no other choice, I have to work night and day just to keep our heads above water, but my children need me," she made a small choking sob. "And now I've been told the clan is going to cut our support payments, and I just can't work any more hours and be a mother at the same time and I have no idea what to do!" She started crying into Hinata's shoulder. Hinata gently patted the woman's back in a comforting way.

After a short while the woman straightened up. "I'm really sorry to be imposing all of this on you." She looked up at Hinata and smiled, makeup was streaked around her large brown eyes. "Thank you for your help."

"Oh!" said Hinata in surprise.

"What?" asked the woman turning towards the mirror "Did I cut myself when I fell?"

"No… You... don't have a byakugan." The words just slipped out of Hinata's mouth.

The woman scowled. "You're the same as the rest of them, aren't you?" She started to storm angrily off.

"Wait!" called Hinata, grabbing her arm to stop her. "I am very sorry, I… I did not mean to offend you, I was only expressing surprise that someone without the bloodline was... here."

"Was allowed in the door you mean," snapped the woman. "Let go! You Hyuga are all alike! Looking down on everyone and everything that doesn't fit into your little world!" she yanked her arm free and rushed for the door.

Hinata pushed it closed again. "Please," she said. "I am very sorry for how the clan behaves. It is true, many of the Head family happen to treat people badly." She took a step forward toward the woman. "I would like to think that not all of us are like that, however. Is there something I can do for you that would repay you for my careless words?"

The woman calmed down a little. "No, thank you. I'm the one that should be apologizing... I'm sorry to have gotten angry at you like that. This has been just such an awful day."

"Would you like to talk about it?" asked Hinata. "My name is Hinata by the way."

The woman looked at her warily. "I am Sayuri Hyuga, my children are Kento and Riku. My husband is... was Saburo Hyuga." She glanced up at Hinata, a defiant look on her face. "My children have the byakugan even if I do not. Even if everyone out there insists that I cannot possibly be a Hyuga, they most definitely are!"

Hinata nodded and tried to smile comfortingly at her. "So you married into the clan? My cousin's wife did that last year. They are now expecting their first child."

Sayuri snorted. "I hope the poor girl knows what she is getting into."

Hinata raised her eyebrows. "Surely your husband was a good man?"

"My husband was wonderful." Sayuri waxed nostalgic. "When we were younger, he would stop by my parent's restaurant after every mission. He became such a regular that they would ask him how he was, what his missions were like. They would comment on how he must really love the food here, they saw him so often." She flashed a quick grin at Hinata. "Saburo was coming by to see me. Eventually he got up enough courage to ask me on a date." She looked at Hinata. "One thing led to another, and we got married." Sayuri gave a pained sigh. "There was some huge fuss over this. He was barred from the clan gatherings, his parents stopped talking to us..."

"Is that still the case?" asked Hinata.

Sayuri shrugged. "Things got a little better after Kento was born." She made a weak smile. "You have to be a very cold grandparent indeed to refuse to see your grandchild." She looked at Hinata closely. "You look old enough... were you in the Fourth war?"

Hinata nodded. "I am still a serving shinobi. I was there."

Sayuri looked pleased. "Good for you. Many of your clan-mates milling around in there have no idea what being a shinobi is like, let alone what happened in that war." Her eyes turned sad. "We had just had Riku when the Fourth Ninja war started. Saburo was called up with all the other available Hyuga. He was killed during an onslaught of white zetsu clones." She started to cry. "At least he got to see his son before he went," she whispered. Hinata again patted her on the shoulder gently, and handed her a tissue.

When Sayuri recovered, she took a few deep breaths. "That is when the troubles started. We are supposed to be owed a payment from Konoha and a payment from the clan. About two years ago the payment from the clan was cut by a third. When I went to ask, I was told that since I was not a full blood member of the can, I was no longer eligible for its benefits"

"That's terrible," exclaimed Hinata.

Sayuri shrugged. "That's the life you get when you marry into this clan. My parents have long since retired, the restaurant is mine. I kept it open for longer hours, cut back on my work force, and took out loans when I had to, just to make sure we could get by." She looked up at Hinata. "We were struggling, but if nothing terrible happened we could just barely make it by." She looked back down. "This year we received another notice from the clan. Since my children are only half-Hyuga, our benefits will be reduced by a further half." Sayuri started to cry silently.

"That is completely unacceptable!" barked Hinata, her outrage building within her. She might still have issues when it came to standing up for herself, but she took injustices to others very seriously. "They have no right to do that! Neither you nor your children should have to suffer like this! Your husband is a hero of this village and a hero of this clan. Treating you like this is an insult to his memory!"

Sayuri shrugged. "I know, I agree, but what else can I do? To the people out there," she pointed to the door, "I'm nothing but an outsider trying to piggyback on the Hyuga name. When I came here today to ask Hiashi-sama to reinstate our benefits, some old lady called my children an abomination on the great Hyuga name! What can I do when I'm facing opinions like that before I even open my mouth?"

Hinata scowled. "I think I know who that was," she muttered. "Let me see what I can do," she said to Sayuri. "I shall talk to my Father."

"Your Father?" sniffled Sayuri. "Will that do any good? It's the Head of the Clan I have to convince! What can your Father do?"

Hinata gently took her by the arm. "He might not do anything, but we will never know unless we ask won't we?"

Hinata held young mother's arm and together they walked out of the bathroom. Sayuri flinched as the conversation surrounding them stopped and then started again, louder this time. "Ignore them," whispered Hinata. "All they can do is point and laugh."

Together they walked up the short flight of steps to the room Hiashi was using as an office. "Ko!" Hinata called out forcefully, "We need to talk to my Father!"

The door slid open. Ko carefully leaned out. "Ah, Hinata-sama, you've made it back just in time. Hiashi-sama is waiting for you."

"We both need to speak with him Ko, I believe a terrible error has occurred."

"Who is your Father?" whispered Sayuri.

Ko looked over and through Sayuri. "I believe that Sayuri-san has already had her allotted time with Hiashi-sama. I'm not sure a second meeting will do much good."

"Just tell him Ko."

Ko looked back at Sayuri. "I will ask him what he wants to do." Ko slid the door closed with a click. The whispering of the watchers grew louder.

"You're the... daughter of Hiashi Hyuga?" gasped Sayuri.

Hinata gave her a small smile. "One of his daughters… I'm the one they don't like to talk about much. They aren't very proud of me, and don't think that much of me." She leaned towards Sayuri's ear. "I'm in love with a boy who's not part of the clan, you see," she whispered. Sayuri stared at her, her mouth agape. Hinata grinned at her. "What? You didn't think I was like them, did you?" She nodded to the crowd behind them. "We outcasts need to stick together," she said gripping Sayuri's arm possessively.

The door slid open again. "I must apologize Hinata-sama, but Hiashi-sama is terribly busy today and simply has not any time to spare for meeting supplicants a second time." He glanced at Sayuri. "However worthy their causes may be. He has offered, that if there is time, you could perhaps discuss these issues personally with him during your meeting?"

Hinata frowned. "I don't see why my father should ..."

"It's all right," said Sayuri. She gently patted Hinata's arm. "It's all right." She smiled at her, a big wide smile. "Thank you for helping me," she said, a few tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Thank you. I never thought I'd find a friend like you here."

Hinata smiled, and gave her a polite little bow. "Thank you. It was very nice to meet you today Sayuri. I will do my best."

Sayuri gave her a little wave. "That's all I can ask for." Hinata climbed up the steps and entered the office. Ko closed the door behind her with a click.

* * *

_There is an old saying... that absence makes the heart grow fonder._

_For two and a half years Hinata trained, went on missions and trained some more. Her skills improved by leaps and bounds. She took the chunin exams a few more times, and two years after her first trial, she passed, there were wild exclamations from Kiba, polite praise from Shino and Neji, and beaming pride from Kurenai sensei. Becoming a chunin even earned her a little grudging respect from her father. He gave her nod and a quick "well done"._

_She changed her look, growing her hair long, and wearing outfits that avoided the 'Hyuga colors'. Her sister Hanabi started getting envious of her. With all of Hiashi's attention focused on his heir, Hinata was allowed a more of a free rein._

_Her home life was still quite awkward. She had developed a habit of avoidance. Her usual day consisted of her leaving early to go off and train, she would then grab a bite before heading out for the day's mission. She usually only saw her family at dinner, although if she could, she would avoid it._

_Meals at home were a strained affair. Usually they involved her father and Hanabi seated at one end of the table, with Hiashi endlessly grilling Hanabi about the Hyuga family business, the proper etiquette for talking to other clan members and village dignitaries, or some point about being an honorable shinobi... while Hinata would sit off to one side chewing slowly and staring at her plate. After dinner she would quietly excuse herself. If he was available she would seek out Neji. As time passed he began to act more like an older brother towards her. Sometimes he was even downright friendly._

_Kiba and Shino were getting to be more and more like her surrogate family. They were an odd group, wild Kiba, serious Shino, and shy Hinata, but their friendship had stood the test of time. When they were off duty they would often banter back and forth about their parents. Kiba would drop hints about how scary his mother was. Hinata would often make small comments about how her father always said she wasn't trying hard enough, and Shino, well, Shino hardly ever said anything regarding his family, "My mother was a very skilled shinobi," was the closest he ever came to saying anything personal._

_Kurenai was their den mother. Whenever Hinata needed to ask an important question, she would usually turn to Kurenai. They became closer than the typical student teacher relationship. Hinata felt quite comfortable around the Yuhi kunoichi, as if she was a much older sister… or perhaps more like one of Kiba's Aunts... The 'cool' ones he told all the stories about… only more civilized._

_As time passed, she noticed that Kurenai spent more and more time in Asuma-sensei's company. Once when Hinata was dropping by her apartment to give her a report on the latest mission, she noticed Asuma silently slipping out of her apartment door._

_Kurenai was a little distracted, but happy to see her. She asked Hinata to sit and offered her a soda as Kurenai reviewed the mission report. Hinata kept looking at the vase of fresh red roses that was prominently placed on a coffee table._

_"Kurenai-sensei, um, can I ask you a… personal question?" Hinata asked timidly._

_Kurenai hummed happily as she leafed through the report. "You can ask me anything Hinata, you know that."_

_Hinata played with her fingers and blushed. "How can you tell if you are in love?"_

_Kurenai froze. The report slipped from her fingers. "What?" she said a little harshly._

_"I'm sorry," Hinata said quickly. She slid forward in her seat and helped her gather up the papers. "I shouldn't have asked. Please just forget the question."_

_Kurenai sighed. "I should be the one apologizing Hinata. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." She took the report form her and tapped the report on the table, straightening the pages. "What gave it away? Is it the roses?"_

_Hinata looked away. "That... and I saw Asuma-sensei leaving as I was coming by."_

_Kurenai shook her head slightly. "I keep telling that big ape he needs to be more discreet," she muttered._

_"Is it a problem?" asked Hinata. "I promise not to tell anyone."_

_Kurenai smiled at her. "It's not a problem. I don't mind you knowing, I'd just rather that word not get out, do you understand?" Hinata nodded. The Yuhi clan was one of the founding clans of Konoha, and while not as… traditional... as the Hyuga, they would no doubt frown on an unsanctioned relationship."Asuma and I have been... seeing each other for some time now."_

_"Is he... Your boyfriend?" asked Hinata._

_Kurenai leaned back and blushed a little. "You could say that, yes. We have been together... somewhat seriously for about a year and a half now."_

_"Um..." Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei were together seriously?! Various scenarios flashed through her mind. Hinata blushed brighter. "Can… can I ask what it's like? Having a boyfriend I mean?"_

_Kurenai laughed. "Being with Asuma is perhaps the most frustrating thing in my life right now. He's loud, he's crass, he smokes too much, has bad relations with his family and most of the time he's just a hairy brute of a man with no culture and no class."_

_"Oh," said Hinata with a confused look on her face._

_Kurenai smiled. "Oh, don't look like that. He's also tender. He's loyal. He knows that he's not the most perceptive of men and he tries every day to be more sensitive because he knows that it makes me happy."_

_"So... Do you love him?" Kurenai nodded. "How do you know? How do you know that what you feel is love?" asked Hinata._

_Kurenai looked wistful. "Because I wake up every morning wishing that he was beside me. Because I have trouble falling asleep at night if he is not next to me. Because he dries my tears when I am sad. Because when his heart needs lifting I am the one he turns to. Because just knowing that he is in my life makes me want to try to be a better person. Because for him I feel like I would do anything. Because no matter how frustrated and angry he makes me sometimes, I know that my life is better because he is in it." Kurenai leaned back into her chair and stretched her arms. "My heart beats faster when he looks at me. The first time we kissed, I felt my toes curl. I want to have his children, watch them grow up and grow older. I want to grow old with him, and when the time comes, I want to die first, so I don't have to go on without him." She looked up at Hinata. "That's how I know."_

_"Wow, that's amazing," said Hinata, "but if you feel all that then why are you..."_

_"Being so sneaky about it?" asked Kurenai. She tried to make her shrug look nonchalant. "Mostly due to work concerns." She looked at Hinata. "When two shinobi get involved it is a cause for concern. Can they both be trusted to be professional around each other? Can they still put their mission first? It sort of calls into question your whole effectiveness." Kurenai took a deep breath. "There is another reason as well... a family one. The Sarutobi clan and the Yuhi clan are both very proud." She smiled. "Both Asuma and I are prime candidates for arranged marriages to further the clan's alliances. We sort of just decided that we would... quietly test things out before we made a stand. " She shrugged and looked at Hinata. "It's a very hard and dangerous decision, abandoning your clan for love. I'm sure you understand."_

_Hinata nodded. "Yes..." she said quietly._

* * *

_One day Hinata happened to be out for stroll, minding her own business when she caught sight of a vaguely familiar young man walking by wearing an orange and black jumpsuit. She saw his spiky blond hair and did a double take. No doubt about it, it was him. Naruto had returned._

_She gasped and her palms broke out in a sweat. He started to turn at the sound and quickly she dove behind a fence. He heart was racing and she felt weak in the knees. "What do I do? What should I say?" she asked herself._

_Suddenly he was there beside her. "Hey Hinata?" he asked "Are you okay?" She turned to look at him. Her face grew bright red. She opened her mouth to say something, and fainted._

_She came to a few minutes later to the sound of Naruto and Kiba arguing. She was still shaking the cobwebs from her head when once again he appeared in front of her. "Hinata," he said inches away from her. "Don't say a word, just come with me." She passed out again._

_After his return Naruto was obsessed with only one thing, Sasuke._

_Finding Sasuke was the reason he woke up in the morning, Sasuke was the reason he trained. In a strange way, it was a little more comforting for her knowing this. After all if he was so busy trying to find Sasuke, there was no reason to approach him now, was there?_

_There was more going on in the ninja world than just Sasuke however. A shadowy group of rouge high-ranking ninjas known as the Akatsuki was beginning to wield its power. They managed to kidnap Gaara, now the Kazekage. Naruto was instrumental in assisting the Hidden Sand village's rescue of him._

_Orochimaru resurfaced. Hinata heard whispered stories about how Naruto had battled him head to head, using some monstrous power and a berserk rage. She heard rumors that he had to be physically restrained from attacking Sakura, that during this battle he did not recognize friend from foe._

_This worried Hinata a little, but her fears were soon soothed. She had plenty of opportunities to see Naruto in battle, and not once did he seem to turn into an unthinking monster. During an attack by ninjas from the Land of the Sky, she, Sakura and Naruto were given the mission to escort a doctor and his apprentice back to their home village. Somehow, they ended up in the thick of the invasion plans. To make matters even more bizarre, Sasuke was tangled up in it as well. He and Naruto even worked together to defeat the treacherous doctor, who was actually the mastermind behind the attack on the Leaf village. Naruto seemed so happy to see his friend again. He seemed so confident that one day, he would rescue him from Orochimaru, and all would once again be well._

_The times seemed to be getting darker. The Hidden Leaf village was attacked by zombies. Strange enemies from long ago were reviving the dead in order to destroy it. Thanks to Asuma-sensei, who had battled them before, the village was saved. Asuma-sensei was also helping Naruto with some new jutsu he was developing. What ever it was, it was secret and powerful. Hinata would sometimes sneak down the training grounds to watch, much to the amusement of Kiba, who would tease her about it mercilessly._

_Then came the day that Asuma-sensei never came back from his mission. He was hunting two members of Akatsuki. But they were also hunting him. He battled fierce and he battled well, but in the end he fell._

_Shikamaru broke the news to Kurenai. She was devastated. She fell to her knees in shock. She had to be physically helped back into her apartment. They lay her on the bed. She just stayed there, staring._

_When Hinata heard, she went running to Kurenai's apartment. Shikamaru was there sitting in her living room, holding his face in his hands._

_He looked up as Hinata entered. "Hinata," he said in a dull voice. He reached up and made an attempt at wiping the tears from his cheeks._

_"Where is Kurenai-sensei?" asked Hinata urgently. "How is she?"_

_Shikamaru rose on wobbly legs. He stumbled to the bedroom door. The curtains were drawn the lights were off. Hinata could just make out a figure lying still on the bed. "She hasn't moved since yesterday," he said quietly. "She hasn't spoken a word since I told her." Shikamaru lurched again, and leaned into the doorframe to keep his balance._

_Hinata glanced at him. "Shikamaru did you get any sleep last night?"_

_He shook his head slowly. "I stayed here. He told me to take care of her." He looked up at Hinata with tears welling in his eyes. "That was the last thing he asked of me. He asked me to take care of her."_

_Hinata gently led him back to a chair and sat him down. She walked into Kurenai's kitchen and started a small kettle of water boiling. She came back to Shikamaru. "I'm going to make you a cup of tea, and then I want you to head on home and rest. I'll make sure that Kurenai-sensei is taken care of. You go home okay?"_

_"But..." started Shikamaru._

_"You promised Asuma-sensei you'd take care of her. You can't do that if you are falling asleep on the job." The kettle whistled. Hinata turned to the kitchen. "I'll get you your tea."_

_After Shikamaru had left, Hinata walked silently into the bedroom. She sat on the edge of the bed, and put her hand on Kurenai's arm. Hinata sat and listened to Kurenai breathing. "He was a very good man," said Hinata quietly. "I remember when he complimented me after the very first chunin exam." She smiled. "I remember, he was there when I finally became a chunin. You were so proud of me that day, and he was standing right beside you grinning because you were so happy." She reached over and gently plucked the hair away from Kurenai's face. "I've heard that Choji and Ino are mourning. Asuma was so very important to them. Shikamaru was here. He was watching over you all night. He looks devastated." Hinata inched closer to Kurenai. "He said his last words were to tell him to take care of you." Hinata smoothed out Kurenai's hair, and waited._

_A while later Kurenai drew in a ragged breath. "I… I was always after him to quit smoking," she croaked. She coughed, cleared her throat and continued. "I told him it would be the death of him. He would smile and joke that as a shinobi there was no guarantee he would live to see tomorrow."_

_"I'm so sorry," whispered Hinata, as she stroked Kurenai's hair._

_Kurenai's voice started to break. She turned her head and looked up at Hinata. "I told him that he'd better quit. I told him that he'd better live to see tomorrow. I told him that I wanted him to be here with me for every day from now on." Tears started to flow down Kurenai's cheeks. "I told him," she sobbed, "I told him I didn't want our baby to grow up without a father!"_

_"Oh Kurenai-sensei!" whispered Hinata in surprise. The tears began to flow from her eyes as well. Kurenai clung to Hinata, wailing. Hinata just rocked her, and held her. Finally, after an hour or two Kurenai fell asleep from exhaustion. Hinata quietly extricated herself, went into the kitchen and began to cook. Kurenai woke four hours later to the smell of food filling the apartment. She ate ravenously, and then promptly went back to sleep._

_Hinata woke her up the next morning, and fed her again. "The funeral is today. Do you think you will be alright?"_

_Kurenai chewed. "No, I will never be alright again," she looked up at Hinata. "But I think I can fake it."_

_Hinata nodded. She made Kurenai take a shower. She brushed her hair and helped her pick out what she was going to wear. On the way to the funeral, they met up with Ino and Choji. Ino presented Kurenai with a large bouquet of flowers. Choji hugged her and cried._

_Shikamaru never showed up. He was planning revenge. They killed the two Akatsuki members responsible for Asuma's death. Naruto played an important part as well. His new jutsu was devastating. Hinata smiled to hear the whispers, whispers that Naruto had maybe created a jutsu that surpassed the fourth Hokage's._

_They barely had time to rest. Both Orochimaru and Akatsuki were hunting the Three Tails which had been Jinchuriki-less since the Third great ninja war. Three groups of Leaf ninja were dispatched to attempt its capture. Group one, was the strike team, formed to deal with any enemies. It consisted of Naruto, sai and Shino and was led by Kakashi. Group two, consisting of Kiba, Lee and Tenten, lead by Yamoto, was assigned to protect the all important sealing team, Group Three. Sakura, Ino and Hinata, lead by Shizune, were assigned the all important task of sealing the Three tails. Like every plan, it did not survive contact with the enemy._

_With Naruto at her side, Hinata pushed herself to unforeseen heights. Just knowing that he was there made her feel invincible, as if she could do anything._

_Even though they failed to capture the Three tails, Hinata received a commendation for the mission. The mission report complimented her skill in battle, her skill at manipulating the searching/sealing jutsu and her bravery in combat. Her friends and teammates were thrilled. Naruto smiled at her. "Good job Hinata, I always knew you could do it!" She smiled herself to sleep for a week after that._

_Her skill continued to grow by leaps and bounds. A powerful ex-leaf shinobi threatened to start the fourth shinobi war. He claimed to have perfected a jutsu that enabled him to absorb kekkei genkai. He had already absorbed four, by abducting shinobi from other villages, if he absorbed the fifth, Kakashi's sharingan, he would become immortal. All of the Konoha eleven were deployed for this mission. She was quite pleased with herself to note that she was able to keep up with Neji for this mission. They even worked together performing some double team maneuvers. Later on after one of their regular training sessions Neji complimented her. "Your fighting strength has very much improved," he said to her during a break. "The one area where you need more work right now, is your goals."_

_"My goals?" she asked confused. "Shouldn't my goal always to be to defeat my opponent?"_

_"Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The purpose of every battle isn't always to win, sometimes the purpose is to delay an enemy, or make a diversion, or to simply escape."_

_"So wouldn't that be the tactics I use?" asked Hinata._

_Neji gave her a serious look. "Technically, tactics are what you use during a battle, your goal is what you ultimately want to have happen." He smiled a little. Tenten and I argued over the semantics many a time, trust me... just accept it."_

_"So how does it work?"_

_Neji stepped closer. "Let us say that during our fight, I see the opportunity for a knee strike. Now, what strike I use is going to depend on what my goal for this battle is. If I want to escape, I'll want to snap the tendons to prevent you from pursuing me." He gently tapped the side of her knee with his foot. "Now you can't chase after me but I am still standing and can begin fleeing right away. If I am in the midst of an infiltration and I need to dispose of a guard quietly, I can do this... " He slipped his foot behind her knee and pulled. They both tumbled down to the ground. While they were down, he snaked an arm around her neck and put her in a light chokehold. "Now I can choke you unconscious with very little noise."_

_Hinata nodded and rose. "This isn't the standard Hyuga jukken. Where did you learn all of this?"_

_Neji shrugged. "Gai sensei is the premier martial arts master in the Hidden Leaf village. I got the moves from him."_

_"What about this philosophy about goals and tactics?" asked Hinata._

_Neji looked away. "Tenten came up with that. We've been training together here and there."_

_Hinata smiled at her cousin's uncharacteristic blush . "I've always liked her. She seems very nice."_

_Neji nodded and cleared his throat. "She's an excellent shinobi. Very smart too. I believe her tactical prowess in our age group is second only to Shikamaru's." Neji got up and brushed himself off. "Shall we continue?" he asked._

* * *

_Word slowly drifted back to the village. Orochimaru was dead. He was slain by his own student, Sasuke. Naruto was overjoyed at first. He waited for days, half expecting to see Sasuke come strolling back through the gates of Konoha. He rapidly grew depressed as it became clear that Sasuke wasn't heading back. There were intelligence reports that Sasuke had formed a squad consisting of Orochimaru's old lieutenants and experiments. Sasuke was going hunting. Hunting for Itachi._

_He wasn't the only one on the hunt. Kakashi-sensei broke the news to the Hokage, the Akatsuki looked to be on the move again as well, and their target was Naruto. A pursuit squad was formed. The combined squads of Kurenai and Kakashi were dispatched to find Sasuke and Itachi._

_They were thwarted by a single masked member of Akatsuki. He laughed of their attacks. He taunted them, dismissed them, and in the end when they thought they had him trapped, he simply disappeared. They found the battlefield where Sasuke had fought Itachi, but they were too late, both were gone._

_Rumors grew of how the Akatsuki were collecting the tailed beasts. In an effort to gather more information on the group, Naruto's teacher Jiraiya, one of the legendary three shinobi from the Hidden Leaf village, infiltrated the Hidden Rain Village where the leader of the Akatsuki, a man who seemed to have god-like powers, was referred to only as Pain._

_Days later, one of Jiraiya's summoning toads reappeared bearing news of his demise. Naruto was devastated. Hinata wanted so badly to comfort him in his hour of need. But by the time she got up the courage, Naruto was gone. He was whisked away from the village for his own protection, whisked away because he was a Jinchuriki, because inside him dwelled a monster. The nine tailed demon fox. "Huh," thought Hinata when she heard. "That... answers a lot of questions."_

_She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. The dreaded Kyubi was a monster that every child in Konoha heard tales about when they were growing up. "If you don't eat your vegetables, you won't grow up to be fast enough and then the Kyubi will catch you and gobble you up!" was a favorite saying of her mother's._

_Once when her squad was much younger and they were camping out on a mission, Kiba told her and Shino a story that he claimed his older sister had told him. A story from when she was younger and the Kyubi had attacked the village. His descriptions of the buildings falling, fires burning and people screaming had worked their way into her nightmares._

_But to equate Naruto with the Kyubi? She couldn't do it. This was Naruto. Brave, confident, caring Naruto. Sure, sometimes he was clumsy, sometimes weird, sometimes frustrating, but a malevolent force of destruction? She briefly tried to picture the Nine Tailed demon fox crapping his pants at the end of the Konoha sports festival. She giggled. Nope... it didn't fit._

_She went to bed that night hoping that wherever Naruto was, he was okay. She hoped that he was somehow dealing with Jiraiya's loss, and that he would return home soon._

_The next day the Akatsuki came._


	20. Chapter 10 Hinata's Tale part 2

_One moment the village was peaceful, idyllic. Then they appeared. They swept in from the sky, plummeting like fallen angels. There were seven of them... only seven._

_Within moments the village was a swirling maelstrom of crushed buildings, summoned creatures, fire and blood. There was so much blood. Her sister and father were away, meeting the Daimyo, so that left her nominally in charge._

_She ran through the streets doing what little good she could. Her main goal was to reach the village walls. Hinata knew that there were four platoons of Hyuga shinobi manning various observation points, using their byakugan as a supplement to the early warning systems in place. She thought if she could meet them, coordinate them into some sort of strike team, she could assist in the defense of the village. Maybe even organize a counter attack. She made it to the eastern guardhouse and wrenched open the door. Ko, her family retainer was standing there in his full battle gear. "Hinata-sama?" he asked, shocked. "What are you doing here? You should be..."_

_There was a bright flash of light. A sound so loud she heard it in her guts shook the very ground. A wave of pressure and debris picked her up and slammed her against the wall of the building. Everything went black._

_She awoke to a curious sensation. She felt like she was underwater. She was surrounded by warm and wet, and she almost felt like she was floating. She tried to take a breath and realized that she couldn't. Her mouth has sealed shut._

_She began to struggle and panic. Whatever she was stuck inside of opened. She slipped out into the chill air, fell to her hands and knees and retched. Broken glass and stone fragments pricked her hands._

_"I'm very sorry for surprising you like that," said a sweet ,melodious voice behind her. "Fortunately, you do not seem to be too badly hurt. Please excuse me, but others need my assistance more." Hinata glanced back. A slug the size of a cow slowly oozed away._

_Hinata sat back, dazed. She had landed in a pile of rubble. Clouds of dust obscured her vision. There was a ringing in her ears and she wasn't sure where she was._

_Someone coughed. She clambered up and saw Ko struggling to get out from the ruins of the guardhouse. He noticed her staring and nodded. "Hinata-sama are you alright?"_

_Hinata nodded back. "I'm fine," she said. Her voice seemed to be coming from very far away. "But Ko, you are injured!" Something had sliced open his left arm. It was hanging limp and his sleeve was soaked with blood._

_Ko grimaced. "If anything should happen to you while Hiashi-sama and Hanabi-sama are away I will be dishonored for life." He pushed her hand away from his wound. "You don't have to trouble yourself with that."_

_Hinata smiled at him. "Oh, but I do Ko," she pulled out a roll of gauze from her kit and began to wind it around his wound. While the Head of the family is away, I am the one in charge, and I will be the one responsible" She tied off the bandage and accepted his thanks. "What happened?" she asked quietly._

_Ko activated his byakugan and looked around. "The village… the village is no more," he said simply._

_Hinata followed suit with her byakugan. They were surrounded by rubble and bodies. Picking through the debris were several large slugs. When they would come across one of the injured they would stop and administer a healing jutsu. Far too often they would stop to look at a body, and then just keep on moving. "What could have done this?" she whispered._

_"Some jutsu perhaps," said Ko. "But more powerful than anything I have ever seen or heard of." He scanned with his eyes. "I see a crater over there. That must be the epicenter. Let's go."_

_He and Hinata picked their way through the rubble that had once been proud buildings. When she saw someone struggling, Hinata would stop and help to pull them out. She applied first aid where she could. Nothing she saw seemed real to her. She saw bodies, smelled the dust and blood, but somehow it didn't seem like this could really be the Hidden Leaf. Her mind couldn't grasp the the scope of the destruction before her. Inside she just felt dull, and numb._

_There was a peal of thunder that echoed through the eerie silence. Hinata and Ko both flinched and dove for the safety of a crumbling wall. Slowly, Ko peeked his head up over the rim of rubble so he could see. "What is it?" called Hinata. "Is there going to be another strike?"_

_Ko waved her down. "Someone is fighting them. Stay behind cover, but come forward. I think you should see this."_

_Slowly Hinata crawled forward to the edge. The sound of explosions echoed around the crater. The scream of wild animals filled the air. A huge shadow passed over her. She looked up to see a giant frog crash through the thick wall of the village where it went tumbling into the lake. Finally, she was close enough to see the bottom of the crater. Peering over the edge she could focus on a spiky haired figure far below in the hole. Of the seven Akatsuki members who attacked the village only two were left standing. Hinata's heart jumped at the sight of him._

_"There's no mistaking it," said Ko. "It's definitely Naruto."_

_"He's fighting them all alone," cried Hinata. She bit her lip and stepped forward._

_"Stop! Hinata-sama!" yelled Ko._

_Hinata turned and looked back. "But Naruto is risking his life for the village!" she wailed._

_"If you enter the battle now," said Ko, trying to desperately reason with her, "you will only get in his way. You will only put him at risk."_

_Hinata turned away from Ko and hesitated. What if he was right? What if she still wasn't good enough? Naruto was in danger, but what help could she possibly be? She clenched her fists and stared at the battle. "Naruto-kun," she whispered._

_She watched with her heart in her mouth as the larger Akatsuki grabbed and restrained Naruto. She saw Naruto struggle, and then relax. She went weak in the knees. Then something strange happened to the larger Akatsuki member. His chakra changed, and fluctuated. He froze, almost looking like a statue. Naruto broke out of his hold and the arms crumbled. Hinata couldn't help but smile. Now there was only one!_

_Two small toads were next to Naruto. One of them went flying towards the remaining Akatsuki member and was impaled on his blade. Naruto was pulled forward as well, and bodily slammed to the ground. With one quick movement he stabbed his sword through Naruto's hands and pinned him there. Hinata gasped._

_"No!" said Ko. "He's not finished yet. Let's see what he can do. Look! See? They're just talking."_

_Hinata stood and watched. "Please Naruto, oh please, please don't give up. Please you can do this." She watched Naruto hang his head. She had no idea what the Akatsuki member was had said, but she could read Naruto's body language well enough. He was filled with despair._

_The Akatsuki swung his arm. A long blade flashed out of his sleeve and impaled Naruto at the shoulder. Hinata jumped. The Akatsuki's arm swung again. Another blade came arcing down._

_Hinata started to run._

_Ko seized her from behind. "No!" he gasped. "No! Hinata-sama don't do this!"_

_Hinata struggled. "I have to help him!" she snarled._

_"There is nothing you can do! You have no chance against that man. If you go down there you will die!" Ko threw his one good arm around her and dragged her back a step._

_Hinata dropped her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered._

_"It's alright Hinata-sama," said Ko still restraining her. "I understand your feelings; They are honorable… you have nothing to be sorry about."_

_Hinata turned enough to look him in the eye. "No…I'm sorry Ko... I hope… one day you will forgive me." She jabbed her fingers into his wound._

_Ko screamed and clutched his left arm. Hinata turned and ran._

_She raced down the side of the crater. Counting the one piercing through his hands, there were seven blades in Naruto. The Akatsuki member paused, and another small frog went tumbling away. Then he started some strange jutsu that she didn't recognize. Chakra began to swirl through the air and condense into the blades. The strange chakra began to bleed into Naruto and crowd out his own. She saw Naruto flinch._

_The Akatsuki member was raising his hand, and she was still too far away. She was going to try anyway. She leaped._

_Everything looked crystal clear. She felt time slow down. She saw Naruto look up in shock, she saw the Akatsuki member turn his head slightly towards her. Her palm flew forward._

_Somehow the Akatsuki dodged. Her hand hit the earth so hard that it cracked. A cloud of dust covered the area. The Akatsuki member was standing some eight meters away. Hinata positioned herself between him and Naruto. She gave Naruto one brief glance. Her heart twisted to see him staked out upon the ground. "How cruel," she thought, looking back at her opponent. "Pinning Naruto to the ground with those poles." She glared at the man in the black robes. "I won't let you lay another finger on Naruto!" she snapped._

_The Akatsuki tilted his head and looked at her with frozen, lifeless eyes. "Reinforcements?" he asked. His voice was cold and hard._

_Naruto recovered from his shock. "What are you doing?" he croaked. "Hurry, get out of here! You're no match for…"_

_Hinata nodded, never taking her eyes from her opponent. "I know... I'm doing this for my own reasons." Hinata knew she should be frightened. There was a very good chance that she was going to die. She should be shaking with terror... but she wasn't, she felt light. All her anxieties and self doubts and fears seemed to have vanished. Never before in her life had she been so sure that she was doing the right thing. Her body was awash in emotions. She felt happiness, outrage, excitement, joy, and love. Inwardly, she smiled, she felt wonderful._

_"What are you talking about?" said Naruto, distraught. "Don't put yourself in danger like this!"_

_"I'm here, because this is where I want to be. This time, I'm going to save you Naruto!" Naruto gaped in surprise and confusion. "I used to be the type of person who was always crying... I always gave up before I even really tried… I made so many wrong turns…But you… You helped me see the right way Naruto…" Hinata was bursting with emotions; it was so hard to get the right words to come out of her mouth. "I have always chased after you Naruto… I have been trying to catch up to you… I just want to walk by your side… I just want to be with you… You changed me Naruto, your smile is what saved me from my darkness… That is why I'm not afraid to die if it means I can protect you!" She did not have to look. She could feel the confusion boiling off Naruto. She smiled. "Because, I love you Naruto."_

_She dropped into her fighting stance and studied her opponent. He was strong. It had looked like he used some sort of force jutsu that could push things away, or pull things towards him. He would probably want to keep the fight at long range. She would have to be careful of that._

_The Akatsuki just stared back. Another blade dropped out of his sleeve._

_She activated her byakugan. His chakra signature was very strange. He had metal posts inserted into the major chakra nexuses in his body. Every so often they would flux with an odd pulse of chakra. She couldn't make head or tail of it. Still, she didn't see any build up of chakra anywhere in preparation for an attack, so he was probably going to wait for her to make the first move. "Fine," thought Hinata. "I'll make that first move. What is my goal for this fight?" She ground her teeth._

_The words popped into her head. "Free Naruto." She spun and snapped the first blade with a kick. Both Naruto and the Akatsuki looked up with a start. She wound up and started a second blow._

_A blast of force hit her like an avalanche. She tumbled and rolled away from Naruto. She landed and rose to her feet. The coppery taste of blood was in her mouth. She had bitten her tongue. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "What?" she asked herself. She hadn't seen any hand signs. She didn't see any build up of chakra. Hinata steeled herself and charged forward._

_She was almost at Naruto when the Akatsuki motioned his hand to the side. A second blast of force caught her, much stronger than the first, and tossed her aside. She heard Naruto scream her name._

_She landed in a heap. There was a sharp stabbing pain whenever she took a breath. She slowly sat up. Something warm and wet was trickling down her face. She lifted her head and looked back at Naruto._

_The Akatsuki member slowly walked between them, blocking her._

_She thought she saw it. Right before that last force blast, she saw a tremendous pulse of chakra flow down his arm. It was so fast, too fast for her to dodge. "I can't get near Naruto like this," she thought, "I have to do something!" Once again she dropped into her fighting stance. She clenched her fists, focusing her chakra. As the power built, the throbbing in her ribs grew sharper. She tried to ignore it and forced even more chakra to her fists. Her hands erupted in chakra shaped like a lion's head. "Gentle fists!" she called out. "Twin lions technique!" She charged._

_Her form was perfect. Every blow was well timed. No two attacks used the same combination of moves. Several of her strikes, she made up on the spot._

_He saw every move coming. He dodged everything. She had once heard overheard Naruto talking quietly once about his fight against Sasuke, when Sasuke was using his sharingan. "It was like he could see through every move I made," he said. This felt like that._

_She kept battling him though. Nothing connected but she didn't give up hope. She was trying for a face strike, when suddenly he raised his hand. She saw a surge of chakra flow down his arm. She was mid swing, she didn't have time to brace herself for the blow._

_He froze. She gasped in surprise as her blow connected. She had used the lion fist before to destroy a boulder. Surely, that must have done some damage. "Now's my chance!" She thought. She dove for Naruto. She saw him looking up at her in amazement. Her fist smashed through one of the chakra blades. "One more time!" she thought and readied another blow._

_A powerful force smashed her into the air. She felt the wind whistling past her head. She heard Naruto scream her name. Sparks flew in front of her eyes. Everything went dark._

_From far away, she heard someone calling her name. Slowly she opened her eyes. Everything was too bright. She blinked and lifted her head. Her thoughts were sluggish. She felt like she was going to be sick._

_She saw Naruto, lying about twenty meters away. "Right." The thoughts slowly tumbled through her head. "I have to free Naruto." She staggered to her feet. Something was wrong with her ankle, it didn't want to hold her up. Her shoulder didn't feel right as well. There was a cold prickly sensation when it moved._

_She took a step, and another. Feeling returned to her body. Her ankle was a blaze of white-hot agony. She gasped with every step. Her ankle gave out and she tumbled down. "I can't give up." The words echoed in her head. She slowly climbed back up and kept limping forward._

_Naruto looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "Stop Hinata, Don't come!" he rasped. She smiled to see his concern. Oh... how she wanted to hold him right then, to tell him not to worry, that everything was going to be all right._

_The bones in her ankle ground together. It felt like she was stepping in molten metal. Her foot gave out and she collapsed._

_She rose to her hands and knees and began to crawl. Her injured shoulder felt loose and twisted, but if she bent it the right way she could still use it. She looked up and saw Naruto wince and look away. "No!" she thought "Don't look away!" The words blew around inside her head. "Don't give up Naruto! I'm coming!" A sharp stab from her ribs made her cry out in pain. She kept crawling. Naruto was almost within reach._

_"I don't understand." The cold voice echoed in the crater. "Why would someone weak like you try to resist?" She was so close to Naruto now. Should she touch him? Kiss him? The thought made her giddy. Then the words of her goal slogged through her brain. No, rescue him first._

_"Why fight me?" asked the voice. Hinata rose to her knees and grasped the blade stuck through Naruto's hands. She shivered as she felt the strange chakra enter her body. "Knowing that you will die?" finished the Akatsuki member._

_Hinata realized she was trembling. She tried to force herself to stop but her hands did not want to listen to her. His words from long ago echoed in her head, it was that memory of his confidence that stilled her hands. "I always stand by my own words," she said quietly. Naruto looked up at her. She smiled at him, happy to finally be this close to him, "because that is my Nin-do, my ninja way."_

_There was a great gust of wind. The world spun crazily around her. The ground hit her so hard, everything exploded in agony. There was a needle sharp pain and a cold spear of ice pierced her chest, and everything faded away._

_A warm gust of wind blew over her. A dull red light was shining in her eyes. There was the smoky smell of cooking meat in the air. She barely cracked her eyelids open._

_She caught a glimpse of a figure twisting and writhing in a burning nimbus of red chakra. The silhouette threw back his head and screamed._

_She recognized that scream._

* * *

_Hinata faded in and out. Looking back, she could barely make sense of it all. There was a wind storm, there were explosions, she was pelted with flying stones. Suddenly she was at the seaside, rocking in the waves. A beast of burning red chakra sped through her vision… a monster of snarling fury and madness. "Naruto-kun," she whispered. There was an enormous peal of thunder and then peace._

_She heard voices calling her name, but she was too tired to respond. All she wanted was to sleep._

_She woke up to a ring of familiar faces around her. Her friends from Konoha were all there. Sakura was using her medical ninjutsu. She smiled and thanked everyone. They told her that Naruto had triumphed over the Akatsuki._

_Sakura insisted that she get some proper treatment. Neji and Tenten helped her back to the medical triage area. Hinata lay back and tried to rest._

_She awoke to see a strange glowing rain falling from the sky. She heard a scream. A medical-nin who was handling the dead stumbled backwards. Each of the covered corpses was slowly twitching, rising. Somehow, everyone who had lost their life in the attack, was now alive once again._

_There were many tearful reunions that day. The rumor spread that each of the Akatsuki that attacked the village was only a puppet, and that Naruto had gone after the real one, the mastermind. She found out much later that Naruto had spoken to the terminally ill Pain, turned him from his path of vengeance and hatred, and convinced him to trust in Naruto's determination in making the world a better place. As a dying gift to show his remorse, Pain cast a powerful jutsu that brought the recently dead back. It was late in the day when a tired and battered Naruto slowly trudged his way back. Hinata wept tears of relief to see him. She clapped her hands as the villagers of Konoha tossed him into the air in celebration. She laughed with joy as they named him a hero._

* * *

Her father was busy writing as she stepped into his office. As she stood there waiting, much of her outrage began to fade. Standing in his presence always made her feel like a scared little girl who was just about to be punished.

Hiashi put down his brush with a sharp click. The noise in the quiet office made her start. He made a steeple of his fingers and looked at her. "Hinata," he said quietly, as a greeting.

She bowed "Father," she said softly.

Hiashi gave her a long hard stare. Hinata began to feel that familiar uncomfortable feeling. "Did you know of Hanabi's plan to join the ANBU corps?" he asked in a cold voice.

"No Father," Hinata responded meekly.

Hiashi grunted. "This decision of hers has been... most unfortunate." He stared at Hinata again. "It has left the clan in a most unhappy state." He looked down at the papers on his desk. He picked up his brush and added a few words to one of the documents. When he finished, he put the brush back down again and went back to staring at Hinata.

"Ko tells me that Honan sought you out for a conversation a little while ago," he said sharply. "Is this true?"

"I did speak with him, yes."

"You will tell me what it was that you spoke about." His voice made it clear that he would tolerate no disobedience.

"I think he wanted to understand me better," she said quietly. "To most of the members of the clan here I am an unknown quantity. They are all trying to gauge what I can do, and what motivates me."

Hiashi looked long and hard at Hinata, and then he nodded once. "You are correct in your perception," he said. He shifted in his seat. "While Honan was talking to you, did he happen to ask you any questions? Did he try to convince you of any views?"

Hinata shook her head. "He didn't seem to ask very much. He seemed to already know a great deal about me."

Hiashi looked up sharply. "Did he seem well prepared?"

"Prepared? What do you mean?" asked Hinata, confused.

"Did he already know everything about you? Was he trying to steer you towards some goal?"

Hinata hesitated. "Well, he was trying to win me over for something he didn't specify. He was making offers to help me with… a certain difficulty now in exchange for a favor later."

"Did you promise him anything?"

Hinata shook her head. "No!"

Hiashi exhaled. "Good." He glared at Hinata. "Always remember this: His roguish charm is all an act. That man is nothing more than a jumped up, bloodthirsty pirate. Keep him at arm's length. He can be useful, but he cannot be trusted. That man has no honor."

He paused, and toyed with his pen. "I fear," Hiashi said, looking down, "that your sister's desertion for the ANBU may be the opening move of some strategy against me."

"You speak of the game?" asked Hinata. Hiashi looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "Honan-san referred to the machinations affecting the balance of power in the clan that way."

Hiashi frowned at her. "Maintaining one's position as the Head of the Clan is most certainly not a game," he said. "It is a careful net one weaves of alliances and goodwill, balanced with strength and compromise." Hiashi gave her a long cold stare. "If one loses at a game of go, one may simply clear the board and begin again." He held up a finger. "You only get once chance to be the Head of the Hyuga Clan. The outcome of your accomplishments, both good and ill, will be tied to your name until the end of time." He gestured to a tatami mat. "Please sit," he said.

Hinata swallowed. "I would like to discuss some of the clan business with you, Father."

"I would like to discuss the clan business with you as well, but I would rather do it with you seated." He motioned to the mat, more sharply this time. "Please... sit."

Hinata sat down. "Father, I would like you to reexamine this issue of Sayuri-san and her sons."

Hiashi blinked. "That woman? Why?"

"Because I believe that what has happened to her is wrong! She is a widow of the war! She is raising two children by herself. How is it fair that she must suffer because of her position of birth?"

Hiashi moved some papers. "We all suffer because of our birth. It is hardly ever fair. Some of us just suffer more than others."

"Even if she does not have the eyes, she is a member of this clan!" exclaimed Hinata. "By reducing her clan shares we are stealing the food from her children's mouths!"

Hiashi looked up. "Have you read the clan charter? Here…" He searched through his desk and tossed a copy at her. "Heading three, subsection three." Hiashi looked up at the ceiling and recited from memory. "…And shall a share of all profits above and beyond those required for daily living and upkeep of health and prosperity be divided back to those members of the clan who remain in good standing with its elders."

"Are you suggesting that Sayuri is not a member of the clan in good standing?"

Hiashi sighed and looked away. "The question is not whether she is a good person... the question is whether she is a member of the clan at all. Her husband was a Hyuga, with him gone what are the ties that bind her to us?"

"The memories of her husband! She will carry those with her for the rest of her life. Her children which bear the family name. I would say that those are ties enough. By what strange standard do you determine whether or not someone belongs?"

Hiashi's mouth twitched in a frown. "The decision... is not mine alone."

It was Hinata's turn to stare. "Who is pushing for this?" she asked, with a sudden sinking feeling.

"One of the head family elders feels... very strongly about the pairings within the Hyuga clan."

Hinata nodded. "I suspected it might be Junko-sama," she said in a chill voice. "Father, what do you plan to do about this? Surely there has to be something you can do!"

Hiashi blinked again. "I have already done 'all that I can do' as you put it. Saburo Hyuga was for better or for worse a member of the Head family. Junko is quite firm in her belief that the blood of the Hyuga family must not be tainted with that of outsiders. When he made his decision to go against the clan wishes and marry that woman, he became an abomination to her." Hiashi tapped the handle of his brush across his knuckles. "Try to understand Hinata, she is a creature of a different age. Not that long ago our eyes were sought after as prizes in war. To be this controlling of our family's bloodline was... considered a necessity then."

Hinata nodded slowly, it was making more sense now. "And thus, her efforts to cause Sayuri's family undue hardship. If Sayuri runs out of options, she will be forced out of desperation to promise her sons in the service of one of the head families, making them a branch family." Hinata looked up sharply at her father. "Those two boys will be sealed and forced into a life of servitude for Junko, all because of some imagined slight their father gave her. Does this seem fair to you?"

Hiashi sighed and closed his eyes. "Nothing in this world is fair. Sayuri has plenty of choices of which Head family to swear her children into." He opened his eyes and looked at Hinata. "All families are not the same as Junko's. Look at ours for example. Neji is treated exactly like a member of our household."

"I agree Father, that Neji is treated better than the typical member of the branch family. Neji is truly very fortunate. However he is still a member of the Branch family, and the Head families will still look down on him." Hinata leaned forward. "My uncle became a member of the Branch family for your sake Father. He was sworn to you to prevent this sort of underhanded scheming and manipulation that could threaten your position and disrupt the stability of the clan. He loved you, Father, and was trying to protect you and the clan." She glanced up at Hiashi. "But what did the clan do to keep him safe?"

Anger flickered across Hiashi's face. "Don't you dare say I did nothing to prevent Hizashi's death! I did not approve of his sacrifice! He had to strike me down in order to take my place!"

"He loved you so much, he gave his life for you," said Hinata quietly. "That is what the Branch family does is it not? They live to serve and protect us. They work for us, care for us, and guard us. They are our friends and brothers and cousins, and yet because of the way we run things, with sealing jutsus and binding contracts, we find the Branch family on one side of a wall and the Head family on the other. We berate them and taunt them and treat them badly, and lord our power over them, and then we have the nerve to act all surprised that they would take offence when they are treated this way. We act as if they should thank us for acting as if they were less than human!" she spat bitterly.

Hiashi was slightly taken aback. "Now Hinata, Neji is..."

"Neji is a wonderful person. He has a hundred times the kindness and courage of anyone in that room out there. Do you know why? Because he was willing to change his ways! He was willing to admit that he was wrong and to make an effort to make amends." Hinata looked down at her hands. "I trust Neji with my life. Not because he has any sort of mark on his forehead, not because I can punish him at a whim, but because he is a member of my family… and more that that, he is my friend." She looked up. "If Junko had her way, Neji would still be in some forgotten corner somewhere still stewing in his own rage!"

Hiashi picked up his pen. He began to tap it rhythmically on his desk. Hinata spoke in his thoughtful silence. "Neji and Tenten are expecting their first child in five months Father. What sort of family do you want your grand nephew to be born into?"

Tap-tap. Tap-tap. Tap-tap. The pause grew. "Your mother was also very... sensitive to these issues as well," said Hiashi very quietly. "Not that I expect you remember much... Do you ever think about her?"

Hinata looked closely at her father. It was rare for him to reminisce… and even rarer for him to invite her to do the same. "I remember that she was always kind. She smiled a lot. We would press the flowers we would find in the garden. We would sing songs together to Hanabi to try to get her to fall asleep." Hinata smiled. "Sometimes she would slip me a cookie before dinner." The memories brought a faint smile to Hinata's lips. "Why do you ask?"

Hiashi looked at his desk. "A good leader needs kindness and strength. I was trying to teach that to Hanabi." He looked up at Hinata. "I will have to focus on teaching you strength." He took a deep breath. "Tomorrow I will name you as my intended successor." A small smile played upon his lips. "I must confess, I believe that you are better suited to this role than I was anticipating."

Hinata blushed. Despite the fact that she knew this was coming, her heart still thudded in her breast. All her life she had sought out the approval of her father. Here he was finally acknowledging her. "I will do my best to be worthy," she said excitedly. "Thank you Father."

Hiashi's smile vanished. "Don't thank me yet. This position comes with a great many responsibilities and burdens." He studied Hinata for a long time. "Still, if you persevere, dedicate yourself to the task, and listen to my guidance I should be able to mold you into a fine leader."

Hinata was not sure how to take that statement, was it a compliment or not? To be safe she nodded once and said, "Yes Father."

"Good," said Hiashi. "As you are no doubt aware, from now on your life is going to undergo a transformation. When you enter a leadership role your life is no longer your own, you must dedicate your life to the service of the clan." He gestured to a spot next to him on his side of the desk. "Please join me. I have two more meetings this day. I would like you to observe them."

"Father, I want to tell you how honored I am to be given this opportunity," said Hinata pleased. She sat down next to him. Ko ushered in the next petitioners.

"Genji Hyuga and Hideo Hyuga are here Hiashi-sama," stated Ko. He stepped outside and slid the door closed.

"So gentlemen," began Hiashi. "What seems to be the issue today?"

"That man!" snarled Hideo, pointing. "Is trying to rob me blind!"

"Ha!" shouted Genji. "Who are you to call someone else a thief? You are doing your best to rob me of my hard earned wages!"

"Me? That is my steel that you are transporting all over the five great nations," snapped Hideo. "Without me you would have nothing to sell!"

"And without me you would have no means to bring your goods to market! How much business would you have then?" Genji bowed to Hiashi. "Hiashi-sama I am only here today to get the fool to honor the contract we have."

"I am honoring the contract!" bellowed Hideo. "This robber wants to cheat me out of my just dues!"

"Hah! Is that what you call it, just dues? Hiashi-sama, this fool wants to take more than his fair share!" Genji stomped his foot.

"Fair share? It says right in the contract what my share is supposed to be, you rat! You are just trying to weasel out of paying!" Hideo clenched his fists

"You are right, the contract is quite clear, and I am not going to pay you one ryo more than you are owed, you lying dog!" Veins throbbed in Genji's forehead.

"May I see this contract please?" asked Hiashi quietly.

"Here!" said both men, producing a rolled up scroll.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "There are two copies of the contract?"

"When it was drawn up we each had a copy made," explained Genji.

Hideo scowled. "I didn't trust that weasel, so I wanted my own copy just in case he tried to cheat me!"

"Hah!" shouted Genji. "Like I would trust you to be the sole holder of the original papers!"

Hiashi took both scrolls. "I must ask you both to remain silent while I examine the contracts." He rolled them both out on the table, and motioned Hinata over to examine them. Both Genji and Hideo glowered at each other.

Hinata and Hiashi glanced back and forth between the two contracts. "Father, they aren't the same! The terms differ for each one," hissed Hinata. Hiashi silenced her with a tiny shake of his head.

"Gentlemen," he said sitting back. "I am most perplexed by this. The contracts do not seem to agree with each other. Can either of you explain this?"

"I knew it!" crowed Hideo. "His is the forgery! Ha!" He turned to Genji. "You thieving scum!"

"How dare you insult me! My document is unchanged! It is you who are trying to rob me by altering yours, you bandit!" snapped Genji.

"Actually, I was referring to why either of you would bother with a contract for the goods and the delivery of them in the first place," said Hiashi calmly. "Wouldn't just purchasing them from the supplier directly have been more expedient?" Genji started and looked guilty.

"Hah! I should have known you were trying to pull a fast one on me!" snapped Hideo.

"I am equally confused as to why your contract seems to be such a poor bargain for Genji-san, Hideo," Hiashi murmured. "I mean really, profits from the gross, not the net? Genji-san is liable for all losses during transport?"

"You see! The truth will always come out! Now we see who is the forger!" cried Genji.

Hiashi cleared his throat. "Actually Genji-san, your contract is equally as mysterious as to why Hideo-san would agree to it. This claims that Hideo agrees to pay extra for inclement weather, guards, cart repair and replacement if necessary."

"Bastard claimed he lost four carts in a two day journey," grumbled Hideo.

"It was raining!" snapped Genji. "You don't know the first thing about the dangers of travel."

"Indeed," said Hiashi. "I notice here that your copy Genji states that all losses will be borne by the supplier, and in your copy Hideo it states that all losses are to be borne by the merchant party." He pointed at Genji. "I find it highly unlikely that any official making such a document could have made so many errors."

"He uses cheap steel in his pots Hiashi-sama!" shouted Genji. "Shoddy workmanship all around! A third of them were coated with rust by the time we got to market. They were a complete loss!"

"Speaking of losses, I noticed that you happened to lose a whole cart and a half of my wares along the way. Funny thing, I heard a rumor about a traveling caravan selling fine steel pots along the route you were taking." Hideo glowered and cracked his knuckles. "Trying to cut me out of the profit?"

"I can easily prove that I wasn't that merchant," sneered Genji. "Because all the pots you gave me were crap!"

"The pair of you forget where you are!" snapped Hiashi. Both men shrank back under his glare. "You dare to come in here and waste my time with this quibbling. You snap and argue and lie to my face, and you have the nerve to think that I am stupid enough to believe you. The pair of you seem to think that whoever shouts the loudest will be the one who wins my favor!" He picked up both copies of the contract and hurled them at their feet. "Both of these are obviously forgeries!" Both Genji and Hideo started to sputter with indignation. "Silence!" said Hiashi in a deadly monotone. "Don't bother denying it. Anyone who would willingly sign either of these contracts is an idiot." Hiashi's eyes darted between the two men. "If there was this much distrust between you and you were honorable men, you wouldn't have bothered with a contract. You Hideo would just sell the goods, to you Genji, and then you would resell them at market with a markup." Hiashi squinted at the pair of them. "It is painfully obvious that each of you was trying to swindle the other."

Both men opened their mouths to protest. Hiashi held up his hand. "I have not finished saying my piece." He looked at them coldly. "Each of you are behaving more like children than businessmen. I cannot afford to waste anymore time on your petition." He turned to Hinata, and the corners of his mouth twitched. "Fortunately, my eldest daughter Hinata has joined me today. She will be more than happy to arbitrate your disagreement."

"What?" snapped both men. They turned and gazed at Hinata.

Hinata forced herself not to blush and hid her shaking hands under the table. She glanced quickly at her father, but he had already immersed himself in his paperwork.

"This is a test," she thought. "He wants to see what I will do… He wants to see if I will fail him again." She took a deep breath. "May I..." Her voice squeaked. She cleared her throat and started again. "May I re-examine the contracts please?" she asked politely. Reluctantly both men picked them up off the floor and handed them over.

She stalled for time, pretending to minutely examine the contracts. "What do I do? What do I do?" she wailed inside her head. "Hanabi is the one who would know what to do here. Father has been grooming her for this all these years. There is no way I can figure out what the right thing is..." For some reason, Naruto's grinning face popped into her mind. "What would Naruto do here?" she wondered. "Heh, he would yell at them for being greedy, call them names, threaten to beat them up, and then try to understand the issue and come up with something fair... In short he would trust that everything will work out in the end and just be himself." She thought about that for a long moment. "Maybe... I should just be myself too."

"I have examined the documents," she said in a loud clear voice. "It seems to me that whatever either contract may say, we must divide up the profits from this venture in some fashion." She looked up at both men. "As Genji-san did transport and market the goods, it is unfair to ask him to ignore his overhead expenses, so we will divide up the net profits."

"Hah!" yelled Genji, "Even the girl can see through your swindling ways!"

"However," continued Hinata. "We will adjust the split of those profits to be 60/40 in favor of Hideo. Hopefully this will make up for any losses from the goods that went missing during the transport."

Hideo smiled triumphantly at Genji. "She may be just a young woman, but even she knows a thief when she sees one."

"Hiashi-sama," pleaded Genji. "You cannot let this slip of a girl ruin me like this! I am a pillar of the community!"

"As much as I hate to admit it, I agree," added Hideo. "I'm a valued civic leader I am. If word gets around that I let a woman sit me in a corner while that bastard robs me blind, why I'll be a laughing stock."

"The crook speaks the truth Hiashi-sama." said Genji. "Letting your daughter handle this will make me look like a fool." Hinata glanced quickly at her Father. Hiashi ignored the both of them and kept on working.

"Lastly," said Hinata, coldly. "I will be keeping these." She held up both contracts.

"But why?" asked Genji.

"As proof that the pair of you are untrustworthy and have no right to call yourself honest merchants! If I hear of either of you doing anything so insulting to the Hyuga name and the Hyuga honor again, I will make these documents public and the pair of you will be laughed at and shunned out of business."

"But..." started Hideo.

"I have not yet finished," said Hinata coldly. "In the meantime, I will hand these contracts over to a trusted family accountant, who make a best estimate of the amounts each of you tried to cheat the other out of. I expect each of you donate that exact amount to the Fourth ninja war widows and orphans fund." She smiled toothily at them. "I am only a slip of a girl, but it seems to me that such upstanding pillars of the community and civic leaders such as yourselves should spend more time on charitable deeds and less on petty squabbles and fraud."

"Well, that seems to be in order then," said Hiashi to himself calmly. He turned to Hinata. "Hinata dear, I wasn't paying attention. Did you make your decision?"

Hinata nodded meekly. "Yes Father."

"Good." Hiashi turned forward. "Good day to you gentlemen. Next time I see you here, make sure that it is not over such a trivial matter." Ko reappeared and ushered out a shocked Genji and Hideo.

Hiashi sighed. "Not bad," he said.

"Did I make the right choice Father?" asked Hinata, anxious.

Hiashi shrugged. "With those two, there is no right choice. They are scoundrels the both of them." He glanced at Hinata. "The more important thing is that you made a good choice. Both were punished, neither one lost face to the other, and you made it quite clear that you are not one to be trifled with." Hiashi rubbed his hands together. "Both of them will grumble about it, but no harm ever came of grumbling." He smiled. "Punishing them by making them give to charity was a nice touch, I'll have to remember that. It is a wise leader who accepts that there is always something more to learn."

Hinata beamed with pleasure. "Ko?" called her father. "Could you please send in the last person for an audience?"

Hinata couldn't stop smiling. She was enjoying this. Her father had actually complimented her. She was helping the clan and doing it well. Hinata felt closer to her father right now than she had in years.

"Well, my dear… Here we are, meeting again, and so soon too!" Chuckled a dry, papery voice. The last petitioners shuffled up to the desk. Hinata looked up and her heart fell into her stomach. There stood Mikio, arms folded. Lurking behind him, grinning like a cat watching a fat mouse, was Junko.

"Mikio-san," said Hiashi quietly. "To what... do I owe this singular pleasure?"

Mikio bowed low. "Hiashi-sama, Hinata-sama, I am honored to be in your presence."

"It is good to see you again as well," said Hiashi. "I hear that the lumber business is thriving."

Mikio attempted to smile. It was rather sickly looking. "Not as good as it has been in the past, but we can't expect to need to rebuild the Leaf village every few years now can we?" He chuckled at his own joke.

"Indeed," said Hiashi, completely without humor, "such occurrences are most unfortunate. How are your siblings fairing?"

"They are well, my mother will soon expect her second great grandchild."

Hiashi glanced at Junko. "You are truly blessed madam."

Junko waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah, I'm blessed. We get it." She turned and smacked her son. "Enough with the formalities Mikio. This is why you will never get anywhere in life, you are always too polite." She pointed at Hiashi. "Go ahead and ask him."

Mikio swallowed nervously and glanced at Hinata. Junko smacked him again. "He's the one you want to be talking to. Look at him," she hissed.

"Hiashi-sama," Mikio started in a very serious voice. "Long have I admired your eldest daughter's beauty from afar. Only recently have I gained the courage to speak with her." He bowed low. "As we are both members of the noble Hyuga clan, from the head family, I believe that a match made between us would be advantageous to our families and strengthen the clan."

Nary a muscle moved in Hiashi's face. Mikio glanced quickly at his mother and cleared his throat quickly. "I have been reminded to ask you about a certain property holding you have in the capital. Such a large modern house. Are you holding it as a real estate investment, or for your own personal use? Our lumber division would be very useful in adding on to that mansion, increasing its sale value."

"I see," said Hiashi quietly.

"What my great oaf of a son means to say Hiashi, is that we were in the middle of negotiating a marriage to your heir." Junko pointed a gnarled finger at Hinata. "Well, she isn't the one we were expecting, but she's still your daughter and your heir." She gave Hiashi a satisfied smile. "We'll take her."

Hiashi turned very slowly and looked at Hinata. "Would you please excuse us?"

"Father, I would like to…" started Hinata.

"Ko?" called Hiashi. The steward appeared. "Please escort Hinata out of my office until this meeting is finished." Hiashi looked away from Hinata. "I'm sorry, I need to have this discussion in private."

"But Father, I need to…" began Hinata again.

"Please Ko, if you would be so good," said Hiashi flatly, dismissing her.

Ko gently took her arm. "This way Hinata-sama, please." The door closed behind her with a click.


	21. Chapter 11 Hinata's Tale part 1

**Chapter Eleven: Hinata's tale: On my own.**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hey everyone,

Yep... We're still in Hinata's flashback and were still doing the Regular type = 'present day' flashback. _Italics_ = Hinata thinking about the past.

I know... This is one long flashback. But trust me guys, it will all make sense in the end, and hopefully it will all be worth it.

-Cas

* * *

_There was never any time. That's what the problem was. After Hinata had confessed her love to Naruto, she was expecting something to happen, she was expecting something to change. But nothing did._

_First Sasuke reappeared. Apparently he had joined the Akatsuki and tried to capture the eight tails Jinchuriki. The eight tails was missing, and some of the ninja from the Hidden Cloud village came looking for information on Sasuke and clues on where to find their master._

_Hinata and Kiba bumped into them as they were gathering records on Sasuke. "Hey! Get your stupid mutt away from me!" yelled a dark skinned kunoichi, as Akamaru stopped to investigate them._

_"Akamaru, here!" called Kiba. Akamaru trotted away from the woman. "It's all right, he's friendly," Kiba said to her._

_"Gah!" said the kunoichi. "He's muddy and he smells. Keep him away from me! I hate dogs." The kunoichi glared at Kiba. "What are you thinking letting a beast like that run around loose? Why isn't he on a leash? He could have bitten me!"_

_"What? Akamaru?" said Kiba surprised." He wouldn't hurt a fly! Calm down lady! You're just new around here and he was trying to figure out who you were, that's all!" Akamaru barked his agreement._

_"Hmpf," sneered the kunoichi. "Well next time make sure he's more careful. If I thought I was in danger I would have put him down like that!" She tried to snap her fingers but couldn't because of the large pile of documents she was holding._

_A dark skinned shinobi was with her, also holding a pile of papers. "Come on Karui," he said. "We didn't come here so you could beat up everyone you come across."_

_Kiba laughed. "You think you could take down Akamaru? Lady, he's a fully trained ninja hound. You'd have the fight of your life on your hands!" Akamaru looked at Kiba and barked again._

_Karui narrowed her eyes at Kiba. "I thought you said he wouldn't hurt a fly," she sneered. "Seriously, next time keep that monster on a leash." She shook her head and walked off. "Is this stupid village populated by barbarians? What are they, raised by wolves?"_

_Kiba stared after her. Hinata looked at him. "Kiba-kun?"_

_"I really can't stand people who don't like dogs," he snarled. "I can't stand them."_

_After the attack, the village was in chaos. Tsunade was in a coma, so one of the Council took over as acting Hokage, a man named Danzo. His first pronouncement was to declare Sasuke a missing-nin and declare that he was to be disposed of. Upon hearing the news Naruto up and rushed off to the land of Iron where the leaders of the five great ninja villages were meeting to discuss what to do about the Akatsuki. Naruto wanted to plead with them on Sasuke's behalf. He was still trying to save his friend._

_The Konoha eleven met to talk about Sasuke. Ino couldn't stop crying about him. Hinata felt terrible. What must Naruto be going through? She knew as well as anyone how much getting Sasuke back meant to him. Sakura seemed to have a plan though. She gathered up Sai, Kiba and Lee, and headed out after Naruto._

_The Hokage and all the official channels were very tight lipped about what happened. She only heard about what happened through rumor. Sasuke apparently attacked the Five Kage summit. He was strong enough to take on all five Kage, their retainers, the samurai from the Land of Iron, and survive. Whatever he had done, it frightened the leaders enough that for the first time ever they decided to work together. They created an Allied shinobi force to fight together against the Akatsuki._

_Afterwards, Sasuke battled the acting Hokage Danzo Shimura, and killed him. At that moment Sakura, who was trying to hunt down Saskue, clashed with him, and needed to be rescued by Kakashi-sensei and Naruto. Naruto and Sasuke fought once again, but Sasuke got away._

_When they returned to the village Naruto called all of the Konoha eleven together. They were amazed to hear that Naruto had let Sasuke get away. Naruto explained to them that Sasuke was his problem and he would handle him all on his own. He asked everyone to trust him, and that he would explain everything to them at a later date._

_After the meeting Hinata tried to approach him. This was her first real opportunity to be near him that she had had since the Leaf village's destruction. She wanted to talk to Naruto, to try to gauge how he was feeling. Naruto saw her approaching and caught her eye. He gave her a quick little nod, turned his eyes away guiltily and hurried off._

_Hinata didn't follow. She stood there watching, wondering what she had done wrong. Why was he ignoring her? Was it... something she said? In all the stories she'd ever read, once the heroine confessed her love to the hero there was always a happy ending… Was it her?_

_Was this his way of rejecting her?_

_Something whined and nudged her leg. She looked down and saw Akamaru looking up at her expectantly. Kiba was staring at her with an odd look on his face. "Kiba-kun?" she asked expectantly._

_"Hey Hinata," he said quietly. "How are… um… how are you doing?" He looked up at Naruto and then back to her._

_Hinata nodded shyly, a little embarrassed that someone had noticed her staring. "I'm fine. I'm just a little... concerned about Naruto-kun that is all. He seems so… distracted."_

_Kiba nodded and dug his toe in the dirt. "Yeah, about that… um… That was pretty brave how you jumped out there to try to save him during the Akatsuki attack on the village." Kiba squinted at her. "I know that I've been teasing you about liking him for a while now, but you... Really like him, don't you?"_

_Hinata looked away and started to play with her fingers. "Um… I think he's a very admirable person," she managed to squeak out._

_Kiba sighed. "Yeah I know, you've only told me about a hundred times." He looked up and stared at the sky. "So, um, have you ever said anything like that to him? Like, to his face? I mean he is pretty dense you know."_

_Hinata blushed. "Well, actually…"_

_"I mean," Kiba interrupted. "If you, you know... can't tell him, I could say something to him for you."_

_Hinata blushed brighter. "Actually Kiba-kun, you don't have to do that. I already told him," she murmured._

_Kiba looked at her, a half smile on his face. "Yeah? Good for you Hinata! When did you do it?"_

_Hinata tucked her head down. "When I was trying to rescue him," she whispered embarrassed._

_Kiba nodded. "That time he went all Kyubi? Because he was trying to protect you?"_

_Hinata shrugged and looked away. "He doesn't like to see his friends get hurt."_

_Kiba nudged the dirt again. "I can understand that. I don't like to see my friends get hurt either." Akamaru whimpered. He trotted over to Kiba and gave him a nudge._

_Hinata looked at him. "What is it?"_

_Kiba sighed. "Look... I really don't like to gossip, and I really don't want to be the one to tell you this... but I... think you should know..." Kiba glanced quickly at Hinata. "Sakura told Naruto that she loves him."_

_Hinata stiffened. "I mean," said Kiba quickly. "This was all when we were out looking for Naruto in the Land of Iron. She was trying to convince him that he should give up on getting Sasuke back." There was a long pause as Hinata tried to steady herself. Kiba cleared his throat and continued. "So anyway, she told him, but then Naruto got all upset and said she was lying to herself… But, I thought that maybe you should know."_

_Hinata stared at nothing and nodded. "He has always had a crush on Sakura," she said quietly._

_Akamaru lay down next to her feet and looked up at her. "Well, I mean it was probably all some kind of ploy, you know?" said Kiba. "Naruto's been looking for Sasuke all these years just because Sakura asked him to find him for her… And well... it looks like Sakura just tried her best to kill Sasuke…So…"_

_Hinata turned away. "Naruto's life must be very turbulent right now, wouldn't you agree Kiba?"_

_Kiba chuckled. "I would say it's always been pretty messed up."_

_Hinata nodded to herself. "I would say what he needs more than anything right now is friends he can depend on… Wouldn't you?" She smiled quickly at Kiba. "If what Naruto needs right now is a friend, then I will have to be the best friend I can possibly be for him," said Hinata determinedly. She gazed off down the path that Naruto had left on. "Have you ever been in love Kiba?" she asked._

_"What me?" laughed Kiba. "Never." He looked away quickly. "I mean I've liked certain girls before, and... maybe even had a crush on one or two of them, but love? Nope. Not me... Why do you ask?"_

_Hinata smiled softly. "Being in love means wanting to give another person what they need. It means wanting to help them, even if it hurts inside."_

_Kiba gazed off after Naruto. "Wow," he said. "I'm glad I've given it up then."_

_Hinata looked at Kiba, surprised. "What? Kiba-kun, you mean that you never want to be with anyone? Have children?"_

_Kiba shrugged. "Honestly I haven't really given it much thought. Mostly I'm just scared that If I did get married, my wife would end up being too much like my mom." He shuddered. "No thank you."_

* * *

_The preparations for the Allied Shinobi Force kept everyone insanely busy. It was three days before Hinata realized Naruto was gone... again._

_The Akatsuki were after the tailed beasts. There were only two that they had not captured. Of course, they would send Naruto to a secure location. Of course, the Allied Force would try to deny this objective to the enemy._

_Of course, she missed him._

_Despite her rational mind knowing that this was all for Naruto's benefit, despite her decision to give him what she thought he needed right now and just focus on being his friend, she missed him. No… missed was too weak a word for it. She longed for him._

_The others noticed and tried their best to help. They invited her out, asked her to help them with her tasks. A few even had missions that crossed paths with Naruto in his travels. She felt better to hear that he was okay. She would smile at the news that someone had seen him, or at some message that his party had sent, saying that they were okay. During the day, while at her tasks, she was cheerful and able. At night, lying awake in her bed, she ached, from both sore muscles and the hole in her heart._

_Preparations for war are endless. Supplies must be ordered, shipped, received, inventoried, moved, re-inventoried, and finally divided and delivered, hopefully to whomever ordered them in the first place. Troops need to be trained, fed, bivouacked, supplied, kept active, kept fit, kept alert and kept ready. For the shinobi of her generation, who were used to small platoon level tactics for so long, operating in company or battalion sized maneuvers was, as Shikamaru put it, "a major drag." Hinata lost count of the number of times the whole exercise had to be scrapped and restarted from deployment because someone had screwed everything up._

_They began to meet and train with shinobi from other villages. This was almost impossible at first. There had been countless skirmishes and betrayals between the ninja villages over the years. Many of these resentments began to develop into fighting in the ranks. Some shinobi were willing to see past the old hatreds and accept their new allies. There were invitations to visit other camps, friendships were formed, and partnerships were made._

_All the while, the logistics had to be maintained. Order, receive, inventory, deliver, and repeat. Hinata had discovered that she had a talent with the supply lines. She could spot errors and mistakes. She could keep a running tally in her head of who needed what, and when. She became a requested transfer between the various divisions to assist with their own depot inventories and deliveries._

_It seemed like they would never be ready enough. There was always a little more to replenish, a little more training to do, one last contingency plan to make, one more exercise to run through._

_Then one afternoon, all the extra planning and preparation were stopped. What ever they had, well it just had to be good enough. Akatsuki was on the move._

_The main Akatsuki force began to leave their hideout. A small Akatsuki strike team launched an assault on a small island off the coast of the Land of Lightning. That island was Naruto's secure location. Their mission was to capture him. Naruto escaped. Some of his escorts did not._

_She was very nervous as she marched off with the second division. She marched along with Neji and the red haired kunoichi from the Hidden Cloud village that she and Kiba had bumped into months ago. Contrary to her first impression, Karui was not always combative, she was even a little supportive of Hinata, trying to reassure her that there was nothing to be nervous about._

_The scuttlebutt was that the first skirmishes had taken place. Apparently, the Akatsuki were using the impure resurrection jutsu, and bringing back the dead to fight on their side._

_Hinata was quite nervous, if there was one thing she wanted to avoid it was fighting the dead. The second division was being deployed against a large number of Akatsuki traveling underground towards the battlefield. The other members of her division laughed and joked about the imminent battle with the Akatsuki forces. Of course the Akatsuki were strong, but as strong at the combined allied shinobi forces? Not possible._

* * *

_War is hell._

_The violence is terrible. The grief and sorrow are unbearable. The things that one sees and has to do over and over again to ensure that you live for another measly few seconds, tear away chunks of your soul. All of this is horrible, but it is not this that makes it hell._

_The best warriors are not the strongest, or the fastest, or even the bravest, although you need all of those qualities in war. The best warriors are the ones who can turn off their emotions to the horrors, often times horrors that they commit with their own hands, and just get the job done._

_If you don't get the job done, the plan fails. If you don't get the job done, the objective is not taken. If you don't get the job done your friends die. If you don't get the job done... you die._

_So you fight, and maim, and kill, and destroy, and you even take pride in getting the job done. You are a warrior. You retreat into your armor and let the horrors wash over you. You convince yourself that none of this will ever bother you. You are tough and strong, just getting the job done. And you forget that what your eyes see, and what your hands do, your mind remembers._

_And then one day the war is over and you rejoice that you are still alive, and you mourn your dead, and you return back to your old life. You take off your armor and relax, confident that you have gotten the job done._

_But the Job hasn't finished with you yet._

_Little by little the horrors that you could ignore in the heat of the moment sneak back into your head. Anything can trigger them. A noise, a voice, a smell, can bring you right back into the midst of war, only this time you don't have your armor... Why would you need it? You are back home, safe. The horrors don't care, they sneak in when you aren't ready. They make you scream, make you jump. They prod you awake in the middle of the night, showing you gleefully all that you have seen... All that you have wrought._

_And that is what makes war hell. Because for some, even though you are safe at home... You never get to leave._

* * *

_They battled wave after wave of white Zetsu clones, an Akatsuki member who was plant-like and could grow clones of himself off other people's chakra. The battle was fiercer than anything she had dealt with before. She and Neji often found themselves hard pressed fighting shoulder to shoulder and even back to back. They saved each other many times over that day. Just as it seemed like the second division had a handle on the assault, the white Zetsu clones displayed a new trick. They could disguise themselves as friends and allies. They began to infiltrate, assassinating commanders and wreaking havoc behind the allied forces lines._

_They heard rumors during breaks in the fighting. The dead had begun to show up. The other divisions were being assaulted by legendary shinobi of old, full of blood lust for the living. They had swept into the ranks of the allied forces leaving a trail of corpses in their wake._

_The battle lasted all day. The night gave them little rest. Harassing attacks came at all hours. The screams of the wounded drifted through the night. Hinata had to replace Neji on his watch for he had over used his chakra and collapsed from exhaustion. Shino in turn, told her to take it easy. His beetles would alert them to a surprise attack he said. Hinata smiled at him._

_"Thank you Shino," she said. "But I want to do the best job that I can. We are fighting this war to protect Naruto! Failure is not an option!" It was a long dark night, but her thoughts of Naruto kept her warm._

_The battle resumed with the first glimmer of the sun. As the dawn dissolved the morning mists, a huge flock of crows circled the battlefield looking to feast on the fallen. The second division was exhausted, many were wounded, but still they kept on fighting. They had to fall back in spaces. Hinata found herself battling amongst the tents._

_Something had changed on the battlefield. There were huge amounts of chakra being released. She could sense it, but given the chaos all around her she didn't have the time to make heads or tails of it. She was very hard pressed by a large group of the Zetsu clones disguised as Allied shinobi from the Hidden Cloud village. The clones were surrounding her and her squad. Neji and Kiba were doing their best to keep them all safe, but Hinata was surrounded by three Zetsu clones bearing in on her with swords. She flinched and raised her arms._

_There was a bright yellow flash. The blow never landed. A familiar voice said. "Sorry for taking so long."_

_Hinata looked up. Yellow flames rippled over his body. But she recognized him. "Naruto-kun?" she whispered. With a single push he sent the three Zetsu clones flying._

_"Are you alright Hinata?" He asked glancing behind at her._

_The other shinobi were suspicious. Kiba said Naruto smelled different, Neji said his chakra looked different, They wanted proof he wasn't a Zetsu clone._

_"He's the real Naruto!" Hinata cried out. "Just look at his eyes, you can tell. Besides that he came to our rescue!" She stood up and took a step closer to him. Her heart started to beat faster. "I'm sorry that everyone is so suspicious of you Naruto-kun."_

_Naruto smiled and looked around at her platoon. "Now that I'm here we can go on the offensive! I'll start on one side and we can weed out all the imposters! Everyone follow me!"_

_Hinata looked down at her feet. "The one person I want to protect no matter what… and he always ends up saving me instead," she thought. She felt her confidence begin to crumble. "I guess I am just worthless as a shinobi."_

_"Don't worry about it Hinata," said Naruto quietly, as if he could read her mind. "I have my bad days as well…You've already had to save me at least twice."_

_Hinata started, and looked up at him. "I wasn't worrying about that."_

_Naruto smiled at her. She felt her heart soar. "I can see it in your eyes." He said smiling. "Don't give up on yourself… I know you. You are strong." He smiled at her once more. "Let's go everyone!" He shouted, and ran._

_Hinata ran after him. In her head she whispered a silent thanks._

_The battle went more smoothly with Naruto there. Whatever this jutsu he was using, it was insanely powerful. His senses were increased way beyond ordinary. He could point out a disguised Zetsu clone just by being near it._

_A loud rumble came from the east. "What is that?" whispered Neji. A bright white light blanketed the area and gave Hinata a dark shadow in contrast. She turned. There was a second sun in the sky. It was smaller but much brighter, and headed straight towards the first division. A wave of sand reached up and caught the falling meteor. A second meteor slammed into it from behind. As far away as they were, the earth jumped, and a huge shockwave threatened to knock them over._

_"What's happening?" shouted Kiba._

_"It doesn't matter!" yelled Neji back. "Just focus on what is in front of you!"_

_There was a lull in the battle. Hinata looked around for Naruto, but he was gone. "Did anyone see where Naruto went?" she called out desperately._

_Shino shook his head. "That wasn't Naruto. That was one of his shadow clones. I would guess it used up all its chakra. I saw it disappear a while ago." Hinata let out a small breath, relieved. It didn't last long, the next wave of Zetsu clones burst from the ground right in front of them._

_She knew she shouldn't have, but she used her byakugan to steal glimpses of the distant battles. A huge octopus appeared and slammed into a faraway forest. One by one, huge waves of chakra pulsed across the battlefield. One by one, huge monsters appeared. Six tailed beasts towered against the sky. The octopus began to do battle with them_

_The destruction was terrible. The earth shook, mountains were flattened, trees toppled over just from the force of the blows they exchanged. Fire and magma left scorching trails in the sky. Hinata tried to focus on the battle in front of her, but her eyes caught sight of a tiny orange mote, which was promptly swallowed by a giant monkey. She missed what happened next. She was fighting off two of the Zetsu clones._

_An unearthly howl echoed across the battlefield. Even the white Zetsu clones seemed to flinch and stop and stare. For a second the whole combat zone went quiet. Hinata recognized that scream._

_The Kyubi towered on the horizon. It bared it's fangs at the other tailed beasts and snarled fury. She recognized the shape. She heard Shino mutter "Oh no."_

_"No!" said Hinata, "Look this time it's different." The last time she saw the Nine-tails it had been a boiling mass of bubbling red chakra. This one was flickering yellow flames, it had similar markings that Naruto's shadow clone had. "I think," said Hinata, "that this time Naruto is in control."_

_Together the Nine Tails and the Eight Tails began to brawl with the other tailed beasts. At one point the five tailed beasts fired some hugely destructive jutsu at the Nine Tails, who launched one of its own right back. She threw herself to the ground as the shock wave passed overhead. The sound alone was so deafening she had to cover her battle raged so violently that as far away as she was, she began to fear for her own safety._

_And then abruptly it stopped. A heavy silence covered the fighting. One by one the tailed beasts vanished. All Hinata's platoon could do was stare in the direction where the battle had taken place. "What the hell just happened?" wondered Kiba aloud. The clouds above them, which had been growing darker began to let a light rain fall._

_The announcement from Inoichi cut through their skulls. "News from Headquarters!" he said sharply. "The battle goes well at the reinforcement point. Meaning Naruto Uzumaki has battled the enemy to a standstill. Naruto and Killer-Bee whom we are here to protect have joined the battle on the front lines. They fight alongside Kakashi and Gai. We ask you all to be like them! Join forces and together we will vanquish the enemy! Fight with all your heart and our victory is assured!"_

_Hinata exchanged glances with her comrades, Neji, Kiba and Shino. As one they started running. Splashing through the puddles the rain washing down her face, that feeling returned. That same feeling she had when she faced Pain. Hinata felt light, she felt strong. "Naruto-kun," she thought. I've always been chasing after you. But once this war ends, I'm going to stop once and for all. Next time I'll be next to you, walking with you, holding your hand. Wait for me!"_

_Together they charged headlong into the chaos._

* * *

Hinata started as the door slid open again. Mikio stepped out and bowed once more to her father inside. He turned and stopped when he noticed Hinata standing right there. "Hinata-sama," he said quietly and nodded his head towards her.

Junko shuffled out as well. She teetered on the top step for a moment, but then clutched her son's arm. She gave Hinata a sweet little grin, but her eyes were cold. "I just had a very nice discussion with your father, Hinata." She leaned forward and her eyes glittered. "I hope I get to meet you again sometime."

Hinata watched the pair of them shuffle off. Ko leaned out from the doorway. "Hinata-sama," he said quietly. "Your father would like to see you now."

Hiashi was seated at his desk, staring at his paperwork. He would constantly start to move his brush towards the paper, and then hesitate as if unsure what to write. "Father," Hinata said quietly, announcing herself.

Hiashi looked up at her, and for a brief moment Hinata thought she saw an unfamiliar emotion flash across his face. He glanced down at his desk and composed himself. "I believe we were speaking earlier of how when one is the head of the Hyuga clan, one must make sacrifices in order to keep the clan on the path to prosperity." He cleared his throat. "Now that you are in line to be the head of the Hyuga clan, it has come to my attention that a suitable match must be made for your future."

Hinata frowned. "I already have found a suitable match for myself. I do not want another."

Hiashi sighed. He heard the steel in her voice. "Hinata," he said in a conciliatory tone. "Uzumaki-san is an... adequate young man, but really where does he come from? Where is the history to his name? He is brave, dashing and a hero. It is fine to have a girl's crush on him. But you are a grown woman now. You are going to lead the Clan after I retire. You shouldn't just throw your marriage away on someone like him when you could use it to cement an alliance. You could do so much more good for the clan by bringing its members closer together, making it a stronger unit."

Hinata looked away from her father. "Do you know why Hanabi decided to give up on the clan and join the ANBU? She objected to being used as a bargaining chip." She looked back at him. "I wonder what sort of deals you made in exchange for me?"

Hiashi closed his eyes. "Both of you are making this out to be much more sinister than it really is. Your mother and I were an arranged marriage. Eventually we learned to love each other. Don't make an arranged marriage out to be this… this... horrible thing."

"Then answer me this Father: What did Junko-sama promise you in exchange for my marriage to her son? Money? Influence? Maybe it was stability?" Hinata stared at her father's face carefully. "Stability… I bet that was it. It seems to be more her style. Why promise someone something extra when you can just threaten to take it away?"

Hiashi's face twitched. "You have no idea of the amount of face I lost when Hanabi decided to leave. Rather than do her duty, my own daughter decided to flee. You have no idea how much strain her cowardice put the clan under."

"I wonder how much strain the cowardice of her father put on her?" asked Hinata sharply. "You would let an old woman bully you rather than stick up for your daughter's happiness and well being?"

Hiashi frowned. "I was looking out for her well being. I made a perfectly reasonable..."

"I'm not talking about Hanabi, I'm talking about me!" snapped Hinata. "I have no interest in an arranged marriage! I am quite happy with Naruto!"

Hiashi grew very still. "You are my daughter and you will listen to what I say." He said in a flat monotone. "The few times I have met the Jinchuriki he has been uncouth and undignified. He is rather dim-witted. He does have strength yes, but he is little more than an untalented brute. I am fully aware that this... unhealthy obsession of yours with the Uzumaki boy has been going on for quite a while. Before this current crisis, I was perfectly happy to let you waste your time with him in the hopes that you would get it all out of your system. I cannot afford to allow this any longer." Hiashi stared at her coldly. "I forbid you from seeing him anymore."

Hinata stared back. "No."

"No?"

"No Father, you cannot forbid me from seeing him. That is my decision."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "And to think that I actually believed that you were honorable enough to wield the position of the head of the Hyuga clan.

"And to think that I believed that my father respected me enough that he would offer me the position on my own merits," snapped Hinata back.

"You speak to me of respect?" boomed Hiashi. Hinata flinched at his shout. "Look at me when I speak to you, you selfish child! I want you to take a good look at what I have sacrificed, at what I have lost just to maintain the balance in this family. First Hanabi, and now you would throw away a hundred years of the clan's prosperity over something as trivial as a matched pairing?" He waved his hand at the door to the meeting hall. "The pair of you are as bad as that group of greedy fools out there! Only putting your own interests first and leaving me to clean up your messes!" He gave Hinata a long cold stare. Hinata shivered. "There was a girl I loved once... I had to give her up for the sake of the clan. Your mother, the light of my life, was murdered, and I had to stand by and do nothing, for the sake of the clan! My brother gave his life for mine, as I watched and screamed inside, and yet I had to remain stoic for the sake of the clan! I have watched good friends fall into ruin, I have heard them beg and plead with me as their children were moved into the branch family and I had to stand aside and do nothing! All for the greater good of the clan!"

He stopped and folded his hands on the desk. He looked down and stared at them. "Father..." Hinata started.

He ignored her. "You say that you want to bring some good to this clan? You say you want to help the struggling like Sayuri and protect the Branch family, like your cousin? You want to make this clan a better place?" He looked up at her. "Right now you are at a fork in the road. You need to make a decision. If you stay and marry Mikio, with enough time you could steer this clan any way you desire. Junko's family has a lot of money and power. Combined with ours you could be the most benevolent leader this clan has ever seen. You would be forever known as Hinata the kind. But," he said coldly, "let us suppose that this Naruto is more important to you than the safety and well being of your own family. Let us say that you turn your back on us? What happens then?" He slammed his palms down on the desk, scattering his brushes and papers. "Destruction. Chaos. Anarchy. I am left without a heir. There will be countless challenges for my position. The other head families will begin to jockey for position. It will start small, broken contracts, embezzlement, rumors, delays in shipping. Then it will escalate to character assassinations, threats, maybe even a few 'mysterious' fires destroying businesses." He stared up at her with open hostility on his face. "In the past such challenges have even escalated to include poisonings, and the kidnapping and murder of family members. A few times even lead to the open hostilities between Head families." He leaned forward. "And who do you think suffers? Will it be the rich and powerful, like Junko and Honan? No... It is the poor, the Branch families and those like Sayuri's who are just on the cusp. Those who many view as being one step away from outsiders, like Sayuri and her sons, are often targeted in the retaliations. They are prominent enough that everyone in the clan will take note of the 'tragedy' to befall them, but they themselves are not powerful enough to retaliate. They make perfect sacrificial lambs."

Hiashi stared off into the corner of the room. "I swore to your uncle to care for Neji as if he were my own, but if the situation progresses to the point where he and Tenten are targeted...' Hiashi shrugged his arms. "What will I be able to do? I won't be the head of the Hyuga clan anymore. I will just be one more old man presiding over a family that has fallen into ruin."

Hinata stared at him. "What are you trying to say Father?" she said, a little concerned.

Hiashi smiled sadly. "The people out there," he said pointing. "Are a pack of finely tuned predators. They realize that I am past my prime. They have seen me aging. Right now they are circling me. They know I still have some strength, so no one wants to be the first one to attack, but if I display too much weakness, all of them will pounce."

He looked away. "I don't have the influence I used to. If you abandon me like your sister..." He shrugged. "That may be the only sign they need."

Hinata stared at him. The anger inside her had deflated. Quietly a clock started to chime the hour. "Father, I..."

"Oh, look at the time," said Hiashi with false brightness." You were supposed to meet with the Uzumaki boy when we finished weren't you?" He waved his hand. "Don't let me detain you."

"Father," said Hinata pleadingly. "Please don't doubt my loyalty to you or this family. It's just that I..."

"Ko!" called Hiashi. Ko materialized behind her. "My daughter has an important appointment to keep. Please... help her to be punctual."

Ko gave a short bow. "At once Hiashi-sama," he said quietly. He gently grabbed Hinata's elbow to escort her out of the office.

"Oh, Hinata?" called Hiashi. Hinata stopped and glanced over her shoulder. "I just want to make this clear. I will be announcing both your appointment as my heir and your engagement to Mikio at the start of the meeting tomorrow." Hiashi's eyes never wavered from the papers on his desk. "If you wish to have a stake in the future of this clan, I expect you to be in attendance." His brush slowly slid on the paper. "If you decide you have other matters to attend to... Well..." The brush slid to a stop. "That will be your personal decision." He glanced up at Ko. "Ko? If you would be so kind?" Ko nodded and ushered her out.


	22. Chapter 11 Hinata's Tale part 2

The door shut behind her with a sharp final thud. Hinata felt a cold sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach.

The crowd stood around the door in a wide semicircle. Close enough to be able to see what was going on, but far enough away to proclaim innocence. Hinata slowly stepped down the three steps to the floor. Sayuri was waiting by the bottom step. "Well?" the woman asked anxiously. "What happened?"

Hinata sighed and tried to find something positive to say. "I managed to increase the total of the war widows and orphans fund for this year. I'm pretty sure that I can also prevent any further cutbacks to your sons' payments."

Sayuri clasped her hands together. "Oh thank you," she said in a whisper. "You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you so very much."

Hinata looked away and nodded. "You're welcome," she said weakly.

Sayuri knitted her brow. "Is everything alright? You look like something is bothering you."

Hinata forced a smile. "Oh, no... I'm just a little tired that's all. It was... difficult to convince everyone."

Sayuri smiled back. "Well, I'll need to find some way to thank you." She thought for a second. "Tell you what, you come by the restaurant with your young man, I'll make sure to give the pair of you a meal to remember."

Hinata's smile twitched a little. "That is... very generous of you Sayuri-san," she said. "We will try to come by as soon as possible." Hinata made a short bow and pushed her way through the crowd.

She found her way blocked by Junko and Mikio. Hinata stopped in her tracks and stared at the pair of them. Mikio bowed to her in a polite manner and looked up. He had an uncomfortable look on his face. "Hinata-sama," he said quietly.

Junko grinned at her and held her arms open. "Come and give me a hug girl! After all, you are practically my daughter now!"

Hinata just stood there and glared. Junko let out a small chuckle. "Good. Good! Keep that spirit of yours burning girl. You'll need it to raise even more of my grandchildren." She took a shuffling step closer to Hinata. "To be honest I like a little bit of fight in my children to keep me on my toes. This lot here," she said, smacking Mikio, "are too soft, too dull. You are bound to make things slightly more interesting at least." She chuckled again. "Always wish for your opponents to be slightly less crafty than you, that's what I always say. You want them to be dangerous enough to keep you on our toes but never enough to be an actual threat." Junko snickered. She reached out one papery hand to pat Hinata's cheek. "You fit that bill perfectly my dear."

"Mother," said Mikio stiffly. "That is my future wife you are speaking about." Junko whirled on him and glared. Mikio shrunk back. "I am simply suggesting that you could speak more civilly to her?" he whimpered in a frightened voice.

"I'll speak to you, her, or anyone else however I damn well please," she said happily. She turned and looked back at Hinata. A small smile crossed her lips. "The poor thing looks like she might burst into tears at any moment, wouldn't you say Mikio?" Junko shuffled forward another step until she was inches away from Hinata's face. She stared into her eyes. "Don't worry little girl. Once he becomes Hokage, I'm sure that fox brat of yours won't be lonely for long." She giggled. "Who knows, maybe that pink haired little medical-nin he is really in love with will finally take notice of him." She laughed out loud as Hinata flinched.

Junko slapped Mikio's arm. "Oh, did I ever strike a nerve there!" She looked up at her son. "I like her. She is going to be so much fun." She continued laughing as she hobbled off.

Mikio looked very nervous. "I would like to apologize for my mother. She is..."

Hinata stepped away. "I am very sorry," she said. "I cannot talk to you right now." She turned and headed for the door.

She had almost escaped when a heavy hand landed on her arm. She whirled to see Honan's wide face. "Princess?" he asked concerned. "It doesn't look like you're doing too well."

She nodded to him. "You are most perceptive Honan-san." She looked around the meeting hall, fidgeting with her fingers. "I have had a most difficult time today." She smiled up at him. " I have a task for you that you might be able to help me with. I feel as if it is in your area of expertise."

Honan leaned forward eagerly, his face serious. "For you princess... anything."

"Lead me to the bar," said Hinata firmly. "I need a drink."

Honan threw back his head and roared with laughter. He swept his hand and bowed low in a courtly manner. "Right this way your royal highness!" he chuckled.

* * *

A few moments later they were seated next to each other at a long teak bar. Hinata filled her shallow cup from a small glass bottle, and delicately took a sip. She grimaced as the sake burned its way down her throat.

Honan had three empty mugs on the bar top in front of him. Hinata stared as he downed his fourth. "I don't know how you can drink alcohol like that," she said. "Even this small amount hurts when I swallow."

Honan grinned. "What, this?" He waved the mug under her nose. A sour smell assailed her nostrils. "Rare stuff in these parts, it is. I picked up a taste for it in misspent youth overseas. They call it 'bitters.' He pointed to her bottle. "It's not half as potent as that sake of yours. I could drink this all day and still be as sharp as ever." He gave a small burp and covered his mouth with his hand. "Pardon me. It does tend to make one a little bit gassy though." He looked at her. "Want a taste?"

Hinata wrinkled her nose. "No thank you."

Honan nodded and took another large gulp. He stared at her over the top of his mug. "So… Pardon me for asking, but I'm a bit surprised that the daughter of Hiashi Hyuga would be seen drinking with the likes of me." He put down his tankard with a click. "What happened?"

Hinata stared straight ahead. "My father will announce that I am to be named his heir tomorrow morning."

"Ah? I suppose congratulations are in order then?"

Hinata sighed. "And then he will announce my engagement to Mikio."

Honan looked down into his beer. "Hmm… That one... not so much of a celebration I suppose." He signaled the bartender for another drink. "So... what are you going to do?"

"I really don't want to have to make that decision," said Hinata, biting her lip. "How can I choose between my family and my heart?"

"Truly, a terrible choice to make," murmured Honan sympathetically. "And the worst part for you is, you have less than twenty four hours to make it." His drink arrived and he took a sip. "Your sister at least had a week to think it over."

"She had a week?" asked Hinata.

Honan nodded. "Mikio asked your father a week ago. He came up to Hiashi, 'Long have I admired your daughter's beauty from afar, only recently do I have the courage to speak with her.'" Honan snorted, imitating Mikio. "Your Father told Mikio he'd give him his answer at the clan meeting." He glanced over at Hinata. "I guess Hanabi thought about it long and hard, and yesterday morning she thought that entering the ANBU and risking life and limb on a daily basis was preferable to married life with Mikio." He raised his glass. "Bless the men and women in uniform!" he toasted. He tilted his glass back and drained it.

"How did you know what Mikio said to my father?" asked Hinata.

"What was that?" asked Honan wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"What you just said, the "Long have I admired your daughter from afar…" That is exactly what Mikio said to my father when he was making my marriage proposal."

"Was it now?" said Honan thoughtfully. He shrugged. "Well, Mikio was never the most imaginative of people." He scratched his chin. "Bean counters you know?"

"What I want to know," said Hinata sadly. "Is why my father lets Junko push him around like that," she turned to Honan. "Is she really that powerful?"

Honan traced his finger around the rim of his glass. "Junko is in charge of one of the most powerful Head families out there. She's got an almost unlimited fortune, tons of relatives, even more Branch family members, a sizeable chunk of influence." He waved his hand in the air. "She's definitely one of the heaviest hitters out there."

"But is she more powerful than the Head of the clan?" asked Hinata pleadingly.

Honan thought about it. "Not quite, but they are pretty evenly matched."

"Then why does my father seem to give in so easily?"

Honan shrugged. "Blackmail probably. Every man has his secrets."

Hinata emphatically shook her head. "My father is the most upstanding man I know. I cannot believe he would ever do anything dishonorable."

Honan snorted into his beer. "Your faith in your father does you credit, princess... But trust me, every man makes mistakes, every man has his weaknesses."

Hinata shook her head. "If there is one thing the great Hiashi Hyuga treasures above all else it is his honor and his image. I refuse to believe he would tarnish that." She looked over at Honan. "I doubt anyone else in the clan would believe it either." She sighed and took a drink. "There has to be some other way she is pressuring him."

Honan sat up straighter and looked away. "It's probably not just her pushing for this," he mumbled.

"Excuse me?" asked Hinata.

Honan rubbed his face. "I didn't want to say this, but some of Hiashi's choices lately have been... raising some eyebrows." He shrugged at her confused expression. "No offence princess, but while a lot of Hyuga were willing to see your relationship with the Jinchuriki as your father making a low risk gamble on some sort of broader village wide alliance… Letting your cousin Neji marry a commoner? That caught their attention. Every move he makes is under some serious scrutiny now. He's feeling a lot of resistance from the masses… people are starting to complain."

Honan idly drew in a small puddle of spilt beer on the bar. " Rumor has it, his run as the Head of the clan has got another couple of years at best. When stories like that start floating around, a lot of people start to smell opportunity. Junko probably has a bunch of allies with her all pushing to see this engagement go through. If you add enough of them up," he shrugged. "It could be enough to make your father scream uncle."

"And all these other members of the clan are so desperate for Junko's approval that they would lend her their support for something like this?" asked Hinata sadly.

"Keep in mind that not everyone here is a lap dog, Princess," whispered Honan. "Some of them probably see their own personal advantage in this and are pushing for this marriage to go ahead for some reason or another. There's a lot of people out there, and every last one of them has a plan." He shrugged. "You just happen to be the keystone that moves most of them in the right direction." He glanced over at her sadly. "Nothing personal, I'm sure."

Hinata was quiet for a very long time. Honan ordered another drink. When he was about half way done, Hinata cleared her throat. "Honan-san?" she said very quietly. "I have a... favor I need to ask of you."

"Mmmpf," said Honan swallowing. "Your wish is my command, Princess. What do you need?"

Hinata reached out and picked up her bottle of sake and her cup. She took a sip from her cup and slowly stood up. "Not here," she said quietly. "There are too many eyes and ears about." She glanced about the large room and her eyes settled on a small crooked passageway that lead out the back. "Follow me back there," she said.

Honan slightly unsteadily, followed her to the passage. "I'll wait out here," she said. "Could you check if first to make sure it is clear?"

"Not a problem at all," said Honan smiling. The passageway turned three times. He walked around the bends until he came to the back door. Some of the lights were out back here and it was slightly darker than the rest of the hallway. "No one back here but me Princess!" he called out. There was a sharp tinkle like breaking glass. He started to turn around. "Princess? Are you all…"

The wind was knocked out of him as he was slammed into the wall. Someone seized his right arm and twisted it up painfully behind his back. "Who...?" he started to say.

"The favor, my dear Honan-san," whispered Hinata nervously, very close to his ear, "is, I want you to tell me exactly what it is you are planning." Honan gasped as something cold and sharp pricked the base of his spine. "I didn't have any kunai with me, so I had to improvise with my sake bottle." His knees started to sag, and his arm was pulled up a little higher. "Don't worry," said Hinata. "I'll let you catch your breath first."

A moment passed. Honan's breathing returned to normal. "Please be careful with my shirt. It's silk you know, the stains never come out."

"Why are you throwing in your support with Junko?" asked Hinata quietly but harshly. "I thought you hated her! I thought I could trust you!"

Honan shrugged and smiled sadly. "What gave it away?"

Hinata scowled at him. "You know too much. You know what Mikio said to my father. You knew how long Hanabi had to think about this arranged marriage." She swallowed. "It's almost like you were in the room. I offered you my friendship, I thought I could trust you!" she said coldly. "Was everything you said just a ruse?"

Honan grimaced and tried to get more comfortable against the wall. "Look my girl, I understand you are upset. You've had a not very pleasant day. Why don't you let me down and we will talk about this situation like civilized people. Old Honan here bears you no ill will. Every single word I spoke was the truth Princess, I swear it on my honor."

"You have no honor." Hinata's voice was cold and flat. Honan squirmed as more weight was applied to the broken bottle and the points pricked deeper. "Why would you pretend like this? My father says that if the clan falls apart the only ones with enough money and influence to be sure to remain standing are you and Junko... So what is it? Did you and she come up with a plan, and as everyone is crying and begging for mercy you will split what is left of the businesses and all the branch families right down the middle?" Honan muttered something. "What? Speak up!" said Hinata. "I can't hear you."

"I said I'd rather die than be a partner with that warty old witch!" snarled Honan. "Yes I added my influence to hers to push your father into agreeing to this arranged marriage. Yes, I lied to the old hag's face and begged her for a reconciliation, and when she suggested the price would be Hiashi Hyuga's daughter bound in matrimony to her ugly son, I agreed to help and she forgave me." Honan grinned an evil, feral smile. "The truth is I just want to be there by her side when she realizes it is all falling apart." He growled. "I want to look into her eyes as everything she holds dear turns to dust and trickles away through her fingers." He chuckled. "I want to be the one to sear the caged bird seal into her flesh with my own hands."

"Trusted little Honan is not the only one who wants a piece of her flesh oh no," he continued dreamily. "Do you know how many she has wronged over the years? Do you know how many people hate her? Her own children are stealing the business and the future right out from under her." He glanced back at Hinata. "All we need is a power vacuum. With no one at the top to manage things, we will have a year maybe a year and a half of pure freedom to tear her down piece by piece. All we need is for Hiashi to quietly go away." He closed his eyes. "All we needed was first for your sister, and now you to walk away. A major fight breaks out, Hiashi is powerless, he gets deposed, and in that chaos, every dog has his day."

"And what of everyone else?" asked Hinata.

"What?"

"If the clan falls, your plan comes about, and it is a mad free for all for all of the resources of the clan, what happens to the people who fall alongside Junko? What happens to those who lose their businesses or their families, or who get hurt in this chaos? What happens to them?"

"That cold hearted bitch stole my childhood from me! The rest of these bastards all look down their noses at me and sneer when they see me coming. 'Look! There is jolly old Honan, he'll never be one of us, but we'll gladly take his money!'" He spat. "They don't care one whit for me. Why should I care what happens to them?" He stared back at Hinata with one eye. "That is the name of the game princess; Power, gold, blood, betrayal and revenge. Oh Gods yes... the sweet, sweet revenge. If you can't stomach it, you'd better run off and find a happier life with your Naruto. Because you'll find nothing else but the game if you stay here."

Honan yelped in pain. Tiny pinpricks of blood began to seep around the points of the broken bottle. "You despise them for who they are, and yet you are no better than them," she said softly. "The whole bunch of you make me sick. " Hinata hurled the broken bottle to the floor. The sound of the shattering glass made Honan flinch. The painful grip on his arm was released.

Honan sighed with relief and rubbed his elbow. "Look, I'm sorry Princess," he took a step back from the wall, "but it's like I said..." He turned but Hinata was gone.

* * *

"Hey Hinata-chan! Slow down!" Hinata skidded to a stop, and wiped her face quickly with her sleeve. Tenten was waving at her from the front steps of the meeting hall. Neji was seated beside her, smiling in a slightly dazed way.

"I'm so sorry," said Hinata catching her breath. "I didn't see you there."

"I know that those clan meetings of Neji's go back and forth between being boring and terrifying, but I don't think I've actually ever seen anyone running away at full speed before." Tenten grinned a huge infectious smile at her. "Come here," she said waving her over. "I want you to see something."

Hinata walked over. As she was walking, she glanced over at Neji. "Cousin?" she asked. "Is there something the matter? What happened?"

"You'll find out in a second," said Tenten mischievously. "Give me your hand." Tenten took Hinata's palm and placed it on the side of her bulging stomach.

"Oh!" squeaked Hinata. Something squirmed under her hand. There was a pause and then she felt a small tap.

"He's moving," said Neji in wonder. "I felt my son move."

"Or daughter!" snapped Tenten. "She could be a girl you know!"

"Oh Tenten, that is amazing!" gushed Hinata.

"I know!" giggled Tenten. "She started about half an hour ago. I just had to come down here and show Neji." Tenten smiled at him and snuggled into the crook of his arm. Neji put his arm around her protectively. "He's been like this ever since."

"Congratulations Tenten. I'm so happy for you!" said Hinata smiling.

Tenten grinned back and patted her tummy. "That was a very nice hello you gave to your Auntie little one," she said very sweetly.

"You must be very proud Neji-kun," said Hinata to her cousin.

"This is just... Wow..." said Neji. He stared at Tenten. "We're going to have a family."

"I think we knew about that five months ago, Dear," said Tenten teasingly. She reached out and patted his cheek.

"I know," said Neji. He took Tenten's hand and turned it palm up. He kissed it right in the center. Tenten blushed. "I've know it for a while... But it never really felt real until now." He gave Tenten a quick kiss on the lips and then leaned down to her stomach. He gave it a gentle pat. "Hey in there, Son." Tenten flicked his ear. "Ouch! Or Daughter," he laughed. "It's me, your father. I can't wait for you to come out here so we can meet you." He grinned up at Tenten. "We are going to love you, and hold you, and make sure nothing bad ever happens to you. You are going to grow up, and we are going to make sure that you will have the best life ever." He sighed and put his head back down to rest on Tenten's stomach.

Tenten tilted her head, and stared at Hinata. "Is everything alright Hinata?"

Hinata blinked and looked up quickly. "What?"

"I asked if everything was alright... You looked really... distant there for a second… And you turned pale… Are you okay?"

Hinata tried to smile. "Yes.. I'm fine."

Tenten squinted at her. "Are you sure? Nothing personal, but you sure don't look fine."

Hinata sighed. "Well, I don't know if Neji told you, but Hanabi accepted an offer to join the ANBU."

"Really?" said Tenten. "That's great! Good for her! You must be so proud!"

Hinata nodded. She slowly walked over to the step next to her and sat down. "I am proud for her. The issue is that Hanabi has always been my father's designated heir. Now that she's out of the picture... he wants to name me as his successor."

"Wow!" said Tenten all excited. "Hinata that's great! You must be so excited!" She looked closer at Hinata's face. "Except you're not," she said, concerned. "Okay.. What's the problem?"

"Well," said Hinata quietly. "There's a lot of responsibilities and a lot of duties that I'd have to take on... It would be really difficult."

"Pfft," snorted Tenten. "I can't believe you're letting something as small as administrative work get you down." Tenten grabbed Hinata by the shoulder and gave her a little shake. "You fought in the fourth Ninja war, you handled all that logistical stuff leading up to it. I know you can handle the clan business no problem." She looked closely at Hinata. "But that's not what the problem is, is it? I give up, tell me."

Hinata took a deep breath. "I found out I have lot of important decisions I have to make before tomorrow morning... And I'm not sure I can make them."

Tenten shook her head. "Hinata, you are stronger than you think, I have confidence that whatever you choose it will be the right choice."

Hinata hung her head. "But some of them concern Naruto."

Tenten put her arm around her. "Hinata, Naruto may be a first rank doofus, but he loves you with all of his heart. I'm sure he will accept whatever it is you need. He wants to be with you. If he loves you and you love him, I'm sure you will find a way."

"I don't know Tenten-chan," said Hinata softly. "This is pretty... hard." Hinata sniffed.

"Hey," said Tenten. "Don't be sad, trust me... it will all work out." She glanced down at Neji and smiled. "It always works out." She took Hinata's hand again. "Here," she said, placing it on her stomach again. "Touch the baby belly. It's one of the strange facts of nature that you can't be unhappy touching the baby belly."

"It's true," sighed Neji, closing his eyes, resting his head on Tenten's stomach.

Once again her soon to be niece or nephew squirmed under her palm. Despite everything, Hinata did manage to find some small joy in the moment. She let lose a small giggle. "Thank you."

"Hmm?" said Tenten. "I just thought of something else that might improve your mood."

"What?" asked Hinata. Tenten just pointed.

Coming down the road was Naruto. "Oi Hinata!" He called out. He was grinning and waving like a madman. He was dressed up formally in a jacket and tie. In his arms, he held a mixed bunch of sunflowers and roses. "I'm sorry I'm late!" Hinata smiled, and ran to him.

She managed four steps. "Hinata-sama!" Snapped Junko's cold dry voice. Hinata stopped and slowly turned back. Standing in the entrance to the meeting hall were Junko, Mikio, Ko, and her father. "Enjoy yourself Hinata-sama," Junko cackled. "But don't stay out too late, you have a big, busy day tomorrow!"

Hiashi scowled at Junko and then turned back to look at Hinata and Naruto. Hinata glared back at them for a moment, then turned on her heel and marched towards Naruto. Naruto stood there smiling, and glancing, confused, at everyone.

Junko waved again. "Have a nice time Uzumaki-san! Make sure you bring her back home early!" She called out laughing. She pulled on Mikio's arm and hobbled back inside.

"Um... Hinata?" asked Naruto worriedly. "Who's the creepy old lady?"

Hinata grabbed his arm and pulled. "No one you would ever want to meet. Come on, let's go."

"Oh, okay." He began to walk with her, but he kept looking over his shoulder. "Did I do something to make your dad angry at me again? He's giving me this evil stare."

"Just ignore him," said Hinata pulling harder. "Let's go, I need to get away from here."

"Are you sure?" asked Naruto. "He looks really mad."

"I'm sure. Just hurry please!" Hinata dragged him out of view of the meeting hall and around the corner.

"Is everything okay Hinata? You seem kind of upset." Hinata pulled him down the main street and tugged him into a smaller side street. Naruto frowned with concern. "Actually you seem really upset." He thought for a moment. "You're not mad at me are you?"

"No!" snapped Hinata. She turned on him and stepped forward. Naruto took a step back with a frightened look on his face. "I'm not mad at you! My father is not mad at you! Nobody is angry!" She stopped and glared at him. Naruto cowered back until he was pressed up against the wall of the alley. "Why do keep asking that question?"

"Um… Well, for starters you keep pulling me in this direction, even though you don't know which restaurant we're going to for dinner." Naruto gave her a nervous smile. "The restaurant is actually over that way." He pointed in the opposite direction and grinned at her. His grin faded as she didn't react. "I got you flowers," he said quietly. He held them out to her. "I hope you like them."

Hinata gaped at him. She reached out for the flowers and took them from his hands. She looked at the flowers and then back at Naruto. Then she burst into tears. "I am so sorry I yelled at you!" she cried. Hinata flung her arms around Naruto's waist and squeezed him tight. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed. "I'm so sorry!" she wailed. "I have been having the worst day ever. It was so terrible!" She collapsed into wracking sobs.

"It's okay," said Naruto softly. "It's going to be all right." He nodded and kissed her on the crown of her head. "Look, why don't we head out to dinner, and you can tell me all about it. Okay?" Hinata looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Or if you want, we could do something else… Anything else..." He smiled down at her earnestly. "Whatever you need right now, I just want to make you happy."

Hinata blinked. After a whole day of people trying to tell her what to do… All Naruto wanted was for her to be happy. She inched her head forward and kissed him gently on the lips. She stared into his blue eyes and kissed him again harder. She looked up at him again, and drank in the sight of him smiling down at her. The warm, safe contented feeling filling her heart was suddenly swamped by a deluge of longing. She crushed herself to his body and pulled his head down to hers. Her kisses were filled with need as she pressed herself up against him. Naruto held her tighter in his strong arms and kissed her back just as passionately. She ground into his thigh and licked his ear. She smiled as she felt a shiver run through his body. She gasped as he leaned forward and nibbled on her neck.

"Hey! You two! Get a room!" someone yelled from the street. They both turned and looked up. A small group of academy age boys were pointing and laughing at them.

"You little jerks!" snarled Naruto. He started to untangle himself from Hinata, but the boys all ran off jeering.

Hinata laughed and put a hand on his arm. "Don't worry about it. They were right to admonish us. We were misbehaving."

"Hmpf," grumbled Naruto. "I still think I should have chased them down."

Hinata put her hand on his cheek and turned his head towards her. She kissed him once more. "I'm so glad I have you," she said happily. Being with him for those brief moments had melted away all of her fear and distress. She laced her fingers with his and smiled up at him. "Let's go out to dinner."

"Are you sure?" asked Naruto. "We could go somewhere else and continue our… uh…" he looked at her and blushed.

Hinata smiled and snuggled close. "Let's go eat." She leaned into his ear. "We can figure out what we will have for dessert afterwards,"

Naruto grinned. "I love you."

Hinata looked up at him, smiled and kissed him again. "I love you too." She looked down at the formal kimono she was wearing for the clan gathering. "Should I change first? Is this too fancy for wherever we are going?"

Naruto hugged her close. "You look absolutely beautiful. Don't change a thing, what you are wearing is perfect. You'd better believe, I am taking you out somewhere very fancy tonight." He smiled at her. "Couldn't you tell I'm all dressed up?"

Hinata giggled. "I was wondering why you weren't wearing the orange jumpsuit. I think you look so handsome," she teased.

"Hey, I know the jumpsuit makes me look cool, but tonight is a special occasion." He smiled at her. "Besides, orange is my color. I can't be seen in public without it." He held up his tie for her inspection. It was bright orange. At the bottom was a little red Uzumaki whirlpool. Arm in arm he walked her to the restaurant.


	23. Chapter 12 Hinata's Tale part 1

**Chapter Twelve: Hinata's tale: Every time we touch.**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hello valued reader,

Yes... We are still in Hinata's flashback and were still doing the Regular type = 'present day' flashback. _Italics_ = Hinata thinking about the past.

And yes... this chapter is all about Hinata reminiscing about the past. Let me know if all the italics is supremely obnoxious. It's not too late for me to come up with some other way to differentiate this flashback within a flashback business.

Regardless, thanks for reading,

-Cas

* * *

_A good first date can lead to a life long relationship. A bad one can destroy friendships. Their first date could have very easily gone either way._

_Seven months had passed since the big climactic battle between the Allied Shinobi forces and the masked Akatsuki leader. One by one, the man who had pretended he was Madara Uchiha's powers and advantages left him. First the Edo Tensei Jutsu had been undone by some nameless shinobi hero. Then the Ten Tails itself had faltered as the chakra of the tailed beasts was burned up in the grinding charnel house conflict, and it reverted back into the Gedo Mazo statue. As the Eight tails and Nine Tails pounded the statue with blows, Kakashi-sensei and Gai-Sensei personally scaled the statue to launch an assassination attempt on the masked man. They were successful, and just like that, the war looked like it was over._

_Kakashi himself had landed the fatal blow. The Gedo Mazo returned to it's lifeless state. Kakashi cradled the mysterious man listening to his last words as Gai and Naruto stood close by._

_There were shouts and cries of alarm. A demon, ringed with purple flame, was striding down to the battlefield. It was a Susano'o, the penultimate visual jutsu of the Uchiha clan. Sasuke had returned, ranting and raving like a lunatic._

_It was impossible to see who attacked first, but the jutsu and weapons being thrown by the allied force had no effect on the fiery giant. In contrast, the Susano'o was decimating the ranks tired and weary shinobi that had been in a constant state of combat for days._

_Naruto summoned forth the power of the Kyubi once more and did his best to restrain him, but even he was exhausted. The Susano'o tossed the monstrous creature off and tried to choke the life out of it with two of it's arms while it used a bow with the other two to fire arrows of concentrated destructive power at all who dared come near._

_The unwounded members of the Konoha eleven lead the charge, and the rest of the Allied force quickly followed. The encounter quickly turned into a chaotic mess. Sasuke's ally, Kabuto Yakushi, engaged by both Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei, threw an injured Anko-sensei at them in order to make his escape. The Gedo Mazo vanished in a huge explosion of summoning smoke._

_As powerful as he was, Sasuke was unable to hold his own against the swarming attacks of hundreds of shinobi. Swearing vengeance against the Leaf Village and anyone else who got in his way, he forced his way to the edge of the battlefront and vanished._

_Hinata herself helped Naruto up from the battlefield. She stared into his eyes and gave his hand an extra squeeze. "You are a hero once again Naruto-kun!" she said to him proudly. He smiled at her in a nervous sort of way. He quietly thanked her and excused himself._

_It was obvious that Naruto was taking it very hard, that yet again, he had been unable to save his friend from the darkness that bound and consumed him. He spent days at a time in meetings with the various Kage. The shouting matches he was having with Tsunade-sama and her peers were becoming legendary. When he wasn't arguing, he spent every waking moment far off by himself training._

_It was if something had snapped in Naruto's head. It was almost as if he had lost interest in anything that couldn't make him stronger._

_Hinata tried to find something inspiring about this, she tried to follow his example. She had long suspected that she had water nature chakra, so she took advantage of the all the good will from the Allied shinobi force to get some advice from some friendly shinobi from the Hidden Mist Village. She had some talent at it. They taught her some of the basics, and she went on to develop a few interesting jutsu. She kept hoping that she could show Naruto. Maybe they could compare techniques. Maybe then they might sit down and talk about... things._

_Hinata tried her best to be nice to him. It was hard when it felt like he was rejecting her at every turn. She would stop him in the camp and try to talk to him. He would chat with her briefly, laugh and smile, but at some point, he always seemed to get uneasy and their conversation would awkwardly die._

_It was the morning after the Kage declared that there should be a celebration for their victory that he simply disappeared. Nobody saw him leave. Nobody knew where he went. Even his own teammates, Sakura and Sai, were asking after him. The Fifth Hokage was very evasive whenever any Konoha shinobi made an official inquiry about him. By the time Hinata tried to ask her about it, The Hokage had had enough. "If that little doofus insists on running off and getting himself killed, then I can't stop him! In fact I'm glad to be rid of him!" she roared_

_"But Hokage-sama, can't you at least tell me where he is? All of us are very worried."_

_Tsunade took a calming breath, pinched the bridge of her nose, and looked down at her desk. "I'm sorry. The location he is at is classified."_

_"Oh," said Hinata crestfallen. "Perhaps... I could get a message to him then?"_

_Tsunade slumped back in her chair. "If I thought you could talk some sense into his thick skull, I'd take you there myself, even though I'd probably have an international incident on my hands."_

_Hinata looked up. "Is he in some sort of danger?" she asked with a hint of alarm in her voice._

_"Not yet he isn't," grumbled Tsunade. Tsunade folded her hands and looked Hinata over. She appeared to be thinking hard about something. She took a deep breath and nodded slightly. "Naruto is on a very secret S-rank mission right now. The four other Kage and I made a promise to him, and we intend to keep it... as foolish as it seems right now." She looked down at her desk and looked over the pile of papers there. "He's a very driven young man. Personally, I've seen him obsess over... things... in the past, but never this bad." She glanced up at Hinata again. There was a moment's pause while the Hokage eyed her speculatively. "I wish I knew how to remind him that there is more to life than finding Sasuke Uchiha. I wish I knew of some way to convince him to come back to the village, maybe help him remember the friends and comrades he is ignoring right now." Tsunade stared up at the roof of her tent and thought carefully. "I'm sorry, Hinata. I cannot violate my oath and reveal where Naruto is training." She made a small smile up at the ceiling. "But it would be silly to order every single person in the village to not try to communicate with him. I wonder if anyone could be motivated enough to figure out some way to pass a message to him?"_

_Hinata blushed and looked down. The Hokage had read her intentions so clearly. "Thank you Hokage-sama," she said bowing. She turned to leave, wondering how on earth she was going to send a message ._

_Tsunade cleared her throat quietly. "If anyone does happen to get in touch with Naruto… please tell him to inform his rapper friend that if I ever hear any more rhymes about the glorious size of my... 'booty' I'll break his arms. All eight of them," said Tsunade angrily. She looked at Hinata and winked._

_Hinata bowed again quickly. "Thank you Hokage-sama," she said happily._

* * *

_The first thing she did when she returned to Konoha, was to go straight to Ichiraku ramen. She bought a whole booklet of coupons for a free bowl of ramen. Hinata was grinning at her idea. It was perfect! A gift that she could send along with a letter. Everyone knew how much Naruto adored ramen... especially from Ichikaru. She ran back home and locked herself in her room._

_Now all she needed to do now was write the perfect letter. Something that would pull at his heart and make him want to come home. She got out a pen and paper and started to write._

_**Dear Naruto,**_

_**I have been doing fine. How are you? The following has happened in the village while you are away…**_

_She stopped and looked at what she had written. Too formal. She crumpled up the paper and started again._

_**Hi Naruto!**_

_**It's me Hinata! It's been so long since I've seen you! I just had to write and ask how you are doing… So… What's up?**_

_She looked that one over and sighed. Too relaxed. That note was crumpled up as well and thrown into the trash._

_**Naruto,**_

_**I saw these and thought of you. Please accept these as a token of my esteem and as thanks for saving my life…**_

_"No, no, no, no, no!" said Hinata out loud. "That's far too impersonal. I need to say what I really feel inside… I need to write from the heart…" She picked up her pen, took a deep breath, and tried again._

_**My dearest Naruto,**_

_**I burn with desire while waiting for your return. How I long to see you again. I ache to have you hold me in your arms and press your lips up against mine. I dream nightly of finding you tapping on my bedroom window. I would awaken from my slumber and help you sneak inside. We would embrace under the moonlight as our mouths found each other. I would run my hands over your body as I help you undress. Slowly you would lower me down on my bed and then…**_

_Hinata continued writing madly in that vein for a good ten minutes. She stopped and read what she had written. She started to blush. She read further and blushed more. She jumped and squealed, as there was a sudden knock at her door._

_"Hey, Onee-san? What are you doing in there? Big sister? Are you okay?" There was a pause, and Hanabi knocked again. "Hinata? Are you there?"_

_"What is it Hanabi? I'm busy!"_

_"I saw you come running in here and lock yourself in your room. Is everything okay?"_

_"Everything is fine!" insisted Hinata in a strained voice, clutching the most recent letter to her chest._

_"Well, can I come in?" asked Hanabi. Still holding the letter Hinata got up and unlocked the door. Hanabi stepped in and looked at her sister. "Are you sure you're all right? Your face is red."_

_"Is it?" asked Hinata, trying to be calm. She tightened her grip on the letter. "It must be from me running home."_

_"Uh-huh," said Hanabi. She looked at Hinata holding the papers to her chest. Her eyes flickered to her overflowing trash can and to the pens and paper all neatly laid out on her desk. "What are you writing?" she asked._

_"Something very personal." The papers crinkled as Hinata crushed them even tighter._

_Hanabi shrugged. "Fine, don't tell me. I don't want to read your stupid love letters anyway."_

_Hinata blushed bright red. "How did you know?" She squeaked with embarrassment._

_Hanabi laughed at her. "I didn't, but it looks like I guessed right!" Hanabi's laughter slowed down. "Have fun, Onee-san." She turned to leave._

_That was her sister… oozing self confidence, nothing ever fazed her. "Hey Hanabi?" called Hinata. Hanabi stopped and turned. "How... how would you tell a boy you liked him?"_

_"In a letter?" Hanabi thought, and then shrugged. "I don't know. I've never done it."_

_"But if you had to, what would you say?"_

_Hanabi twisted her mouth in thought. "Well, if I liked someone… I'd probably say something like: 'Hey! Hey you! I like you! What are you going to do about it?' Something simple and direct. Why do you ask?"_

_Hinata shook her head. "No reason, I just need a little help writing it."_

_Hanabi took a step forward and reached for the letter. "Well, let me see what you have so far."_

_"No!" squealed Hinata. She flinched and jerked the papers farther away from Hanabi. "No. It's… it's not good enough for someone else to read yet."_

_Hanabi stared at her. "Ooookay… You're quite the weird one Sis." She turned and started to walk out. "If you change your mind and want me to help, just let me know."_

_Hinata closed the door and locked it again. Then she crumpled up the most recent letter and threw it in the trash. She stared at the trash can and imagined someone pulling out the crumpled letter, smoothing it out, and reading it. She quickly dashed back to the trashcan found that particular letter, and burned it. She then opened her windows to air the smoke out of her room, and sat back down at her desk._

_She thought for a long time. "Simple, yet direct," was what she settled on. She picked up her pen and began to write._

_**Dear Naruto,**_

_**I hope that you are well, wherever you are. I thought you might appreciate these when you get back to the village because it is so hard to get good ramen when one is abroad. Please come back soon. We all miss you. **_

_**I miss you.**_

_**-Hinata**_

_She folded the message and put it in an envelope with the ramen vouchers. She scrawled an address on the outside, grabbed her purse, and headed out._

* * *

_The courier ninja looked down at the envelope. He looked up at Hinata and then looked back down at the envelope again. "There isn't much of an address here, you know."_

_"I know," said Hinata quietly._

_"I mean usually we have more to go on than 'Naruto Uzumaki, c/o Killer Bee, Parts unknown'. You haven't really given us much to work with here."_

_"I know," Hinata said again._

_The courier ninja sighed. "Is there anything else you can give me here? A village they might be near? A landmark perhaps? The country they are in maybe?"_

_"Are you saying you won't do it?" asked Hinata sadly._

_The courier ninja shook his head. "Oh no, we will certainly try, a courier ninja will deliver anything, anywhere or die trying… That is our vow. It's just that the harder it is... the more the expense for delivery goes up, you understand? Something like this," he said, shaking the envelope. "Is going to be pretty expensive."_

_"How expensive would that be?" asked Hinata, opening her purse._

_"Sixty thousand ryo."_

_Hinata's hand hesitated for a second, and then reached for her check book. "I'd also like to add express delivery to that charge please."_

_The courier ninja sighed. "Of course you would."_

* * *

_The letter went on its way. Hinata felt pretty clever using the courier ninja system to do the searching for her. The more she thought about it, the more she considered it money well spent._

_Hinata also liked the letter for one other reason. It put the response completely in Naruto's hands. Hinata felt... a little uneasy about pushing him too much. If anything was going to happen between them at this point, she wanted it to be Naruto's decision. She still cared for him. She still loved him. She wanted to be with him. It was just that he seemed to be pushing everyone away from him right now. There were times that she just wanted to shrug and walk away saying "Oh well, I told him I loved him… What more can I do? At least I tried." These were counterbalanced with flashes of such longing that she could barely stand it. There had to be something else she could do, she would just not give up on him, not give up on the hope, that one day, they might be... together... maybe._

_It was a long five-month wait._

* * *

_Ino had just had another one of her relationships go sour, this time, after only three weeks. Sakura had called the girls together to go out for sympathy snacks and maybe a sappy movie, in the hopes that they could console her. Ino always needed a lot of consoling._

_"…I just don't understand what is the matter with all the boys in this village!" snapped Ino. "Seriously! They are all either shallow, creepy, obsessed with training, or just not interested in romance!" She dropped her head down on the table with an audible thump. "It's hopeless!" she moaned. "I'm going to shave my head and become a nun."_

_"Oh, come on Ino," said Sakura, chewing on another dango. "Lay off the drama. You're just being too picky. There are lots of guys around here that would die to have a chance with a girl like you."_

_"Oh yeah?" asked Ino, her face buried in the tablecloth. "Name three."_

_"Well for starters we could ask Tenten here," Sakura pointed across the table. Tenten looked up from her drink and raised an eyebrow. "Both the guys on her team are single."_

_"I can't believe you would actually go there Sakura," said Ino. "I've been on missions with Neji and he is, without a doubt, the most uptight person I've ever met. Going out on a date with him would be like attending some lecture on etiquette at the Academy." She lifted her head up slightly. "And I'm going to pretend that you never even mentioned old bushy brows."_

_Tenten gave Ino a sour look. "Hey! I'll have you know that Neji is a really nice guy once you get to know him. He just takes a little while to warm up to people... that's all. Once you've spent as much time with him as I have, you learn that he's kind and considerate and he's always super polite." She smiled. "It's really kind of cute."_

_"I wouldn't go ruling out Lee so quickly either," said Sakura. "He's a great guy! He's enthusiastic…"_

_"Over enthusiastic," corrected Ino._

_Sakura ignored her and kept right on talking. "He's friendly, he's always been generous to me. Sure, he may not have the handsomest face, but I saw him at his last physical, and let me tell you, his body is an anatomical chart. Every muscle is right there."_

_Ino grunted a negative and rocked her head on the table. "Fine," said Sakura. "Hinata's sitting right here as well. Let's ask her for her opinion. Hinata, do you think either Shino or Kiba would be interested in dating Ino?"_

_Ino lifted up her head slightly. "Shino?" she said incredulously. "Shino? I mean he's nice enough... I guess but… doesn't he ever smile? And plus," she shuddered, "All those bugs… No."_

_"So why don't you try asking Kiba-kun if he wants to do anything?" asked Hinata. "He's always good natured and very relaxed about protocol."_

_"Because I'd rather not go out with someone whose idea of a dinner date is a five mile run through the woods and then cooking whatever you caught and killed with your bare hands over a campfire!" Ino made a face. "Plus he takes his dog with him everywhere he goes. Everywhere!"_

_"Akamaru is a very nice dog," said Hinata loyally._

_"Alright, so that's a no to Kiba and a no to Shino," said Sakura. "What about Sai? You went out with him before, why don't you try him again?"_

_Ino propped her head up inside her hands and sighed. "Going out on a date with Sai was like being lost and starving in the woods and finding a huge mushroom. It looks mouth wateringly delicious, but you know that first little nibble will be poisonous." Ino looked up. "Never again."_

_Tenten finished her drink. "You know, I thought Choji looked kind of cute, after he used his chakra control technique and made those huge butterfly wings during the fourth ninja war. I mean, he was tall, muscled," Tenten smiled, "all that wavy hair. Why don't you try asking him out?"_

_Ino squirmed. "I do like Choji. He's a great guy. It's just that he's... more of a friend, you know?" She sighed. "And he's too much of a good teammate… I don't know... I guess that I worry that if we went out it would kind of mess everything up." Her mouth twitched in a smile. "He was sort of hot all skinny like that wasn't he?"_

_Tenten nodded. "Buns of steel."_

_"Most of the older guys are out. They are already taken," said Ino crabbily. "The whole Allied shinobi force turned into one big speed dating session during that huge party they threw there at the end."_

_"That's kind of true," said Sakura slowly. "I guess you just get to know people a lot better when you fight alongside them, and you find out pretty quickly whether you can trust them." Sakura shrugged. "I guess it's as good a place to meet people as any."_

_"Either that or a good fight just tends to make make everyone all hot and bothered." Tenten leaned back and grinned. "I felt pretty... wound up after the battle, you know?" She looked around the table. Everyone was avoiding her eyes. "What?" she asked._

_"My mother always used to warn me about the phenomenon of 'battlefield romance'," Sakura said carefully. "She could go on for hours about how it could lead to... 'impropriety.'"_

_"Impropriety? Your mother actually warns you about impropriety?" asked Ino with gleeful sarcasm. "Next thing you'll be telling me is that she goes around censoring the diagrams of male genitalia in your medical textbooks." Ino batted her eyelashes. "Poor little Sakura… We can't have any naughty thoughts scampering about inside that gigantic virginal forehead, can we?"_

_"Shut up, Pig!"_

_"Say, aren't Kakashi-sensei and Anko-sensei spending an awful lot of time together these days?" asked Hinata in an attempt to deescalate the situation._

_"That's a little bit different," said Sakura. "He did rescue her from Kabuto you know." She made a small whimsical smile. "It's so romantic being rescued."_

_"Yeah, if you don't mind looking like a complete weakling," scoffed Tenten._

_"Well, if we've ruled out everyone from Konoha, then why don't you try asking out someone from a different village?" asked Hinata. "Like Shikamaru did?"_

_"Shikamaru?" yelled Ino, her voice going up an octave. "That little dweeb is letting that stupid Sand bitch drag his sorry ass all over the village. 'Oh, let's go here. Oh I want to go there.' She is so... so... superficial it makes me sick." Ino said with a fake gag. She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "All they ever do is fight and argue. He keeps complaining to me that she always gets her way in everything." Ino snorted. "That's because he always gives in to everything she wants… the lazy bum. I don't know what she sees in him, or what he sees in her for that matter!"_

_"I've always thought Temari was kind of pretty," said Sakura._

_Tenten smiled. "Maybe Shikamaru has a thing for older women?"_

_Ino looked away. "Yeah... well... who cares! As far as I am concerned the bitch and that whiny little jackass are just perfect for each other!" She folded her arms and stared at her dango. "They can both go rot for all I care."_

_There was an awkward pause as Sakura, Tenten and Hinata all looked at each other. "I'm sure there have to be people from another village who you might find acceptable," said Hinata, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Didn't I hear a rumor that one of the Tsuchikage's nephews wrote you a love letter?"_

_Ino sighed dramatically and shook her head. "He did… But I'm just not cut out for a long distance relationship Hinata. They are so hard." She half hugged herself and smiled dreamily. "I need someone who will be right there for me. I need to be pampered, and to feel loved. I need someone who will cook me dinner and give me foot rubs." Ino sighed again. "I need someone to be my knight in shining armor."_

_"Weakling…" muttered Tenten under her breath._

_Ino scowled at her. Tenten just laughed. Ino pressed her palm up to her forehead. "I guess I'm just destined to be a spinster… Alone... for the rest of my life."_

_Sakura snorted. "Ino, I'll bet you've had more dates than anyone else at this table." She glanced quickly at Tenten and Hinata. "I'll bet that you've had more dates than all of us combined."_

_Ino snickered. "Well I know I've been out on more dates than you, billboard brow. I know for a fact that you've only had one."_

_"Hey, I've had two!" said Sakura, holding up two fingers. "You're forgetting that time Lee took me out to lunch."_

_"Oh yeah?" asked Ino slyly. "Did he try to give you a goodbye kiss?"_

_"No!" said Sakura, offended. "He was a perfect gentleman!"_

_Ino shrugged. "Ino's first rule of dating says: It doesn't count if there wasn't any smooching." She turned to Tenten. "So how many dates have you been on?"_

_Tenten shrugged and looked away. "I don't know, one or two... maybe."_

_"Really?" asked Sakura surprised. "I didn't know this. When? Who?"_

_"And what do you mean by 'maybe'?" asked Ino, eager for sordid details._

_Tenten squirmed in her seat. "Well, Neji's asked me to the spring festival for the second year running now."_

_"Is that so?" asked Ino in a voice dripping with scientific inquiry and raising an eyebrow. "And how many dates might that be if you apply the smooching rule?"_

_Tenten blushed. "One then, I guess," she mumbled_

_Hinata very slowly took the dango out of her mouth and very carefully put it down on her plate. Neji had kissed Tenten? And she was admitting it openly in public? She was positive that father had not approved of this. She would have to figure out some way to politely warn Neji about this before the rest of the clan found out_

_Sakura giggled. "Well I guess Neji isn't as single as I thought." Of course the other girls didn't even realize the gravity of the issue here. Sometimes, Hinata really resented being a Hyuga._

_"Really Tenten, going for a little teammate on teammate action?" teased Ino. "You're as bad as Sakura here!"_

_"Ino!" said Sakura, annoyed. "Just drop it okay?"_

_Tenten sat back. "What?! Who did you go out with Sakura…? Was it, you know… Sasuke?"_

_"Nope," said Ino smugly. "It was Naruto."_

_"Oh, shut up Ino-pig," said Sakura, "that date definitely doesn't pass the smooching test. Hey... Are you okay Hinata?"_

_Hinata managed to stop choking. "I'm okay," she coughed. "Something just went down the wrong way." She quickly looked down to hide her shock._

_Ino turned to Hinata. "So Hyuga-san, it's your turn to fess up."_

_"Excuse me?" asked Hinata._

_"Come on Hinata weren't you paying attention? How many dates have you been on, what boys have you kissed?"_

_"Oh... Well… No one really," said Hinata embarrassed._

_"Really? No one? Like… No one at all?" asked Tenten._

_"Well... no," said Hinata, fidgeting with her fingers. "You see, my father is really strict and he won't let me date anyone without meeting them first, and then only if he gives his permission… It's sort of a clan tradition."_

_Sakura looked at her with sympathy. "Wow Hinata, that's really harsh… And he's never said yes?"_

_"No… not yet," mumbled Hinata, not wanting to bring up the fact that no one had ever asked._

_"Wow," said Ino. "All right then... I guess I have had more dates than you guys."_

_"And how many dates would that be in exact numbers?" asked Tenten._

_"Kind of a lot I guess," said Ino._

_"Oh no you don't!" countered Tenten. "We had to spill everything, as pathetic as it was. You just can't back out now!"_

_Ino sighed. "Do you really want to know?"_

_"Yes!" said Sakura and Tenten together._

_"Fine," said Ino. She began to count off on her fingers. "I first went out with Sai, and we all know how that ended up. Then I had a date with Rokiro, that guy was a total creep. Then there was Yori, he was okay but just so full of himself. I was ready to bite off my own arm at the end of the night just to escape. Then there was…"_

_Hinata tuned her out. Sakura had gone out on a date with Naruto? When did this happen? The shock had hit her like a bucket full of cold water. Was this why he had been ignoring her? Hinata glanced up at Sakura. She didn't seem to be that interested in him. She trusted him. She liked him. But did she really like Naruto the same way that Hinata did? Hinata sighed. That didn't really matter. What mattered was what Naruto thought._

_"And… I think that's all of them," said Ino with a sigh. "All sixteen... But don't you guys get it? Yes, I may have dated a lot, but where does that get me in the end? Nowhere." Ino slumped down in her seat. "We are all still in the same boat. Four gorgeous women, that no one cares about." She looked up suspiciously at Tenten. "Well three of us anyway." Tenten blushed. "Why do I even try?" moaned Ino._

_"Well, you've got to keep trying Ino-chan," said Hinata. "Like everything in life you just have to try your hardest and trust that in the end everything will all work out." She smiled at Ino. "Look at me, I have a lot of odds stacked against me. I'm not popular, I'm not confident. I'm not as pretty as you or Sakura or Tenten. I keep trying to improve myself, but nothing ever seems to work out for me…" She blushed as all the girls started to stare at her. "But I just keep telling myself to never give up." She smiled to herself. "Someone very special to me once said: "Don't underestimate me. I don't quit and I don't run. You can act tough all you want! You're not going to scare me off! No way!" Hinata looked up at the sky. "He said that in a most hopeless situation, when most normal people would have given up. His courage… It just inspires me to try, even when it seems like a lost cause, you know?"_

_Ino, Sakura and Tenten were staring open mouthed. Hinata looked down, embarrassed. "What?" she asked and began to fidget with her fingers. "Did I say something wrong?" Hinata glanced up again. She realized that they were all staring at some point just beyond her left shoulder._

_"Oh... my," said Ino quietly. Hinata turned._

_Standing right behind her was Naruto. His hair was longer and more unkempt. He needed a shave, and the stubble on his face gave him a wild untamed look. His skin was tanned a deep golden brown. He was wearing a t-shirt and carrying his orange jacket over one shoulder. He looked like he had put on about five kilos of muscle. His t-shirt was budging tight around his chest and shoulders. He was dusty and travel stained. He looked like he had just gotten back to the village._

_"Hey," he said quietly with a half smile. "Sorry to bother you. I was looking all over the village for you."_

_Sakura recovered first. "Naruto! You jerk!" she yelled, jumping up from her chair. "You take off for five months without a word and then you think you can just stroll back in here? We were worried sick about you!" She wound up for a swing and let her fist fly._

_Naruto caught her wrist and stopped it cold. Sakura looked at him in shock. "Hey Sakura," he said calmly. "I'm really sorry I left like that... It was pretty bad of me. I apologize for making you worry." He turned and looked at Hinata. He smiled at her in a shy way. "I was wondering... if I could talk to Hinata for a minute." He pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Would that be okay?"_

_Hinata felt the blush creeping up her face. She looked down and tucked her hair behind her ears. She was suddenly very, very nervous. "W-well, we were all supposed to meet here for dango," she said, fidgeting with her fingers, "and then we were all going to go over to the…"_

_"It's okay Hinata, we were almost done here anyway, right?" said Tenten grinning. "We'll just finish up without you. Why don't you go see what Naruto wants and we'll meet up again some other time."_

_Sakura looked back and forth between Naruto and Hinata. She smiled at them sweetly, with just a hint of sadness. "Yeah... don't worry about it Hinata, we will see you later. Have fun!"_

_Ino was still staring at Naruto her mouth hanging open. Sakura kicked her under the table. "Ow!" yelped Ino. She rubbed her shin. "Yeah, have fun," she mumbled._

_Hinata nodded and grinned shyly at them. "Thank you for inviting me," she said politely. "I'll see you later." Naruto smiled at her and nodded. He started walking back up the road. Hinata ran for a few steps to catch up to him, but couldn't help but overhearing the rest of the conversation at the dango shop._

_"What was that?" asked Ino, stunned._

_"Oh, my gosh! That was the cutest thing ever!" gushed Tenten. "Do you think he likes her? Neji's told me Hinata has had a crush on him since like, forever!"_

_"It's more than a crush," said Sakura quietly. "Remember how she tried to save him when the Akatsuki invaded Konoha? She almost died."_

_"That's not what I'm talking about," said Ino grouchily. "Since when did Naruto become such a complete hottie? And the moment he appears Hinata just swoops in and snatches him up?" She let loose an explosive sigh and thumped her head back down on the table. "I never have any luck with men. This is so unfair."_

* * *

_Naruto looked around as they walked. "Wow, the village looks almost finished. It wasn't half this big when I left."_

_Hinata nodded shyly, and glanced away from him. "There has been almost non-stop construction since the village was destroyed. I think we've made really good progress."_

_Naruto kept staring. "It looks almost the same, but it just doesn't feel right somehow." He glanced over at Hinata and then looked at the buildings again. "I keep expecting to see the Hokage mansion, or the hospital, or even the old Academy. Instead there are all these new ones I don't recognize." He frowned. "It's like the time I shrunk my pants in the laundry. They were still my pants, but they were way too uncomfortable."_

_"I felt that way a little bit at first too," said Hinata, desperately trying not to be embarrassed by his strange metaphor. "There are little differences everywhere that make things seem strange. But then I realized that the people are all still here, and the people are what makes the Leaf Village our home." She quickly glanced at him and smiled. "So really... it is like the village is just wearing a new outfit. Underneath the fancy new clothes, the important parts are still the same."_

_Naruto looked at her and smiled. "I've always liked your way with words Hinata." She blushed at his compliment. "Thank you for your letter by the way," he continued." I wasn't... expecting to hear from anyone. It was a... nice surprise."_

_"You are welcome," said Hinata fidgeting again. "I just wanted to let you know that everyone here really missed you."_

_"Well... I really liked it." Naruto glanced at her and looked quickly away. "I was surprised though because I thought that my location was supposed to be totally secure and top secret. How did you find me?"_

_"Oh... um... I didn't. I just sent you the letter." Naruto gave her a very confused look, so she explained. "Have you ever met the courier-nin before?"_

_Naruto grimaced. "That bunch of loonies? Yes."_

_"Well, if you give them a package and pay their fee, they are honor bound to deliver the package no matter how ridiculous the request. So I wrote you a letter with your name on it, paid, and let them take care of the rest."_

_Naruto looked at her, interested. "That was it? And it worked?"_

_Hinata shrugged. "That was all it took."_

_Naruto furrowed his brow. "How much did it cost?"_

_Hinata looked up at him and smiled. "It doesn't matter. I haven't been spending that much these days anyway." She glanced away. "I'm glad that you liked it," she said shyly._

_They walked in silence for few steps. "So has there been any news while I've been away? Anything new happen?"_

_Hinata thought. "Not really. There's been the same old usual missions. The Great Shinobi alliance is still holding together. I hear from Sakura that the Fifth Hokage comes back from the meetings swearing that she is ready to declare the start of the Fifth great Ninja war, but she usually calms down in a day or so." She giggled. "No wars yet."_

_"Well, It's good to hear that Granny Tsunade is keeping her temper in check. How is everyone else?"_

_"Well, do you remember during the war how Kakashi-sensei left the fight with Sasuke to go track down Kabuto, and instead he came back with Anko-sensei?"_

_"Oh yeah, she was still in the hospital when I left. How is she?" asked Naruto._

_"Much better now," Hinata blushed slightly. "Apparently... she and Kakashi-sensei have been seeing a lot of each other... A lot."_

_"Kakashi-sensei and the scary lady?" said Naruto frowning. "I don't know if I can see that one working out. She's outgoing and crazy and he's so laid back, how does that even work?"_

_A door to a shop in front of them burst open. A tall blond kunoichi was dragging a slouching dark haired Leaf ninja by the hand. "I don't see why this always has to be such a struggle with you. Come on, it's just one more store." The blonde kunoichi nagged._

_"You said 'just one more store' four shops ago," whined the dark haired ninja. "My feet hurt. Why can't you just admit you are looking for something that doesn't exist?"_

_As Naruto stared at the scene in front of them Hinata leaned closer. "There have been a few other pairings as well," she whispered._

_Shikamaru groaned loudly as Temari pulled him to the next store. "Why does shopping get you so worked up? Don't you get tired of running around town like this?"_

_Temari stopped suddenly and spun on him. "Shopping I can do without. However, I am the sister of the Kazekage and his current envoy to this tree and rodent infested village of yours. I have standards to uphold and an image to maintain! And maintaining that image requires that I am generous to a fault… Especially when it comes to being formally invited to clan gatherings of certain apathetic Konoha shinobi!"_

_"First off, Konoha isn't 'infested.' I keep telling you, those are squirrels and chipmunks. They're considered local wildlife!" grumbled Shikamaru. "And second; My parents invited you to a small family dinner. That is all!"_

_"And I would rather die than go there looking like I was some uncultured sand grubber! I am going to bring gifts, and lots of them! This is my chance to make a good first impression with one of the major clans of a rival nation! If you had one ambitious bone in your body you might understand that!" she fumed at him._

_Shikamaru leaned back from her tirade with a pained expression. "It might be a diplomatic coup for you… But for me, it means six months of listening to Uncle Genjiro making snide comments about the size of the bride price you're willing to pay for me!"_

_"Oh? Am I embarrassing you? You poor baby," Temari said through pouted lips. "And here I was, thinking that any shinobi daring enough to manipulate the politics of a foreign nation so deftly that that Kazekage had to practically beg his older sister to throw herself at him, wouldn't be easily flustered by such a little thing like his girlfriend trying to impress his parents!"_

_Shikamaru let out a deep sigh. "Troublesome woman… I'm just trying to ask you to please... tone it down some."_

_The Sand kunoichi narrowed her eyes for a second, and then took two swift steps forward. She grabbed the collar of his shirt. "Tone it down some?" she purred, "Wasn't it just last night you were telling me how much you liked fierce, assertive women?" She leaned in closer._

_Shikamaru cleared his throat noisily, and dodged her kiss. "Hi Naruto," he said pointedly. "When did you get back in town?" Temari jumped and smoothed herself down. Shikamaru nodded at Hinata. "Hey Hinata."_

_"Naruto!" said Temari, stepping forward and giving him a sisterly embrace. "It's so good to see you again! Gaara will be so happy to hear that you are still in one piece. He was worried when you vanished from the Island Turtle like that."_

_Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "How did you know I was there?"_

_Temari scoffed. "Please… The day my little brother can successfully keep a secret from me, is the day I went deaf and blind."_

_"How is Garra doing?" asked Naruto, grinning._

_Temari shrugged. "Still Kazekage. Still well intentioned. He's still frighteningly competent on some things and surprisingly naive on others. Still Gaara." She took a step back and looked him up and down. "Look at you! What have you been doing for training? You look fantastic!" Temari looked back at Shikamaru. "I wish I could convince him to train more."_

_Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "If I was all body you'd get bored with me and leave. You only want me for my mind, woman."_

_Temari leaned into him. "I happen to like some of the other bits that are attached too," she said in a low sexy voice._

_Shikamaru blushed. "So Naruto," he said, desperately trying to change the subject. "When did you get back?"_

_"Just now," said Naruto. "I met Hinata and we decided to go out for a walk and…"_

_"Hinata Hyuga, right?" interrupted Temari as she nudged Shikamaru out of the way. "I think we've met a few times before?" Hinata nodded hesitantly. "Well let me just say that you two make the most adorable couple. When did you start dating?"_

_"Um…" started Hinata, blushing bright red._

_"This is just perfect! I've been looking all over Konoha for another couple that Shikamaru and I could be friends with. I wanted to double date in this town for so long, but did you know that everybody here is so uptight about dating that…"_

_Shikamaru sidled up to Naruto. Pretending to pay attention to everything Temari said, Hinata started listening in to the boys' conversation. "Welcome to my world," he said quietly._

_Naruto looked at Hinata smiling and nodding as Temari talked her ear off. "I've always thought that Temari was nice, but a little on the scary side." He cast a sideways glance at Shikamaru. "So... How's… Uh... being in a relationship?"_

_Shikamaru shrugged and looked down. "She can be a major drag sometimes." He blushed and looked over at the Suna Kunoichi. A smile spread across his face. "But the times she isn't makes it all worthwhile."_

_"…so we will just have to set something up," said Temari in an animated voice. A clock bell began to chime, and she quickly looked up. "But not right now... it's getting late, and we still have lots more places I want look at. We still need to find the perfect gift for your mother." She grabbed Shikamaru's hand. "Come Shikamaru!" She bowed to Naruto and Hinata. "Naruto, it's always nice to see you. Nice meeting you as well, Hyuga-san." She pulled Shikamaru off_

_As he was being dragged away, Shikamaru leaned back to Naruto. "Help me!" he whispered. A shop bell rang and they disappeared._

_Naruto and Hinata stared at each other for a long moment. Naruto scratched his head and looked away embarrassed. "Well… Um… She is right about it getting late. I should probably report in to Granny Tsunade and let her know I'm back. Then I'll need to see if there's a place available for me to move into for a little while."_

_"You don't have a place to stay?" asked Hinata._

_Naruto grinned in a pathetic way. "Yup. My old apartment and all my stuff was destroyed when Pain attacked, then I slept in a tent like everyone else while the village was being rebuilt. After that I was on a boat, then I was on an island, then it was straight to the battlefront for the war. After the war I guess I technically had a tent again, but I don't think I even got a chance to sleep in it before I left again." He shrugged. "I haven't had a place to call my own in over a year now."_

_"Well, my family has been involved with a lot of the construction in the village," said Hinata looking down at her feet. "Do you want me to ask if they know of anything available?"_

_Naruto thought about it. "Maybe… If Granny Tsunade doesn't have anything for me I might have to take you up on that." He looked away towards the Hokage's residence. He looked back at Hinata and opened his mouth as if to say something else, then he quickly shut it again. "Well," he said weakly. "I guess... I'll see you around Hinata." He turned and started to walk away._

_Feeling like she had missed her moment, Hinata nodded sadly. "I'm glad you're back Naruto-kun," she called after him. "I'm glad you're safe."_

_Naruto stopped walking. A light breeze blew along the street swirling scattered leaves into the air. "Hey Hinata," he said turning. "I was just thinking, it isn't fair for you to get me all those ramen coupons, and then use them all myself…" He scratched his head again and looked down. "I was wondering, would you like to go out for ramen with me tomorrow night?"_

_Hinata's heart rate jumped. "I… I would like that very much." She blushed._

_"Great," smiled Naruto. "It's a date then. Is six o'clock too early?"_

_"No," squeaked Hinata, feeling faint. "Six is fine."_

_"Okay then," said Naruto. "I'll pick you up at six." He smiled at her a little nervously. "I'll see you then." He gave her a little wave and strolled off._

_Hinata clenched her hands and took deep breaths. When Naruto was out of sight, she put both hands up to her mouth and squealed. Ignoring the people staring, she raced home._

_She spent the rest of the evening in a daze. Her father kept giving her disapproving looks all evening. Hanabi kept pointing it out to everyone. "Onee-san is acting weird tonight," she would whisper loudly. Hinata ignored them. Nothing could ruin her mood._

_After dinner, Neji pulled her aside. "I heard that Naruto was back in town," he said casually. "I heard he was asking after you."_

_Hinata smiled dreamily. "We went out for a walk together… He asked me out for ramen..."_

_Neji raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Did you mention this to your father?"_

_Hinata gasped as reality stomped all over the warm cloud she was floating around in. "Oh Gods! Neji?" she asked frantically. "What should I do? He's coming by the house tomorrow night to pick me up for a date! What if Father wants to meet him? What if Naruto says something stupid? What if…"_

_Neji smiled and shook his head. "Ah, the nerves that come from young love." Hinata turned bright red. "I think you should let Hiashi-sama meet him don't you?"_

_Hinata played with her fingers. "But… but... what if Father doesn't approve of him?" She didn't have to add the unspoken reason why Hiashi wouldn't approve. _

_Neji raised an eyebrow. "Not approve of the hero of the Leaf Village? Not approve of the hero of the Fourth great Ninja War? The man who triumphed over the Akatsuki?" Neji shook his head very slightly. "Hiashi-sama is a very proud man, but he is also very image conscious. How could he slight such a noble figure?"_

_"But what if Naruto does something inappropriate?"_

_Neji looked at her. "I suppose I'll just have to have a little talk with him about proper etiquette at the front gate." Neji smiled. "What time is he supposed to show up?"_

_Hinata hugged him. "Oh thank you Oni-san! Thank you!" She stepped back and added. "He's coming at six."_


	24. Chapter 12 Hinata's Tale part 2

_She had trouble falling asleep that night. She was nervous all day. A little bit after lunch she finally found the courage to approach her father. He raised an eyebrow when he heard that she was going out that night but made no comment._

_At four o'clock Hinata started to get ready. She picked out an outfit, decided it was too fancy, picked out another, decided it was too risqué, picked out a third and decided it was too ordinary. She showered, put on perfume, decided she put on too much, showered again, and tried a different scent. She put on makeup and ended up scrubbing her face twice because she changed her mind. Finally, she slumped down on her bed almost in tears._

_"Wow, you look like you're going insane," Hanabi's voice floated in from her doorway._

_Hinata looked up. "How long have you been there?"_

_Hanabi shrugged. "Long enough to think my sister is crazy. What's going on? Do you have a hot date tonight or something?"_

_Hanabi's eyes widened as Hinata's face turned a bright radioactive red. "Holy Smokes! You do have a date! I was only kidding! Who asked you out?"_

_Hinata couldn't bring herself to say his name out loud, if she did, she might explode. She covered her mouth with both hands and mumbled Naruto's name very quietly._

_Somehow Hanabi understood. "No!" said her little sister in total shock. "Naruto-san asked you out on a date? You must be so excited!" Hanabi leaned forward and squinted at her sister. "Except… you look like you're going to barf… what's wrong?"_

_"Everything!" Hinata whimpered. " Don't know what to wear, I don't know what to say… I need everything to be perfect!" Hinata moaned. " This is the most important moment in my life! I can't decide on anything!"_

_Hanabi took a few steps back from her sister. "If this is what dating does to an otherwise sane individual... I think I'll pass," she said with a worried frown. "Did Dad give his permission yet?" Hinata mutely shook her head. "Huh... That might be a problem… But there's no point in worrying about that… The worst that will happen is that he'll say no… Where is Naruto-san taking you? Someplace really fancy?" asked Hanabi._

_"No… we're going out for ramen," mumbled Hinata._

_"You're freaking out over going out for ramen?" chuckled Hanabi. "Here I was thinking he was going to do something… you know… romantic… Gods! Just dress normal!" She shook her head and started towards the door. "Ramen… Wow, you are so overreacting." She left laughing._

_Strangely enough, Hanabi had good advice. Hinata dressed normal. She wore a lavender skirt instead of pants just to look a little bit fancier, but that was her only difference._

_At five thirty she was waiting nervously in the entryway. "So, who will be accompanying you on this little outing? Teammates? Friends?" Hinata jumped. She hadn't heard her father come up behind her._

_She took a few deep breaths to return her pulse to normal. "Naruto Uzumaki asked if I would like to go out for some ramen with him tonight Father," she said looking down._

_Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "Uzumaki? The Jinchuriki?"_

_"He is a war hero Father," she added quietly._

_Hiashi looked at her, his face blank. "Is this a date you are going out on?"_

_Hinata blushed. "I… I think so yes."_

_Hiashi nodded. "Then I expect to meet this young man before I give my permission," he said rather severely._

_The minutes ticked away. Hiashi glanced at the clock. "He did say six o'clock correct? I like punctuality."_

_At seven minutes past six there was a knock at the door. Hinata wiped her palms on her skirt and stepped forward to open the door. Naruto grinned at her. "Hi," he said smiling. "This is for you." He handed her a single sunflower. Hinata held it in her hands and stared. "Flowers are okay right?" Naruto asked in a whisper. "Neji wasn't too sure about the appropriateness of that."_

_Hinata smiled up at him. "It's beautiful. Come in, Father wants to meet you." Naruto took off his shoes and stepped inside. Hinata led him into the sitting room. "Father," she announced. "I'd like you to meet Naruto Uzumaki." Hiashi stood and stared coldly at Naruto._

_Naruto bowed low. "Hyuga-sama, I thank you for the honor of being allowed in your home."_

_"You are welcome," said Hiashi, and folded his arms._

_Naruto froze. He worked his mouth but nothing came out. "Shoot, what was I supposed to say next?" he muttered._

_"I'm sorry?" asked Hiashi harshly "I didn't quite catch that." Hinata covered her face in her hands. Oh Gods he already made a mess of the formal request. Hinata caught a flash of her sister's face peeking in from the next room. She could hear Hanabi snickering._

_Naruto took in a deep breath. "Hiashi-sama…"_

_Hiashi frowned. "Address me properly please…" Her father's voice almost left a frost trail in the air._

_"Hyuga-sama, sorry," said Naruto. "I would be honored if you would allow me the honor of taking your honorable daughter out for ramen tonight… Ramen and maybe a walk around the village. I've been away for a while, and I'd like to see what's changed. We went out for a short walk together yesterday afternoon and…"_

_Hiashi gave a pained sigh and waved his hand. Thankfully, Naruto stopped talking. "Your name is Naruto and you are from the clan Uzumaki."_

_Naruto nodded. "Yes that's right."_

_"And you wish to take my eldest daughter out on a date?"_

_"Well, out for ramen. Have you ever been to Ichiraku's? I've tried all the ramen places in the village, and even a whole bunch in other countries and I think that they are the best! Sometimes old man Teuchi will put in extra…"_

_Hiashi's face twitched. "Aside from being a ramen coinsurer, what honor have you brought to your name?"_

_"Oh, I know that one!" said Naruto happily. "I defeated the Akatsuki member known as Pain in single combat. It has been said that I fought valiantly in the Fourth great Ninja war." Naruto spoke in a singsong voice as if he memorized his answers. Hinata gave him a weak smile. At least he had the forms right. "I'm also the number one candidate for being the sixth Hokage!" He announced proudly. "Being the Hokage is my dream!"_

_Hinata resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands again. Her father couldn't stand boasting. From outside the room Hanabi started giggling a second time. "Oh?" asked Hiashi with a look of sour distaste on his face. "I was unaware that Tsunade-sama had decided upon her successor."_

_"Well, it's not official yet, but I just know it's going to be me." Naruto grinned. Hinata nudged him with her foot and he quickly added "Hyuga-sama."_

_Hiashi frowned. He stared at Naruto up and down. He looked at Hinata and made a small sigh. Then he stared at Naruto again. He shook his head in a disappointed way. "Make sure you have her back home by ten." A shiver went down Hinata's spine. He actually said yes!_

_Naruto bowed. "Thank you Hyuga-sama. I will make sure that she is back by then."_

_Hiashi nodded, turned and walked out of the room. Not wanting to test the fates any further, Hinata seized Naruto's arm and pulled. "Let's go!" she said nervously. They quickly put on their shoes and left the house._

_Neji who was still standing watch by the front gate, gave them a small nod. "Thanks for all the advice Neji," said Naruto as he walked past._

_"I wasn't doing it for your sake Naruto," Neji said._

_"What? What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked, but Neji just shook his head cryptically._

_Hinata gave her cousin a big smile as she held onto Naruto's arm. "Thank you Oni-san," she said blushing._

_Neji nodded back. "Just make sure she is back in time," he said. He closed the gate after them._

_Naruto let out a huge sigh. "Wow Hinata, I had no idea your family was so strict. All that just to go out and eat some ramen? I can't imagine what I'd have to go through to take you out on a real date." He smiled at her and kept walking._

_Inside Hinata felt a little piece of herself crumble._

* * *

_"…So anyway, all the animals on the island turtle are in an uproar. Alarms are going off every which way. The allied shinobi guards are screaming about intruders. Killer Bee drops this funky beat and says 'Yo! I guess they have trouble learning it. If they want to take us, we better make them be earning it!'_

_So we run out of the temple and it's totally dark, I can barely see. There is no moon at all. Suddenly this twisted , lumpy shadow rises up right in front of me! I drop into Nine Tails chakra mode and get ready to pummel it. The shadow holds out one hand and yells, 'Sign here please!'" Naruto started to chuckle. "Well of course I stopped. Some shinobi come over with lights and standing there is a courier-nin. He had a badger chewing on one leg, a python swallowing one arm up to elbow, and a monkey clinging to his shoulders, beating him over the head with a coconut. He's just standing there as calm, as can be holding out a clipboard."_

_"So what did you do?" asked Hinata_

_Naruto grinned at her and shrugged. "I signed of course. He said, 'Here's your package sir,' pulled off the snake, and handed over your letter. And then he just stands there with his hand out like this." Naruto imitated the pose and giggled. "He's still got the badger on his leg and the monkey wailing away on his head. So I look at him and I ask 'Do you... need some help?' And this guy gives me the snootiest look ever and says, 'Perhaps sir you are unaware, but upon receipt of your parcel it is customary to leave a gratuity.' All of us are just standing there, open mouthed, staring at this guy. He gives his hand a little shake and says, 'A tip!' We just all burst out laughing and couldn't stop," said Naruto laughing._

_Hinata smiled back. "That is pretty funny." The magic had gone out of the evening. The ramen had lost its flavor. Naruto's comment about this not being a real date had really stung._

_Naruto watched her picking at her food. "Is everything alright Hinata? I can get you another kind of ramen if you think you'd like that better."_

_Hinata looked up and smiled again. "No, this is fine thank you." She tried to be happy. Here she was out eating ramen with Naruto, just the two of them. If you had told her two years ago she would be doing this, she would have fainted. She should be ecstatic just being here. Instead it felt, well, it felt like winning second place… It felt like the consolation prize…_

_"I think I'll have another bowl," said Naruto. "Would you like one?"_

_"No thank you," she said politely._

_Naruto ordered his second bowl and started eating. "Man, I'd almost forgotten how good this was." He looked over at Hinata for a moment. "Did I ever tell you about what I had to eat when I was training with the toads on mount Myoboku?" He looked over at her, staring blankly into her bowl. "Hinata?" he prompted._

_Hinata looked up. "What? I'm sorry... I was thinking about something else there for a minute."_

_Naruto studied her. His smile faded. "Never mind," he said. "It was a pretty gross story anyway." He finished eating in silence._

_He handed over the coupons to pay. Ayame smiled at the both of them. "Thank you for coming! I hope that you enjoyed your meal." She smiled and bowed to them. "It's always nice to see you Naruto." She looked at Hinata. "Are you two heading out for a fun night on the town?"_

_"I think we were just going for a walk," said Hinata resigned._

_"Oh… Well... have fun," said Ayame with forced cheerfulness._

_"Hey Hinata," said Naruto as they stepped outside. "We can cancel the walk if you want to."_

_"Do you not want to go?" asked Hinata._

_"I would like to go if you still want to," said Naruto._

_"Okay then, where to?" asked Hinata dully._

_Naruto gave her a shy grin. "How about you choose? I mean you were nice enough to get me the ramen coupons, and you were nice enough to listen to me babble all through dinner. I'd like to do something that you want to do."_

_Hinata looked down at her feet. "Naruto-kun… I…" she stopped, unable to say anymore. What should she say?_

_Naruto looked away. "Can you at least tell me what is wrong? Is it me? Did I... do something to make you upset?"_

_Hinata brushed back her hair from her ears. "Not really… I'm just being over-sensitive about something."_

_"Do you want to talk to me about it?" Hinata kept staring down. "Is it me?" he asked tentatively. She didn't answer. "Was it something I said?" he asked. Hinata gave a small nod. He looked back at her and flashed a quick relieved smile. "Everyone says I never know when to keep my mouth shut." He looked over at her. "Hinata, whatever it was I'm really sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was make you upset. Can you tell me what it was?"_

_Hinata looked at him and felt her heart beat a little faster. She took a deep breath. "The other day the girls and I were talking about how many dates we had all been out on." She started to fidget with her fingers. "And I was the only one who had never been out on one before. So I was pretty excited when you asked me, and then…" Hinata shut her eyes tightly, and forced the words out. "When you picked me up you said that this wasn't a real date."_

_"Oh. That," said Naruto. He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry Hinata. I felt sort of weird calling this a date when we were eating using a bunch of coupons that you bought for me, and all we were doing after was going for a walk." Hinata looked up at him. Naruto was blushing. "I mean... I've done no missions for five months, so I have no money right now. I guess I felt... lame for not being able to plan anything more than this." He exhaled and glanced over at her. "Are you okay with calling ramen and a walk a date?"_

_Hinata looked up at him and smiled. "Yes. I would like that very much." She blushed as she felt a warm wave pulse through her._

_Naruto smiled "All right then, this is now officially a date." He held out his hand. "We still need to go out on our walk though. Where do you want to take me?"_

_Hinata gingerly reached out and grasped his hand. "This way," she said. She hoped her palms weren't too sweaty as he wrapped his fingers between hers. Holding hands, they strolled off next to each other._

* * *

_They ended up at the bridge over the canal. It was dusk, but heavy thick clouds were rolling in from the south, making it seem even darker. The last rays of the setting sun were making the trees glow red. The leaves rustled in the breezes being pushed by the coming storm._

_Hinata stopped and leaned on the railing of the bridge. "I like it here. It is so very peaceful." She picked up a leaf that had stuck to the railing and let it float gently down into the water. "No matter what time of year I come here it always seems so beautiful."_

_Naruto looked around at the scenery. "I've always thought that this was a nice spot as well," he said. He looked over at her and smiled. "What is your favorite season Hinata?"_

_Hinata looked up, surprised at the personal question. "Winter," she answered. "I like it on really cold mornings when the canal is just starting to ice over and the frost on the bridge crackles with every step." She smiled quickly up at him. "What's yours?"_

_"Spring," he said leaning back on the railing. "I like the smell in the air of everything growing and how every branch is covered with all different kinds of returning birds."_

_"I didn't know you were a bird watcher."_

_Naruto shook his head. "I'm not. I just like how all the birds seem so happy to be back here. They just crowd up the branches and sing, and swoop over the canal." He smiled wistfully. "They look so relaxed, like they don't have any problems at all."_

_Hinata smiled at him. "Here," she said. "Watch this." She made some quick hand signs. The water under the bridge began to boil._

_Naruto watched open mouthed as a huge flock of small birds burst out of the water of the canal. They circled en masse in the air, swirling and darting around Naruto and Hinata._

_Naruto watched grinning, his arms spread wide. "Are you doing this? It's fantastic! How are you doing this?" As a response, one translucent bird detached itself from the flock and fluttered down to the railing. It cocked its head up at Naruto and opened its beak as if it was singing a song. Naruto held out one finger to the bird. The bird eyed his finger for a second and then hopped on. Naruto held up his finger and looked. The dwindling sun light made glistening starbursts as they shone through its bird twisted its head as if it was looking back._

_"It's made of water?" asked Naruto incredulously. "They're all made of water?"_

_Hinata nodded, her face lined with concentration. She'd never tried to create so many of them before. The bird on Naruto's finger bobbed its head, flapped its wings and leaped back into the canal. Overhead the whole flock wheeled and dove back into the water with a loud splash._

_Naruto turned to her grinning wildly. "Hinata! That was amazing! You..." He started and lunged forward as Hinata faltered from the effort of creating and controlling all of those birds. He reached out and caught her._

_Hinata and Naruto stared at each other face to face, centimeters apart for what seemed like a very long time. Then Hinata blushed and looked down at his hands. That seemed to break the spell._

_Naruto helped her upright. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I shouldn't... We... I'm not..." He sagged and stepped away from her. "Gods... I can't do anything right."_

_Hinata turned her head away. "What do you mean by that?" she whispered._

_Naruto held on tight to the railing of the bridge. He hung his head. "I'm kind of... in a difficult place right now Hinata. It's been one thing after another for over a year. I saw my home get destroyed, I fought in a war, I met my mom and dad…"_

_"Really?" asked Hinata. She'd always thought he was an orphan! "Where? How?"_

_Naruto sighed. "Long story," he said, waving a hand. "Anyway, I met other Jinchuriki like myself. I should feel on top of the world. I mean look at me." He lifted up his head to the heavens. Far off on the southern horizon, heat lightning could be seen dancing amongst the clouds. "I'm a hero, I defeated... so many famous shinobi of old. Everyone in the village, heck, even the whole ninja world acknowledges me." He sighed heavily. "And... I'm still not strong enough to bring him back."_

_"Sasuke?" asked Hinata. "Naruto, none of us were, remember? It was all we could do to defeat the masked Madera. We all tried to stop him at the end of the war."_

_"I remember," said Naruto sourly. "I remember it... every moment of every day. I remember Sasuke's Susano'o tossing everyone around like rag dolls. I remember almost losing…" He glanced over at Hinata. "Everyone important to me."_

_Hinata walked over and stood next to him. "Naruto," she said softly._

_"It feels like I've been training my whole life to fight him Hinata. But all I want to do is bring my friend back. All I want is to save him from himself. And I don't know if I can do it." He looked over at the village. Its lights were beginning to flicker on. "And now he's sworn an oath of vengeance against the Leaf village. I've tried to stop him so many times, Hinata. And each time he outfights me or outsmarts me." He looked at her sadly. "I can't let that happen. Not this next time. Not ever again. I became so focused on getting Sasuke back that I had to cut things out of my life so I could have more time for training." Lightning flickered in the sky behind them, a lazy roll of summer thunder echoed through the village. "Do you understand Hinata? I have to do this."_

_"I understand that Sasuke must be stopped, Naruto. I understand that you still think of him as your friend, and as your former teammate you feel responsible for him." She rested a hand on his arm. "But there is no reason why you have to do it alone."_

_Naruto gave her a look of such intense sadness that she shivered. "I have to do it alone Hinata." He said in a calm voice. "I can't let anyone else get hurt again because of my failings." He looked out over the water. "So I trained. I needed to become faster and stronger. I neede to learn how to work perfectly with… the power inside of me. I left my friends, I left my village, I left every distraction behind me and turned myself into an object with one purpose, stopping Sasuke." He closed his eyes and his shoulders slumped. "And then I got your letter."_

_He looked over at Hinata. "During the war I got to meet all of the other Jinchuriki through the cursed world resurrection jutsu." He looked away towards the village. "When you get us all together, you realize how similar we were… how lonely we all are. Most people don't even view us as human. Historically we are nothing but weapons." He swallowed. "One of the Jinchuriki was just a kid. Nobody ever loved him, he never got to grow up, kiss a girl or live his life. Everyone just saw him as just a weapon." Naruto snorted. "And that is exactly what I was turning myself into." He closed his eyes. "My life was a thousand times better than theirs. I had friends, people who cared about me, a home, a family..." He rubbed his eyes with one hand. "And I was throwing it all away to be more like they were." He swallowed. "I missed my friends," he whispered. "I missed my village. I missed the people who care about me." He turned his head back towards Hinata. "But I have to bring Sasuke back Hinata... I can't afford to let him beat me again. He'll hurt everything that is important to me..." He glanced up at her pleadingly and then quickly looked away. "But what if I can't do it? What if I fail again by the tiniest margin simply because I didn't train hard enough?"_

_Hinata inched closer to him. She wanted to throw her arms around him and comfort him. She settled for stroking his forearm. "Naruto," she said tenderly. "I have never seen you fail at anything." She smiled at him. "Because I have never seen you give up on anything that is important to you." He needed to be comforted... That much was clear. She slid her hand down and put in on top of his. "You never failed at getting Sasuke back. You simply haven't succeeded yet." Naruto looked at her wide eyed and she smiled at him. "You'll find Sasuke. You'll find him and figure out some way to convince him to come back home." She used her fingertips to trace designs on the back of his hand. "You'll find some way to bring him out of his own personal darkness. You will show him the way." She reached out and touched his face. "I have faith in you."_

_Naruto reached up and laced her fingers with his. He slowly brought her hand down from his face. Hinata held on to him but felt her smile fade. Inside her she felt a ball of sadness at this latest rejection. "Thanks Hinata," said Naruto quietly. "You... always… seem to know the right thing to say to make me feel better."_

_Hinata looked up and tried to put on a brave smile. "I'll always be here for you Naruto. I'll always be your friend if that is what you want." She blinked quickly to clear her eyes._

_"What I want…" murmured Naruto. He gave her hand a little squeeze. He looked at her and then glanced away quickly. "It's easy to be a weapon Hinata, it's much harder to be a real person, especially when you're scared."_

_Hinata held his hand in front of her. "Naruto, don't be so down on yourself," she said soothingly. "Sasuke is nothing to be scared of." She ducked under his arm and wriggled between him and the railing. She then turned and faced him. "I have every confidence in you. I mean that."_

_Naruto kept looking out over Konoha and sighed. He used his other hand to scratch the back of his head. Finally he turned and smiled sheepishly at her. "It's not Sasuke I'm scared about Hinata." He looked away. "It's you."_

_The sky flashed bright white, and a low rumble rolled amongst the village. Hinata froze. Naruto smiled a little half smile and gave her hand a squeeze. "You understand me better than anyone else in this village. You always seem to know just what to say to me. You are pretty, and smart and you are the kindest person I know." He looked away and blushed a little. "I know that you… like me," he said quietly. "A lot… I heard what you said to me that one time… When I…" He took a deep breath. "I've lost control to the Kyubi three times in my life. The first time I nearly killed my master, the second, I attacked Sakura." He looked up at Hinata. "The third time was when I thought you were dead."_

_Naruto sighed and pulled away from her slightly. "It's one thing to know that I have Kurama trapped inside of me… It is another to see it all in action. Sakura was pretty freaked when she saw what was inside of me... I'm not sure she ever got over it." Hinata's hand slipped away from his. She was staring up at him wide eyed. Was Naruto actually saying what she thought he was saying? She began to tremble. "He's fine now don't worry," said Naruto hastily. "He's actually not that bad a guy... once you get to know him. But back then, I was really really scared of what you saw me do." He looked down and shuffled his feet. "And, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm scared of what you think of me now." Naruto reached out and gently picked up her hand. "I've had to work five times as hard as a normal person to get other people to accept me. You were the first person to tell me that you... loved me." Naruto looked up at her sadly. "After you saw me turn into a monster... Well, I couldn't really blame you if you decided to change your mind."_

_Naruto started to rub his thumb back and forth on her hand. "I thought about what you said an awful lot Hinata, when I was away. I almost said something during the war, but..." Naruto shrugged. "Then Sasuke became my priority." He looked away. "I didn't know what to do. What if you didn't like me anymore? What if I messed everything up? What if I'm just taking advantage of your feelings for me because I'm lonely?" He exhaled slowly. "It was easier just to put everything out of my head and focus on training." He glanced up at her and looked ashamed. "So I did."_

_Naruto looked down and smiled quickly. "And then I got your letter." Naruto glanced up at her. Hinata felt a flutter in her chest when she realized he was blushing. "And I couldn't stop thinking about you. I even dreamed about you, you know? And finally I had to come back because I wanted to see you." He smiled. He slowly reached up with his free hand and brushed back a strand of hair from her face. "And here you are. And I'm terrified of doing the wrong thing."_

_All her life Hinata had been told she was worthless. All her life she had been weak and reluctant and unsure… It had been through watching and admiring Naruto that she had learned how to build her own self worth, found her determination, gained some daring… and here was Naruto, the person she admired most in the world… standing before her, confessing his feelings, opening his heart to her... and paralyzed with fear._

_Hinata summoned her courage, reached up and placed her hand on one of his cheeks. Naruto didn't pull away, he just sighed and nuzzled her hand. She put the other hand on the other side of his face. He closed his eyes and rubbed up against that one too. Hinata watched him framed in her palms for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and leaned forward._

_Their lips touched. She felt him jump in surprise and then relax. It was a soft gentle kiss. Hinata felt a warm tingle spread down her spine. Still holding on to his face, she pulled back and broke the kiss. She opened her eyes. Naruto stood there, his eyes still closed, mouth open, breathing heavily._

_"Do you remember what I told you that day, when Pain attacked the village? Do you remember what I told you when I tried to save you?"_

_Naruto nodded, his eyes still closed. "You said that you weren't afraid to die if it meant you could protect me, because you love me," he said quietly._

_Hinata giggled. Naruto opened his eyes as she darted forward and gave him another kiss, faster with a bit more force. "Yes," she said. "But I was talking about the other thing I said." Naruto looked blank. She lifted one hand and gently touched his nose. Emotions were running rampant just underneath her skin. She felt really good, invincible. "It was something you taught me," she said to him grinning. "I never go back on my words," she whispered. "Because that is my way of the ninja." She smiled impishly and kissed him again._

_"So... you don't mind about the Kyubi?" asked Naruto hesitantly._

_What a silly question! He looked so vulnerable and concerned that Hinata couldn't help but kiss him once more. She felt in control for once in her life. She felt like she held the reins to her own destiny. She was enjoying this. "No!"_

_"And you don't worry about what will happen between us if this doesn't work out?"_

_Hinata tilted his head down and stared into his eyes. "You are a good man Naruto Uzumaki. Don't be afraid you will hurt me." She smiled at him. "We will never know if this relationship will work unless we try it." She leaned her forehead against his. "If you are willing to be in a relationship with me then I want to be in one with you. If you want to try to be with me, then..." she leaned in and took another quick kiss. "I..." She kissed him again. "Want..." Another kiss. "To be..." Kiss. "With you." She kissed him one last time and held it. Hinata stepped forward and pressed herself up against Nartuo. She felt the warmth of his body and butterflies started racing in her stomach._

_Naruto responded, he shifted and then he was kissing her back. His arms encircled her and pulled her even closer into him. Hinata inhaled sharply and looked up at him. He was looking down at her with a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. He leaned forward and again they kissed, their lips meeting softly at first, and then harder as it became clear that neither one wanted to pull away. Hinata felt his arms around her, and his breath hot on her cheek. She had a dizzying swirl of emotions and an intense, exciting realization that this was really happening. Lightning cracked the sky overhead, they both jumped but neither one broke their embrace._

_Naruto looked up and blinked. "I think it's starting to rain." A light drizzle had begun to fall._

_Hinata shook her head to one side. A few wet strands of hair swung from her face. "I don't mind," she said quietly. "I like being out here with you." She laced her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. She inched her face forward and nuzzled his neck. Naruto twitched. She started to kiss and nibble his neck up and down. She smiled when she felt him shiver._

_The rain started to come down harder. It was soaking through her skirt and beginning to plaster down her hair. Naruto's hands were tracing designs on her back as she kissed his neck. His hands slipped down to her hips, and slid up underneath the hem of her jacket. He traced his fingers along her lower spine through the thin cloth of her shirt. His hands explored her back as Hinata kissed her way up to his ear. Thunder roared overhead. The rain kept coming down._

_There was a few centimeters gap between the bottom of Hinata's shirt and the top of her skirt. One of Naruto's fingers grazed that space. Hinata jumped as she felt the contact of his hand on her bare skin. A tingle passed through her stomach and all the way down to her toes. Hinata pulled back a little and then looked up at Naruto. Naruto gave her a questioning look and cautiously ran one finger under the hem of her shirt. Hinata pulled him against her, crushing his body against her. She covered his mouth with hers. Naruto ran his hands gently up and down the bare skin of her back. She pulled him closer. Their legs rubbed up against each other. She could feel his warmth through the double layer of their wet clothes. Alternating waves of heat and cold washed over her. Overhead the storm raged. They were getting drenched, but still she never wanted this to end._

_A solid wave of wind and water buffeted them against the side of the bridge. Naruto let go of her to brace himself against the railing. His mouth moved and she realized that she could not hear him above the roar of the storm. She put her ear next to his mouth. "I think there's a little bit of a storm!" he shouted, grinning. "I'm wondering if we should find someplace drier!"_

_Hinata smiled up at him and rubbed his arm. "Okay, let's go!" she shouted back. Together they ran._

_Once they got away from the canal and in between the buildings of the village, the wind died down. Their coats were soaked through. They undid them and covered their heads to try to keep some of the rain off. The rain fell in pounding sheets from the sky. It splashed on the street forming huge streams and puddles._

_On an impish impulse Hinata jumped into one, causing a great splash that washed over Naruto. He gave her an affronted look. She smiled back at him. "What?" she asked innocently. "It's not like you were going to stay dry anyway!"_

_Naruto narrowed his eyes and stomped in the pooled water, launching a jet towards her. Hinata squealed and danced away. She swung her foot through another puddle that sent another slash of water into Naruto's face. He rubbed water out of his eyes. "No fair!" he called. "I'm having a puddle fight with a water user!"_

_"Pick your opponents more carefully then!" Hinata called back. She stomped her foot again causing another splash. Naruto tried his best but he was hopelessly outclassed in the water fight. The real winner though was the storm._

_They were both dripping wet when Naruto pulled her under a store awning and kissed her. "It's starting to get late and we're both soaked. Do you think that I should walk you back home?"_

_Hinata pouted. "You're just saying that because I'm winning the puddle fight."_

_Naruto kissed her again. "That and my boots squish every time I take a step."_

_Hinata put her arms around him. "I don't want this to end," she said._

_Naruto smiled. "Oh, but it has to end. Otherwise how could we have our second date?"_

_Hinata leaned forward and gave him a tender kiss. "Okay." She linked arms with him, and stepped back out into the rain. "Shall we continue our stroll?"_

_Naruto grinned and bowed like a courtier. "Lead on my lady."_

_Hinata was brimming with joy. Being this close to Naruto, touching him, kissing him and having him respond to her… It felt like she was so free. All her life she had felt the rigid ways of the Hyuga clan pressing down on her. The constant need to appease her father, the need to meet his high expectations and the way she always failed, had left her a timid little mouse, a little mouse that no one would ever notice or care about. She smiled up into the rain at Naruto. He saw her staring up at him and gave her a quick kiss._

_She sighed and clutched at his arm tighter. She had acted in ways tonight that would make her father turn purple. She had acted in ways that would bring scandal down upon her family. "A Hyuga lady does not show affection in public. That is not proper decorum," her father had said once when she tried to hug him. She snickered. "A Hyuga most certainly does not get into puddle fights with attractive men and then walk down Main Street completely soaked," she thought. She leaned up against Naruto and felt his warmth. "Well this Hyuga certainly did. And she loved it."_

_Naruto jumped and cried out. Hinata started as well. "Naruto-kun, what is it? What happen… Ow!" she shrieked. Something stung her shoulder. A strange rattling sound was coming from the street. Naruto bent down and picked something up. "Hail." he said. He showed her a hailstone the size of a golf ball. The rattling got louder. They both turned and saw a white curtain advancing down the road, rapidly heading towards them. The sound of the ice chunks breaking apart as they hit the pavement cracked through the air._

_Naruto grabbed Hinata and pushed her into a doorway. He faced her and spread his arms around her, trying to shield her from the worst of it. Huge balls of ice were plummeting from the sky. They smashed through roof tiles and broke windows. There was a quick staccato of dull thuds and Naruto winced. Several of the hailstones cracked into his back. Hinata looked up at him and stroked his cheek._

_"We can't stay here," he said. He yelped in pain as a hailstone the size of a softball smashed into his fingers. "My place is only two blocks that way… Do you think we can make it there?"_

_Hinata leaned over and kissed his bruised fingers. "Of course we can. On three: One, two, three!" Covering their heads with their arms, they charged away._


	25. Chapter 12 Hinata's Tale part 3

**Author's Note:**

Okay, this section here gets a little... shall we say... steamy... in spots. I am pretty sure it doesn't cross any lines of going from 'T' to 'M'... But, I also think that a mild warning is in order, just in case you happen to be reading this on a crowded bus, or someplace where your Grandma could happen to walk by and read over your shoulder.

Just saying... It might be a little awkward...

And if anybody does think that this section drifts into rated 'M' territory, Please let me know.

-Cas

* * *

_Naruto fumbled with the keys to his apartment. Hinata was sore from the hail, and her teeth would not stop chattering. "I've almost got it," Naruto muttered. "We'll be warm in a second." Hinata pressed up against his back and carefully slid her hands under his shirt. She grinned as she shook. This would have been romantic if she had any feeling left in her fingertips._

_Naruto yelped, and dropped his keys. "Your hands are freezing!"_

_"I c-can't help it," she chattered. "I need to be w-warm n-now!"_

_Naruto retrieved the keys and opened the door. They both stepped inside. Naruto darted over and adjusted the thermostat. "That should help a little," he said, his lips turning blue. He looked down at Hinata who was hugging herself and shivering. He pointed to a door of to the side of the entryway. "The bathroom is right there. Why don't you take a hot shower and warm up. I'll get you some dry clothes and we can wait for our stuff to dry out."_

_Hinata was too frozen to argue. She was so cold she could barely think straight. She nodded and stepped into the bathroom. She shed her wet clothes and let the hot water sluice over her. After a while she stopped shivering and began to feel better. There was one solitary towel in the bathroom so she wrapped herself up in it and cracked the door open. "Naruto-kun?" she called._

_"I left you some dry things by the door," he said from another room. "Take them and hand out your wet stuff. I'll do my best to dry it off." There was a small pile of clothes at the base of the door. She traded her wet things for them, and closed the door. She put on the thin, cloth shorts and the white t-shirt. They weren't much but at least they were dry. She squeezed as much water out of her hair as she could and stepped out of the bathroom._

_Naruto poked his head around from the kitchen. He was blushing. "Hey," he said nervously. "I just... hung up all your... um, stuff." He looked away from her really quick, and started babbling away."Feel free to use the blanket if you're still cold. You can sit on the bed if you want. Sorry about the lack of furniture… I just moved in here." He stepped around the doorway. He was dressed in the exact same shirt and shorts she was, only his were soaking wet. "Sorry," he said half dodging around her. "I really need to warm up in the shower too. I'll put on some tea when I get out." He dodged into the bathroom and shut the door._

_Hinata looked after him for a moment and then shrugged. She couldn't quite figure out what was bothering him. Maybe he was just cold. The transition from cold rain and hail to the warmth of Naruto's apartment had made her head feel woolly. She was getting warmer, but she still shivered every now and then. "Oh Hinata!" Naruto shouted through the bathroom door. "I'm really sorry... all I had that was dry was underwear. Don't worry though, it's straight out of the package, never been worn." There was the sound of shuffling feet from the bathroom. "Like I said, I just got here and I didn't have a lot."_

_Hinata looked down at her shorts. "Underwear?" she thought, trying to force herself to remain calm and rational. "Well that explains why they were so thin. They are comfortable though." She looked around Naruto's apartment and for the first time noticed how small it was. At first glance, it wasn't that noticeable because it was so sparsely furnished. The outside door opened into the bedroom, which right now only contained a mattress, pillow and a few blankets. There was a pack and few pouches of ninja gear stowed in the corner. Next to the packs were a few brand new packages of boxer shorts and white t-shirts that had been hastily torn open and emptied. She walked into the kitchen, which barely had enough room for one person to turn around in. It contained a small sink, a small refrigerator, a tiny stove, a table which would barely hold two plates, and two flimsy chairs. The oven door was opened on a low heat setting warming the room. The two chairs were backed up close to the oven door. Their wet clothes had been wrung out and hung over the backs of the chairs to dry. Hinata looked at the pile of her clothes and felt a wash of heat rush up her face. "Well, I did hand him all of my clothes, didn't I?" Spread out neatly on the top of her pile were her bra and panties._

_She rushed back to the bedroom and wrapped herself in the blanket. She sat nervously for a bit and listened to the hail drumming on the roof and the steady hiss of the shower running. After a minute of telling herself that yes, technically she might only be wearing underwear, but really this was less revealing than a bathing suit, especially the ones that Ino typically wore. Her uncomfortable feelings faded somewhat... but she still had an undercurrent of embarrassment. "Poor Naruto," she giggled to herself, remembering the look on his face. "He must have been embarrassed as well."_

_The shower stopped. A moment later, a still damp Naruto stepped out. He was dressed in an identical pair of white t-shirt and boxers as she. "Hey, I'm really sorry about the whole underwear thing," he said again._

_She smiled up at him. "It's fine," she said cheerfully. "I'm just happy to be dry."_

_Naruto stared at her sitting on the corner of his bed. He blinked, and shook his head looking away. "Oh… All right then," he said quickly. "I guess… I'll go boil that water now." He strode into the kitchen._

_Hinata began to get that uncomfortable feeling again. Something was obviously bothering Naruto. Was it the apartment? Was he ashamed of it? "I like your apartment," she called out to him. "It's very cozy in a spartan sort of way."_

_She heard him laugh. "Empty is more like it. My first one at least had all my stuff in it. I don't even have a picture to hang on the wall for this new one." He came back into the bedroom and sat down on the corner of the mattress. He was about an arm's length away from her. He looked around at the bare walls. "This is a little bit bigger than the old one though. I guess that is a good thing. Granny Tsunade was threatening she'd move me into a closet." He chuckled._

_Hinata thought about living by herself in a place like this. It would sure beat being ignored. "It must be nice though, living on your own."_

_Naruto looked at her for a long time. He seemed to be weighing what he was going to say next. "Sometimes it was okay... I guess," he said. "Mostly it was pretty lonely." He glanced over at her. "How was growing up in the Hyuga compound?"_

_Hinata looked down and stretched out her legs. "There were always a lot of other people around and most of them were intent on taking care of me in some way. They would tell me what to wear, and how to be proper, and they would clean up my room and make dinner." She sighed. "In many ways though, it was pretty lonely as well. Even though there were all these people around everything was so rigid and strict. There was always this line separating the Head family from the Branch families that worked for us... I tried to talk to them, to get to know the other children but... I was always told it wasn't proper." She inched her hand on the bed towards him. "I always admired you back then," she said quietly." I liked how you never gave up, and always looked so free. You had such ambition and you always looked so brave, even though you must have felt so terrible inside."_

_Naruto reached out and took her hand. "I admire you too," he replied quietly. "You were always such a calm, kindhearted, wonderful person… It's kind of amazing when you consider everything that has happened to you." He glanced up at her shyly and started to lean forward. The kettle started to whistle. "Oops!" He got up. 'I'll be right back."_

_Hinata sat back down feeling pleased with herself. Her conversation with Naruto about his apartment had seemed to make him a little less tense, and that made her in turn feel better. Well... mostly better. She shifted uncomfortably. She had not dried her hair well enough. The moisture from her hair was dripping down the back of her t-shirt and making it stick to her back. Without really thinking about it, Hinata took her hair, twisted it into a thick rope, and swung it to the front. It was still damp and began to soak through there as well. She frowned. She would have to ask Naruto for another shirt. Hinata wrapped the blanket around her shoulders tighter. She wished he would hurry back with the tea. This was almost immediately followed by a fleeting, giddy thought that maybe they were going to start kissing again._

_"Alright, here's the tea!" said Naruto, carrying in two mugs. One was printed with the phrase 'Office of the Hokage' and the other read 'A souvenir from mount Myoboku'. He started to hand the souvenir mug to her. "I've got butter and sugar to put in it if you like that, but I'm all out of milk."_

_Hinata reached up to take the mug and the blanket fell away from her shoulders. Naruto looked down. His eyes got very wide. "Gah!" he yelled. He dropped both mugs and grabbed his nose._

_"Naruto? What wrong?" Hinata started to get up._

_Naruto was blushing hotly and staring pointedly at the wall away from her. "Um, your shirt... got wet," he said nasally._

_Hinata looked down. Her hair had soaked through the white t-shirt in the front, making it transparent. "Eeep!" she cried out and scrambled for the blankets. Naruto made a beeline for the kitchen and came back with a hand towel. He began to mop up the spill._

_"I'm so sorry Hinata... um... I didn't get any on you did I?"_

_"No," came her voice from deep under the blankets. The cocoon shifted and soon her burning red face peeped out. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. "Naruto-kun?" her voice quavered. "Could I... please trouble you to for another shirt?"_

_"Sure," he said. Something flopped next to her on the bed. She heard Naruto hurry off to the kitchen. She grabbed the dry shirt and changed as quickly as she could under the mound of blankets. She tossed out the wet one, and wormed herself upright. Naruto had just seen her… her chest. She was mortified. Her skin blushed so bright she could feel it throbbing, and yet... there was an impish voice in her head that wondered if maybe he would want to see it again._

_She looked around the apartment and analyzed her situation. Here she was, in Naruto's apartment without a chaperone. She was in Naruto's bed wearing next to nothing. She had used Naruto's shower. Naruto had just seen her underwear, which, the impish little voice in her head gleefully said, was only fair because she had certainly seen his. With a fresh surge of embarrassment and a curse at her naivete, she suddenly understood why Naruto was acting so nervous. A stern voice in her head suggested that this date had definitely turned into one of those 'compromising situations' her father was always warning her about. The impish little voice promptly spoke up and wondered if being 'compromised' by Naruto would be as bad as her father made it out to be._

_Naruto came back in holding the same two mugs again. Only this time he was shirtless. Hinata stared at him and felt the blood go rushing to her head. "I got the tea again," he said, oblivious. He carefully put the cup down in front of her this time, and scrambled back to the far corner of the mattress._

_Hinata tried to avoid staring too much. Her heart was already beating too fast. She picked up the mug and took a sip. "This tea is very good," she said politely, hoping it covered the fact that she felt like she might faint at any moment._

_"Thanks," said Naruto still looking away from her. "I guess I just got lucky. I bought whatever the store had."_

_Hinata took another sip. "Did... um... your shirt get wet when you spilled the tea?" she asked with a quaver in her voice._

_Naruto sucked in air and brushed his hair back from his head nervously. "No... actually... I only had two spare t-shirts. So when yours… got wet, I gave you mine." He took a drink and stared out the window at the rain and hail._

_"What do you miss most about your old apartment?" Hinata asked quickly, desperate to change the subject._

_Naruto looked a little relieved. "Well, that depends on whether you mean my stuff in the apartment, or the actual apartment itself. My old place had this cool little balcony off the kitchen nook. In the summer I could eat there, or if it got too hot I even slept out there sometimes." He smiled. "It was a great view. I could see everywhere in the village from up there." He sipped his mug, and wrapped his hands around it for warmth._

_"What about your belongings?" Hinata prompted._

_Naruto shrugged. "It was mostly just stuff… junk I picked up when I was a kid. The one thing I wish I still had is an old picture of team seven from when we were all kids." He laughed reminiscing. "I look so grumpy in that picture." He gazed over at Hinata_

_Naruto hunched his shoulders over his mug "How about you?" he asked. "What was it like for you when the village was destroyed? Did the Hyuga compound change much?"_

_Hinata shifted uncomfortably. "No, not much. Father was able to have it rebuilt almost exactly." She picked at some lint stuck to the blanket. "Some days it feels like it was never destroyed at all. It was one of the first places repaired. We do have a large number of construction firms and lumber companies in the clan holdings." She sighed. "My father was very proud that day to have the first home rebuilt in Konoha. They finished it in four days. 'This is a testament to the prosperity and influence of the Hyuga clan!' he said. 'We must strive to use that for the greater good of our family and our fellow villagers.' The next house took a week to restore." She turned and glanced at him. "Does it... bother you... who my family is?"_

_"No. Should it?"_

_Hinata looked a little uncomfortable. "When I first started as a part of Team Eight, Kiba used to tease me about it all the time. 'Hinata's going to treat us all for lunch!' or 'Check out the Hyuga girl's fancy new gear!' he'd say. Kurenai-sensei had to have a talk with him to make him stop. He didn't do that again, afterwards._

_Naruto shook his head and shivered. "Nope, that doesn't bug me. There were a lot of people both rich and poor who didn't like me at all when I was growing up." He smiled. "You were always nice to everyone." He finished off his tea. "So, you never told me what it was that you missed."_

_She took a sip from her mug. "I suppose what I miss most is my flower collection."_

_"You collect flowers?" asked Naruto, hugging himself._

_Hinata smiled. "My mother and I used to. When I was very young we would go through the family gardens and pick the prettiest blooms, and then we'd press them between big books. Once they were flat enough we'd put them in special binders with the name of the flower and the date and where we found it." Hinata stared out the window wistfully. "Once she took me for a walk through the woods and we found a patch of wildflowers there." She smiled. "We spent days pressing and sorting them all." Hinata looked down into her tea. "That is my earliest memory of my mother."_

_"That sounds very n-nice," said Naruto._

_Hinata looked back at him. "Are you cold?" she asked._

_"It's n-not too bad," he said, his teeth chattering. "I'll be alright."_

_"Naruto, come here and share the blanket with me." There was a stunned moment of silence as Hinata realized what she just said and blushed hotly._

_Naruto blushed as well. "I'll be alright in a s-second," he said. "Don't worry."_

_"Naruto," said Hinata, "you have shown me every hospitality and kindness. The least I can do is share your own blankets with you." The stern voice in her head grumbled loud disapproval at this suggestion. It sounded a little like her father._

_Naruto edged over towards her. He picked up the smallest corner of the blanket and draped it across his lap. Another shiver ran across his shoulders._

_Hinata took the blanket and threw it around him. She brushed up against his leg. It was ice cold. "Naruto, you are freezing!" she admonished._

_He looked up at her sheepishly. "Sorry, the heat doesn't work too well in here."_

_Hinata scooted closer, All thoughts of propriety fleeing her head, She put one arm around his back and another around his front. "You feel so warm," said Naruto. He leaned against her._

_Hinata shifted herself against his back, wrapped her arms around his chest, and her legs around his waist. The fatherly voice in her head once again made a loud protest. She leaned her head against his shoulder and pulled the blanket tightly around them._

_Gradually he warmed up. She began to feel a heat building inside her as well. Hinata began to run her hands over his bare chest telling herself she was looking for cold spots. Without really thinking, she slid her calves down over his thighs. "Um, Hinata?" he croaked back at her._

_"Shh… I'm just warming you up," she whispered in his ear. They both knew it was a lie. Little by little they began to shift against each other in small subtle ways. Naruto pressed back against her chest. Hinata ran her hands over his stomach and he inhaled sharply. The next time she just used her nails. She smiled as he shuddered._

_Naruto dropped his hands to her thighs and began stroking them with his fingertips. She gave him a squeeze and began to kiss his shoulders. As she kissed his neck, Naruto slid his hands down to her feet and rubbed her toes. "That tickles," she murmured, curling them._

_She moved from kissing his neck to his ear. Naruto turned his head as far as it would go, but she could only reach his cheek from this position. She covered it with kisses. Naruto ran his fingers up from her feet, her caressed her knees, and slowly climbed up her thighs. Hinata pulled herself to him more and kept kissing the side of his face. He reached his hands back as far as they could go. They slid over the thin fabric of the boxer shorts and caressed her hips. Hinata gasped._

_Naruto turned in her embrace. He caught her in his arms and pressed his mouth to hers. She kissed him back equally as hard. The stern voice in her head warning her about all the things that were wrong and could go wrong in this situation was really screaming now._

_Hinata ignored it. She was surprised at how easy it was._

_They wrapped their legs together and rolled so they were lying on the bed. Side by side they kissed. Hinata twitched as Naruto's tongue flicked out and licked her lips. He tried it again and this time she opened her mouth. His tongue gently danced against hers. A warm spot began to pulse at the base of her spine. She gently pushed forward and began to explore Naruto's mouth. When she finished she tilted her head back and breathed out. She liked his taste._

_She opened her eyes and looked up at him. Naruto was brushing her hair away from her face. He smiled down at her as he combed her hair through his fingers. "I like your hair," he said quietly. "It's so smooth and straight." The strands slipped through his grasp. Hinata reached up and locked her fingers with his. She pulled herself over on top of him and began to kiss his chest. She ran her fingertips down his ribcage and felt him shudder._

_Naruto started to kiss and lick her neck. Hinata took a trembling breath. "I like that," she murmured. "Oh! I like that a lot." A dull pounding swelled in her ears, drowning out the protests of the stern voice in her head._

_Naruto eased her back down on the mattress, kissing her face, her neck, her shoulders. Hinata made a small groan and arched her back to press herself up against him. Her t-shirt slid slowly upwards exposing her stomach. She felt Naruto hesitate and breathe in sharply. He shifted his weight on top of her._

_His lips grazed her stomach. "Is that okay?" he whispered. Hinata nodded. Warmth spread through her abdomen in pulsating waves as Naruto kissed and licked his way along her stomach and lower rib cage. Hinata ran her fingers through his hair. Her breath began to come in fast pants. Her skin felt like it was burning with fever. The stern voice was almost gone, swept away on a sea of sensation. Gently she pulled Naruto up towards her head. "Was that okay?" he asked, a little bit worried._

_Hinata nodded and held his face. "I just wanted to look at you," she whispered. She ran her hands down his chest again. Her heart was pounding so fast. Her whole body tingled with the touch of him. She wanted to feel him everywhere. She wanted to be as close to him as possible._

_Naruto was using his arms to prop himself up above her. His eyes were closed and his mouth hung open slightly. He would shiver and grunt as her fingertips found sensitive spots. A surge of desire crashed over Hinata. She wrapped her legs around Naruto's hips and squeezed._

_Naruto moaned and his eyes snapped open. They locked gazes. Hinata's hands drifted down over his boxer shorts. She slipped her hands inside the waistband. Naruto moaned her name and pressed up against her. Hinata slid her hands around his hips. Naruto looked down at her, his eyes wide._

_Hinata's hands started shaking. A sudden cold spear of anxiety pierced through her desire. She'd read enough romance novels and attended enough of the 'kunoichi only' lectures at the Academy to know... technically... what the next steps were supposed to be. She was also a Hyuga... of the Head family... Technically she was never supposed to need this knowledge until her wedding night._

_What was she doing? Was this really her? Was this really happening? "What do we do now?" she whispered up to him._

_Naruto's face was flushed. "I don't know. But this feels so good," he said quietly. He leaned in and kissed her. He pressed up against her. "Oh Gods, Hinata," he groaned. _

_She never thought she'd be in this position. Here was Naruto, kissing her, touching her...and it felt wonderful. At the same time all the traditions and all the biases of the Hyuga clan were pressing down on her. "Is this what you want to be?" The stern voice bellowed inside her head, cutting through her wave of passion. "Is this what you want to become? A bed companion to a commoner? You would defy your clan and heap more shame upon your father... All for some boy who didn't even confess his love for you?" She could feel the disdain for her in this disembodied voice grow as Naruto panted in her ear. "You are no Hyuga!" the voice insisted with great finality._

_It was too much. She felt the shaking start to spread over her whole body. She tried to force it away, to relax again, but she couldn't. She tried to stop it but it spiraled out of control. Naruto sat up "Hinata?" he asked looking at her with concern. "You're shivering. Is everything okay?"_

_She looked up at him. "Naruto, I… I…" She tried to speak but her mouth just wouldn't make the right words._

_Naruto looked down at her. He gently pulled her hands away. "Hinata," he said, lying next to her. "It's okay." He put his arms around her shoulders. "It's okay," he whispered in her ear._

_She trembled in his arms. "I'm sorry Naruto," her voice quavered. "I can't do it." She turned her head away._

_"Hey now," he said calmly. He picked her up to a sitting position and held her. "It's not a big deal, I understand." He stroked her hair. Gradually she stopped shaking._

_She refused to look up at him though. She felt like she was betraying herself, her desires, and him. "I'm sorry Naruto. I want to; I just... can't... do it... right now."_

_"Hey, like I said before, it's okay," He chuckled. "I understand. Things were happening so fast, I was beginning to think that we were in one of Ero-sennin's Icha-Icha novels." He looked off into the distance. "Of course I saw the reality that most of those stories were based on." He shook his head. "He got slapped a whole lot more in real life."_

_Hinata leaned against him, not really listening. "I feel really bad Naruto." She glanced up at him. "I really thought I wanted … I know I want to be with you. And then I was suddenly so scared, and now... I feel like I've ruined everything." Her head dropped to her chest._

_Naruto held her shoulders with both hands. He leaned forward and kissed her. "Everything is fine," he said. "I mean it."_

_Hinata looked away and toyed with the blanket. "Do you still like me?"_

_Naruto sat back. "Of course I do! That doesn't mean I have to sleep with you! What kind of question is that?"_

_"I'm sorry," said Hinata flinching, "I just thought that you would want to… be with me."_

_Naruto looked away nervously "I'm saying the wrong thing again, aren't I?" He took a deep breath. "I like you Hinata, a lot. I'll admit I... was thinking about it right then, a lot." He shook his head as if to clear it. "A whole lot. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't a bit nervous about it as well." He looked away and scratched the back of his head. "You're the first girl I've been out with who has ever liked me back, and I feel like... I don't know what I'm doing here." He smiled. "The only advice I've ever had was from Ero-sennin, and he always used to say that sex was 'real sex' unless there was two bottles of sake, a can of whipped cream, and a pizza for afterwards, but somehow I think that his opinion is a little suspect." Naruto inched beside her and put his arm across her shoulder. He leaned his head against hers. "I'm not in a rush."_

_Hinata refused to meet his gaze. "I just feel like I've disappointed you somehow."_

_Naruto tilted her head up and kissed her. "Nope."_

_"And you still like me?"_

_"I'm still planning on asking you out for another date tomorrow night, if you are free," he grinned, "and if your father doesn't think I'm too sketchy for his daughter."_

_Hinata looked up into his eyes, wanting to believe him, but still needing reassurance. "Are you sure you like me?"_

_Naruto looked into her eyes, thinking. Then he chuckled. "What is it?" Hinata asked him._

_"I got it!" he crowed._

_"Got what?"_

_"I just figured out how to prove to you how much I like you," he smiled at her excitedly. "When you date someone you like, you introduce them to your friends and family right? Well, I'm going to introduce you to the important people in my life."_

_Hinata gave him a puzzled look. "Don't I already know everyone that you know in the Hidden Leaf village?"_

_Naruto smiled again. "Well, not exactly. You haven't met my roommate... Not officially anyway."_

_Hinata looked around at the bare apartment. "Roommate?"_

* * *

_They sat across from each other on the mattress. "Naruto, are you sure this is a good idea?" Hinata asked for the third time._

_"Well, I've never tried it with anyone who wasn't a Jinchuriki before, but other people have come in with me once or twice. I suppose that the worst thing that could happen is that it just wouldn't work."_

_"That's not what I mean," said Hinata nervously. "Are you sure you want me to meet the Kyubi?"_

_Naruto looked at her. "What better way to show you how much I like you than to have you meet all of my friends?" He grinned. "There is no one closer to me than Kurama, literally."_

_"But will it be okay?"_

_"Oh, yeah... sure. It will be fine. He can be a bit of a grouch sometimes, but underneath it all he's a nice guy. Here, give me your hand." Naruto placed her palm on his stomach. Despite her best intentions, Hinata blushed again._

_Naruto closed his eyes. Beneath her hand, Hinata saw the seal twist and grow. "Now what?" she asked in a quiet voice._

_"Just close your eyes and relax," said Naruto calmly. "I have to figure out what's the best way to get you in."_

_Hinata closed her eyes and waited. She grew cold in the damp air and shivered a little. "Can I put the blanket back on? I'm a little cold."_

_"Sorry," said Naruto. "No blankets here."_

_Hinata opened her eyes. They were sitting in a clearing, surrounded by towering pine trees. A cold mist twisted amongst the branches. The full moon gleamed balefully overhead. Surrounding the forest, jagged mountain peaks clawed at the heavens._

_"What?" gasped Hinata._

_"Eh… It used to look more like a cage," said Naruto. "But after we became friends it started to look more like the forest. Kurama calls it a..." Naruto got a strained look on his face as he tried to remember. "A subconscious reflection of acceptance and individuation through symbolic imagery... whatever that means... He also says he likes it better this way." Naruto took a deep breath. "Kurama!" he bellowed, "Where are you?" Naruto's voice died away with an echo._

_There was no response. "Now what?" asked Hinata._

_"He'll come," said Naruto confidently. They waited. Hinata stomped her feet to keep warm. Naruto began to pace, frustrated with the waiting. "Kurama!" he yelled again, "I know you can hear me! Get over here you dumb fox!"_

_The answering roar shook the ground. "I'm busy!" rumbled a deep voice. "Come back later!"_

_"Come on Kurama!" called Naruto. "It's important!"_

_There was a resigned hiss of air. "Fine!" said the deep voice grouchily. "Just give me a second."_

_"Are you sure this is wise?" asked Hinata nervously. Naruto smiled reassuringly at her and reached out to hold her hand._

_The ground jumped, and jumped again. The tremors got louder and closer. "The Kyubi's footsteps," thought Hinata, more than a little fearfully._

_A towering shadow loomed over the treetops blocking out the stars. Moonlight glinted off its red eyes. "What do you want Naruto?" It rumbled. "I'm in the middle of something."_

_"Hey!" called Naruto, waving. "Come down here. I want you to meet someone." He stepped aside revealing Hinata._

_The Nine-tails looked down coldly. "I am not a party trick, Naruto. I do not perform for the amusement of you and your friends." It sneered. "You called me away for this nonsense? Go away. I'm busy."_

_"Busy doing what?" asked Naruto. "You're stuck in here. What is there for you to do?"_

_"None of your business," growled the Kyubi._

_Naruto put his hands on his hips and glared upward. "Hey! This is my body here! If you're doing something in it, I have a right to know what it is!"_

_The huge head dipped down. Fangs gleamed in the moon night. "We've had this discussion before. You wanted your privacy. I want mine." Hinata shivered as a huge red eye gleamed down on them. "If you want to rescind that on deal, fine by me. I'll start by asking why neither you, nor your lady friend here are wearing pants!" The fox grinned._

_"Look I just want you to meet someone, alright? It won't take long."_

_The Kyubi shrugged. "Sorry, my calendar is full. I have better things to do than help you to thrill adventurous young ladies." The fox turned his back on them._

_"Hey get back here! It's not like that at all! I want you to meet my girlfriend!" Hinata looked up at Naruto with a start. Did he just call her his girlfriend?_

_Kurama stopped, but didn't turn around. "What? So it is dinner and a movie and then come stare at the demon fox? Truly you are one of history's great romantic masters."_

_"No!" yelled Naruto. "I want her to meet all the important people in my life. Geez, why do you always have to be so touchy?"_

_The fox turned around and snorted. It's breath steamed in the air. Naruto nudged Hinata forward. "Go ahead," he whispered, "introduce yourself."_

_The Kyubi cocked its head and glared at her with one huge eye. Hinata nervously stepped forward and bowed her most formal bow, the one she would use when presenting herself to an emperor. "My name is Hinata of the clan Hyuga. It... it is a great honor to meet you Kurama-sama."_

_The fox sniffed the air. "Well she's more polite than you are," it grumbled to Naruto, "but that isn't saying much… I've met rocks with better manners than you." The Kyubi bobbed his head downward. "It is good meeting you Hinata-san. I don't often get visitors here." The huge head dipped even lower. "You say that you are of the Hyuga clan? Are you then a shinobi?"_

_Hinata nodded. "Yes I was promoted to jonin last year."_

_The fox smiled, revealing huge teeth. "Congratulations. I'm sure your clan must be very proud of your accomplishments... and Naruto here as well." Kurama cupped his paw around his snout. He attempted to whisper. "Maybe you could give Naruto some pointers, eighteen years old and still a genin. The boy is hopeless." Kurama's whisper tore the leaves off the trees._

_"Hey! I'm right here you know!" yelled Naruto indignantly._

_The Kyubi looked down smugly. "Why so you are. Be quiet little genin, the grownups are talking." He turned back to Hinata. "So you are of the Hyuga clan. Your family is both strong in its traditions and very proud." He nodded his head toward Naruto. "What are you doing with him?"_

_"Hey!" yelled Naruto again._

_Hinata blushed. "Well, Naruto asked me out on a date."_

_"And your father approved? What is your lineage if I may inquire?"_

_"My parents are Hiashi and Hishyona Hyuga."_

_The fox sat on his haunches, and the earth shook. "Mmm… I remember Hishyona well. She was always very kind to Kushina Uzumaki, even after she became my Jinchuriki. The fox shook his head. "Hiashi, not so much, he was strong but lacked discipline. He had no self-control. His brother was always getting him out of trouble." Hinata's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Her father? In trouble? The fox slid forward and lay down on his paws. "I heard he became the head of the Hyuga clan." Kurama inched his head forward and studied Hinata. "You have the Byakugan as well. That is good." The fox took a deep breath through his nose. He stared at Hinata his head askew._

_Hinata grew a little apprehensive under his scrutiny. "You have a good heart like your mother." The Kyubi spoke in a soft rumble. He inhaled again. Hinata had the feeling he was tasting the scent of her soul. "You are kind and loyal." He sniffed again. "You are stronger than you think you are, much stronger." The fox quickly glanced over at Naruto. "You will fiercely protect those you care for." His fiery eyes settled back on Hinata. "And you will never go back on your word." Kurama's mouth twitched upward in a smile. "I like that in a human."_

_Hinata bowed her head again. "Thank you for the kind words Kurama-sama. I must say, I never expected to meet you in person. I am pleased to have had the opportunity."_

_The fox raised an eyebrow and grinned good-naturedly. "Oh? And what were you expecting?"_

_Hinata smiled a little nervously. "The tales one hears certainly do justice to your magnificent appearance, but they never mention your civility." She bowed. "I will do my best to correct this oversight in my village." She looked up. The Kyubi was staring down at her with a puzzled frown on his face. Hinata quickly bowed again. "I apologize if I misspoke," she said hastily. "I did not mean to offend."_

_The fox chuckled. "No, no, there was no offence. Something is puzzling me. You seem very familiar. Like we have met before." Its huge head crept closer. Soon Hinata was staring at her own reflection in its giant pupil. "Did we once do battle?"_

_Hinata swallowed. "I... once fought by Naruto's side when the Akatsuki known as Pain attacked the Hidden Leaf Village."_

_Kurama looked up at Naruto and then went back to Hinata. "Ahh," he said knowingly, "you're that one. I apologize for not recognizing you sooner. When Naruto and I go through the various stages our consciousnesses tend to blend as well. It makes it difficult to sort out specific details afterwards." He extended a claw on the tip of one finger. "It has been a pleasure meeting you Hinata Hyuga. I hope to repeat the experience some day." Hinata reached out her hand and gently shook the enormous claw._

_Kurama slowly climbed to his feet. He looked down at Naruto. "I approve." He rumbled._

_"Huh?" said Naruto, confused._

_The fox smiled. "You wanted to know what I think of her... I approve. You have my blessing."_

_"I wasn't seeking your blessing you dumb fur-ball!" said Naruto blushing. "I just wanted you to meet her!"_

_"Well, I met her, and I approve. It is my secret hope that maybe she can perform a miracle and teach you some manners as well." He sighed. "I can't believe I've been trapped inside someone as crass and uncultured as you for all these years." Kurama glanced back over his shoulder as he walked. "Would it kill you to go to a play, or an opera once in awhile?" He padded away._

_"Would it kill you to take a bath once in a while, you flea ridden mop?" Naruto shot back. The Kyubi just chuckled as he strode off into the depths of the forest._

_Naruto looked down and shook his head. He turned back to Hinata. "Well? What did you think?"_

_"He seems very… big... but nice," she said with a half smile. "I'm glad he likes me."_

_Naruto smiled back at her. "Yeah, he does at that," he said thoughtfully. He stretched. "Well we should probably head back and see what time it is."_

_Hinata put an arm around his waist. She leaned on him. "I hope the clothes are dry."_

_Naruto grinned. "Me too, I can't imagine what your dad would say if you came home wearing my underwear." A flicker of fear passed over Naruto's face. "Oh Gods, I just remembered… I left the oven on. We've got to get going." He made a tiger sign with his hands._

_"Wait!" said Hinata. "How do I leave?"_

_Naruto looked up. "Huh? Oh, It's just like leaving a genjutsu." He closed his eyes. "Release!" he called out. He faded from view._

_Hinata followed suit. "Release!" she said and felt herself begin to float away. She was just beginning to wake up when a huge red hand seized her and dragged her back down._

_She sat in the paw of the Nine tails. He stared down at her. She stared back with her mouth hanging open in horror. The Kyubi tried to smile. "Forgive me Hinata-san, but I needed to talk to you away from Naruto. Unfortunately, there is no time for exhaustive explanations." Kurama looked up nervously. "If we take too long he will suspect." He turned back to Hinata. "He plans on battling Sasuke Uchiha alone. He believes that if this happens the both of them will die." Kurama leaned forward. "You must prevent this at all costs."_

_"How?" asked Hinata in a stunned voice._

_The Nine tails looked away. "Once before when you fought by his side we were able to do great feats." Kurama looked back shyly. "He cares for you more than he is willing to admit to anyone, even himself. If someone like you was with him he would be able to defeat every demon in hell just to make sure you were safe. His strength, you see, lies in protecting those he cares about." The fox edged his head closer. "I wish I could say more... Remember, do not let him battle Sasuke alone! Take as many as you can with you, but do not let him go alone."_

_Hinata nodded nervously, overwhelmed with the double shock of meeting the Nine Tails face to face and alone, and then having the demon fox beg her for help. "Thank you for the warning Kurama-sama. I did not know you cared so much for Naruto."_

_Kurama looked away. "I'll admit I've grown... a little fond of the fool. But I worry about more than just Naruto's fate here." Kurama took a deep breath. "Sasuke has cast in his lot with one who's hunger for power know no bounds… A fool of a man who believes he can become greater than the Gods themselves. He wishes to master the Ten tails. Sooner or later he must seek my chakra to further his goals." The fox looked worried. " And if he gains it, I worry for the world."_

_"But... but we killed the masked Madera!" exclaimed Hinata._

_Kurama smiled sadly. "If only greed and arrogance were rare traits in your kind… There will always be another villain." The Kyubi looked up and let go of her. "He calls for you. You must go." Hinata felt herself begin to rise to the realm of consciousness. "Promise me! Do not let him go alone!" hissed Kurama._

_"I promise," Hinata muttered right before she opened her eyes._

_Naruto was hovering over her with a concerned look on his face. "Are you okay? It took you a little while there to come out of it."_

_Hinata sat up. "I'm fine. It was just a little trickier than I thought.," she said evasively. She reached up and touched Naruto's cheek, thinking on Kurama-sama's words. Naruto was planning on dying? He didn't seem to be that upset about it. He didn't seem to be upset at all._

_Naruto kissed her. "I have good news, bad news and worse news."_

_He was so happy right now… so cheerful. Perhaps… perhaps the Kyubi was mistaken? Hinata smiled and hugged him. She decided that for the moment, she would keep an eye on him. If she did notice anything, she would protect him... she would always protect him, no matter what. "What is the good news?"_

_Naruto grinned back. "Well, the good news is that the apartment didn't burn down. The bad news is that our clothes are still wet, and the worse news is that we have seven minutes to get dressed and get back to the Hyuga compound before ten o'clock." He handed her her pile of damp clothes. "Sorry, it's been such an unusual evening."_

_Hinata stepped forward and pressed against him. "That's okay," she smiled up at him. "I loved this unusual evening with you." She leaned forward and kissed him. Naruto pressed back. Soon they were making out again._

_Naruto glanced up at the clock. "Arg! We've only got four minutes now!"_

_Hinata caressed his chest. "I don't care if we're late."_

_Naruto stood up. "I do! I want to stay on your Father's good side!"_

_They dressed and ran back to Hinata's house. They were only five minutes late. Hiashi glared sternly at Naruto the whole time, but agreed to permit Hinata to go out on another date the next night. And the night after. _

_For the next few months Naruto and Hinata were together almost every available evening. Often times when their missions could spare it, they would spend time together during the day as well. It took Ino two weeks before she got over her jealous ranting and just accepted that there was one more couple in Konoha. Hinata even convinced Naruto to go to an opera with her. He complained the whole time, but in a good-natured way. She hoped Kurama appreciated it._

_Everything was wonderful. Hinata felt happier than she ever had before. She felt that the mutual decision to take things as they came, took a lot of the pressure out of their relationship. They spent a lot of time kissing and making out, a few times they even came close again, but someone always shied away. After a while it was almost as if they made the unspoken decision to avoid places where they could get into... a compromising position._

_Even so, Hinata felt like she was floating. Seeing him made her heart flutter. Kissing him made her toes curl. She often had to remind herself that this was all really happening. Naruto was for all intents and purposes her boyfriend. She was finally with him!_

_And then the letter came._


	26. Chapter 13 Hinata's Tale part 1

**Chapter Thirteen: Hinata's tale: Love Lost and Found**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

...and Hinata's tale goes ever onward... but trust me dear reader... the end is in sight.

As has been the case for the rest of this flashback, events in regular type are happening in 'present day' flashback (Approx. 3 years post fourth war) Story elements in _italics_ are happening within Hinata's memories inside that flashback... a flashback within a flashback if you will...

Please let me know if things get too confusing.

-Cas

* * *

"Hey Hinata... are you... doing okay?" Naruto was staring at her with concern.

"Hmm?" Hinata looked away from the window. "I'm sorry, I was just... thinking about something else there for a second. What did you say?" She had been trying to force away the hollow feeling that was building up inside of her by focusing on happier memories of easier times. This decision… the choice between love and duty kept forcing itself to the forefront of her mind. Naruto meant the world to her, but so did her family, and there were people in her clan depending on her.

"I asked if everything was okay. You don't seem to be eating much."

Hinata gave a weak smile and shook her head. "The food is delicious. I just had too many hors d'oeuvres at the meeting. I'm eating slowly."

"Oh, as long as everything is to your liking," said Naruto with a trace of nervousness in his voice. His hand brushed his jacket pocket. "Anyway, I was over visiting Kakashi-sensei's today, and I got a chance to play with Chirosu and Hebisu." Naruto took a bite and chewed. "They conned me into playing a quick game of ninja with them and their friends… it was pretty adorable"

"How old are they now?" asked Hinata putting down her glass.

"They just turned two. It was so funny. Anko-san had agreed to watch Asuma Jr. for Kurenai-sensei, while she was off on a short mission, and the twins were just chasing him all over the house. They both wanted to be next to him the whole time. He would sit and they'd both run over and try to sit in the same chair. He would go down the hall and they'd follow him. When he had a snack, they'd try to take and eat whatever it was he was eating. When he was in the bathroom, they were pounding at the door begging to be let in. Eventually he went running to Anko. Well, you know her parenting style right? She turned around and said, 'The next little girl who bothers Asuma-kun will get hung up by her thumbs!' and storms off. Both Chirosu and Hebisu started bawling their eyes out. Poor Asuma, he was surrounded by two blubbering toddlers screaming at the top of their lungs. He didn't know what to do! Finally, he agreed to play with them for the rest of the afternoon just to get them to stop crying. You should have seen the look on his face when They tied him up and told him they were playing ninjas, and he was the handsome prince captured by bad guys and they were the strong beautiful kunoichi coming to rescue him." Naruto grinned. "Of course, then they started arguing who would rescue him first, and that led to a brawl, so then I decided to step in as the forces of evil... give them something to fight other than each other."

Hinata smiled. "The poor boy. Those two girls must be smitten with him." She pulled some vegetables from the serving bowl and put them on her plate. "I can see why though. He is such a cutie pie."

Naruto leaned back in his chair. "Yep. Who knew kids could be so much fun. I always thought that they were crying little balls of snot."

"Naruto!" Hinata admonished him.

"Well they are... sometimes," he protested. He put his hand in his pocket quickly and then pulled it away. "Sorry… I guess I've just been thinking about kids lately."

Hinata smiled and nudged him under the table. "You've caught the baby fever have you?"

Naruto nudged her back. "Well it has been going around hasn't it? I mean Tenten is the proudest soon to be mother I have ever seen. Neji is smiling… Smiling! Temari is, as we speak, dragging Shikamaru all over the village picking out maternity wear, new furniture, and complaining about how they absolutely have to go back to the Sand Village for her to give birth because 'All these trees can't be good for an infant's development.'"

Hinata giggled. "I can picture her saying that." She paused for a second and her face fell. "Poor Ino," she said quietly.

Naruto looked down. "Yeah, I know," he murmured. Then he shrugged. "She's young. She's pretty. She's had boyfriends before, she'll have them again."

Hinata narrowed her eyes. "Oh? You think she's pretty do you?" she said with mock seriousness.

Naruto leaned across the table. "I only have eyes for one woman," he said in a smoky voice. He kissed her quickly and sat back down. He looked at her over the candles on the table. "Um… Can you keep a secret?" he asked in a whisper.

"Of course," said Hinata. "What?"

"Tenten and Temari aren't the only shinobi we know with a baby on the way."

"Really?" said Hinata, thinking of the couples that she knew. "Who is it? Are they Leaf Village shinobi?"

"Yep!" said Naruto.

Hinata pondered for a moment. "It can't be Konohamaru can it? He's far too young!"

Naruto laughed and shook his head. "Nope! Besides, he and Hibari broke up about two months ago. I'll give you a hint. The soon to be parents don't have an 'official' relationship, but we all probably should have seen it coming."

Hinata shook her head. "I need a better hint."

Naruto leaned forward. "The Uchiha clan is about to grow by one." He waggled his eyebrows.

"Sasuke?" gasped Hinata. Naruto nodded with a smug smile on his face. "But… with who? Who could possibly be the mother?"

"Think about it." Naruto tilted his head slightly and innocently looked up at the ceiling. "It's not a very long list of possibilities isn't it?"

"Sakura?" Hinata whispered. Naruto nodded, a short little bob of his head. Hinata sat back in shock. "Sakura is pregnant?"

"Yep!"

"So Sasuke and Sakura... have been sleeping together?" Hinata asked, forcing her voice to stay low.

"It's my understanding that's how this sort of thing usually happens." Naruto grinned, clearly enjoying himself.

"She never said a word to me!" Hinata looked accusingly at Naruto. "Did you know about this?"

Naruto shifted a little. "Well, I didn't really know for certain. I... suspected... something was going on between them, but you know how Sasuke is. I didn't want to pry."

"So Sakura told you?"

Naruto grinned. "Well, not exactly…" He grew serious quickly. "Hey, please don't go spreading this around okay? Sakura is barely a month and a half in, and she'd kill me if she found out I was telling people before she was ready to."

Hinata nodded. "I can see why… I promise not to say a word...But... then how do you know then if she didn't tell you? Was it Sasuke?"

Naruto sat back and grinned again. "Remember how I said I wanted to take you out to a very special dinner because I wanted to celebrate something really great that was going to happen?"

Hinata stared at him. "Yes?"

Naruto smiled, his face flushed. "Well, I got to sit in on the Hokage's small council today."

Hinata smiled. "Why that's fantastic Naruto! Did you offer the fifth Hokage any good advice?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, still grinning. "No.., I didn't do so hot, but that's okay." He looked her in the eye. "I'll have lots of chances to improve."

Hinata sat up. "Tsunade-sama named you to her council?" She said with excitement for him.

Naruto grinned wider than a crocodile. "Better. She named me her successor! You madam are eating dinner with the future sixth Hokage!" He looked down shyly. "Officially." He grinned bashfully. "That's the future sixth Hokage part... not the dinner part… I mean dinner is obvious."

Hinata leaped across the table and kissed him. "Oh, Naruto that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"

"Yeah," he said leaning back, "I am pretty great aren't I?"

Hinata gave him a playful shove. "Don't get a swelled head you," she warned. She sat back down and gave him a wry smile. "I always knew you could do it."

Naruto gave her a loving look and then glanced away shyly. "That's true," he said quietly, "you have always believed in me." He sat for a moment smiling strangely, fidgeting.

"What is it?" asked Hinata.

"I was just wondering... what other… significant things could happen before today is over." His hand was toying with something in his pocket. Hinata nervously sipped from her glass, and a long silence fell over the table.

"Naruto," she started.

"Hinata," Naruto said at the same time. He smiled at her and eased back into his seat. "You go ahead."

Hinata smiled timidly. "I... also... have some news from today." Naruto looked at her expectantly. She nervously plunged on ahead. "I have to make a decision tomorrow about... whether or not I will become my Father's heir to the head of the clan."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "Woo-hoo!" he yelled, flinging his arms into the air. Conversation in the restaurant ceased and everyone turned to stare. "Hinata that's great! Your father is finally acknowledging you!" He jumped up from his seat and hugged her across the table, knocking over his wine glass in the process. "That is so incredible!" He started to shower her with kisses. He paused and looked down at her lack of enthusiasm. "Wait… What happened to Hanabi? Is she okay?"

Hinata nodded. "She's fine," she said quietly. "She's joining the ANBU."

"Oh," said Naruto, a little confused. "Is there something else wrong then? I would have expected you to be a little happier."

Hinata stared down at her plate not talking. A waiter came by to clean up the mess of Naruto's spilled wine. He glared disapprovingly at them. "Sorry," said Naruto. "I'll make it up to you in your tip." The waiter stomped away muttering something about the _nouveau riche_.

Hinata started again. "It's… well... partly it's just a lot of responsibility and I'm... not sure I want that."

"But you'd be great at it Hinata! You handled the logistics and inventory for the war, you're great at listening to people, you're fair, you're forgiving!" He smiled at her happily. "I believe in you Hinata! I know you'll do a great job!"

Hinata toyed with her fork. "But... what if... we can't see each other anymore," she whispered.

Naruto took her hand. "Hinata, I will always make time for you." He shrugged. "I mean sure, I'll be much busier now that I've got to learn all this Hokage stuff, and you'll be busier with the clan stuff but we'll still find time for each other right?" He smiled at her. "It's just an added job, right?"

Hinata brushed his hand away. She turned and clasped her arms around her torso. "The Head of the Hyuga clan is a very important position. There are a lot of clan traditions that have to be upheld and obeyed. There is a lot of nuance that the Head of the Clan has to adhere to in the middle of all of the politics and positioning, otherwise someone will get offended. Any problem could basically cause the clan enterprises to grind to a standstill." She sighed and continued in a flat voice. "What I wear, who I sit next to, the people I meet with…" she glanced up at Naruto. "Who I am in a relationship with…"

Naruto smiled with bravado. "Well, that's no problem. You're dating the future Sixth Hokage! You can't get much better than that!" he said, jabbing at his chest with his thumb. Hinata still refused to look at him. Naruto's grin faded. "What?" he asked.

Hinata took a deep breath. "My father arranged a marriage for me today. Someone whom he believes is will be a better match for the Head of the Hyuga clan... Someone who will consolidate the clan power in the family. I am... forbidden from seeing you again," she said quietly.

Naruto gave a weak smile. "This is a joke isn't it?" Hinata didn't say anything. Naruto's cheek twitched. His hands clenched into fists. "Son of a bitch!" he exploded. "How dare he treat his own daughter like she was some sort of… of… commodity to be sold! I swear I will.."

"Naruto! Sit down!" yelled Hinata. Naruto paused mid rant and looked down at her. Tears were streaming down Hinata's face. "I don't want you to get angry. Not now, not here," she said sobbing. "I need you, but I need you to be calm and to listen and... to help me." She wiped at her cheeks with her hands.

Naruto put his arms down slowly. He took a deep breath. He pulled his chair next to her and sat down. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry." He reached over and put his hand on her knee. "I shouldn't have gotten mad like that. What do you need?"

Hinata calmed down and took a drink. She grabbed his hand and began to tell him about her day in detail. She told him about her sister, her Father's dilemma, Junko's manipulating and Honan's scheming. She told him about the plight of Sayuri and the veiled threats towards Neji, his unborn child and the rest of the branch family. She told him about her fight with her father over him. She told him how this morning, no one in the clan cared a bit about her existence, but she was happy. Now, she was the crucial linchpin for the future of the whole clan, and she was miserable. She told him how it all seemed to depend on her. The candles burned down. The food got cold.

Naruto listened and stroked her hand. When she ran out of things to say, they sat in silence for a long time.

"Wow," said Naruto quietly. "So basically you can either take the job, which means you have to deal with backstabbing and treachery for the rest of your life, and marry this Mikio guy just so creepy witch lady can have bragging rights that the Head of the Hyuga clan is her daughter-in-law." He took a deep breath." Or you can refuse, get exiled from the clan, and watch everyone start cheating, stealing, burning, poisoning and murdering each other." He looked up at her. "Nice family you have there."

"That's not everyone. Some of them are quite nice," she said sharply. She dropped her head. "But it's true, for most of them at the top, deception and treachery are second nature." Hinata sighed. "I don't know what to do."

They sat silently for a while longer. "Well," said Naruto thoughtfully, "I could ask Kurama to take a dump on the witch lady's front lawn."

"What?" asked Hinata, horrified and amused.

Naruto held up his hands. "Hear me out... It's a good plan! So what would happen is; late at night we head over to her house and Kurama makes a 'deposit'. She wakes up in the morning and there's this huge steaming mountain of crap blocking the front gate, right? Now I don't know what Nine tailed fox dung smells like , but I'm guessing it isn't roses." He smiled. "The witch lady is going to freak out and hire a bunch of people to cart it all away as quickly as possible. That's going to cost a ton of money! So the next night we do it again, and again, and again. Pretty soon she's either going to run out of money, or have to move somewhere far, far away! Either way, she won't be a problem ever again." Naruto sat back smugly.

Hinata couldn't help but smile. "That plan is immature and ridiculous. Plus, they will know it's you."

Naruto gave a conspiratorial grin. "How will they know it isn't some other Nine tailed demon fox using their yard as a toilet?"

Hinata stifled a giggle and tried to remain serious. "You've never met Junko. She would never give up. She doesn't know how to yield on anything."

Naruto leaned closer. "We'll take Kurama out for Mexican the night before," he whispered. "She'll never know what hit her!"

Hinata leaned against him. "Thank you Naruto. Your jokes always cheer me up."

"Who's joking? I'm deadly serious. A big enough pile of poo on this one house and half your troubles would disappear." He smiled. "You could be like a yakuza boss. Someone would start to give you trouble and you would give them this cold look and say: 'I hear your garden is looking a little dull this year. I'm going to give your address to this fertilizer company I know!' and all of a sudden everyone will be falling all over themselves with apologies. 'No Boss! Please! We'll do better next time! Honest!'

Hinata laughed. "I love you!" she leaned over and kissed him.

Naruto brushed her bangs off her face. "I love you too..." He cleared his throat. "So… um... this Mikio guy... Is he cute?"

"No!" said Hinata emphatically. "Why?"

"Just checking," said Naruto. "I wanted to see if I should be jealous or not." He looked over the table. "Hmm… Sorry, it looks like dinner got cold."

Hinata shifted closer to him. "That's okay, I wasn't that hungry anyway."

Naruto hugged her. He looked around a little nervously. "So what do you want to do now?" he asked quietly.

Hinata thought. Everything in her life right now seemed to be spinning out of control. She felt unbalanced, like there was nothing holding her down. Her future, which seemed happy and stable this morning, was now a huge mess. She felt like there were only two things that she was sure of: That Naruto loved her, and for tonight at least, he was still hers.

"Do you know what?" she said with forced cheer. "I am a little hungry. Let's go out for ramen."

Naruto looked at her with mild surprise. "Really? You don't want to ask the staff to heat this all back up for you?"

Hinata shook her head. "Don't get me wrong Naruto, I'm happy that you wanted to celebrate by taking me out to a fancy place to eat, but I've had enough of fancy rich food right now. I think I want ramen." She leaned close and kissed him. "Just like we had on our first date."

Naruto looked at her. He smiled a little sadly. "Okay, first date ramen it is." He waved the waiter over for the check. He paid and held the door open for her. They walked down the street arm in arm.

Naruto looked up at the sky. "I don't think we'll be able to reenact our whole first date. The weather looks like it's going to be pretty nice," he said smiling weakly.

Hinata pulled on his hand. "Come here." She pulled him into a narrow alley. Once there she pushed him back against the wall of a building. She pressed up against him. She stared into his eyes, her lips centimeters away from his. She ran her hands over his chest. She untucked his shirt and slid her hands over his stomach. Naruto closed his eyes and leaned forward to kiss her, but Hinata pulled back slightly. She slid her hands down grabbed his hips and pulled him to her. His eyes snapped open and he smiled a little shyly. "After we go out for ramen," she whispered. "I am going to take you back to your apartment. If I need to create an excuse, like being cold and wet, for us to take all of our clothes off and get together underneath your blankets then I will make sure that we are very cold, and very wet. Do you understand?" She slowly brought her lips forward.


	27. Chapter 13 Hinata's Tale part 2

_Something was obviously wrong with Naruto the day the letter arrived. Hinata could see the tension in his shoulders. Naruto would stare off into space for minutes at a time, only to suddenly come back to her with an embarrassed grin. He grew ten times as affectionate. He was constantly touching her hands. He would brush up against her, and steal kisses. There was no passion behind them however; it was like he was only seeking comfort._

_They were spending the night in at his apartment. Naruto had offered to cook them dinner. About half way through it became clear that Hinata should be the one who did the actual cooking, while Naruto helped as best he could. Eighteen years of living off of instant ramen did not make him a master chef._

_She left him in the kitchen to shape the rice into the proper block shapes for the nigiri, while she went to the bathroom to wash her hands before cutting up the fish and shrimp. As she was heading back to the kitchen, her foot scuffed Naruto's orange jacket that he had carelessly thrown on the floor. Hinata sighed and picked it up. "I have got to get him a coat tree, or at least some hooks so he can hang this up." She looked around. It was a month later and Naruto's apartment was still relatively bare of furniture. He still lived out of his packs. She decided to hang his coat over the corner of the bathroom door. As she swung it up, she noticed a wrinkled piece of paper peeking out of the inside pocket. Recognizing Naruto's handwriting on the paper she gently pulled it out. The letter was wrinkled and stained with water. The ink had bled in many spots. It was still legible._

_** Sasuke,**_

_**I know why you're doing this... I understand why, but you're blaming people who aren't responsible. You've done a lot of damage and you need to stop. There is a way to fix things. It's still not too late. I need to talk to you. Where can we meet?**_

_**-Naruto**_

_There was something scrawled on the back. Hinata flipped the paper over._

_**When I come back to the Leaf Village, it will be to burn it to the ground. Nothing will satisfy me until every man, woman and child of Konoha has suffered like the Uchiha clan has suffered. When you see me next, I will kill you. If you still insist on trying to try to stop me before I reach your village, I'll wait for you until the moon is full. Meet me where I acknowledged you as a worthy adversary.**_

_The message was signed with a little hand drawn image of the Uchiha crest. "The full moon is tomorrow night," thought Hinata. Her stomach was a cold knot._

_"Hey Hinata!" Naruto called from the kitchen, "I think I've got making the rice blocks down. We're ready for the toppings at any time." She quickly folded the letter back up and put it back in his pocket._

_She hurried into the narrow kitchen. "Good work!" she said trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible. She looked around and picked up a large knife. "Let me just get started here." She started to fillet the salmon into thin strips. She had to go extra carefully because her hands wouldn't stay still._

_"Wow! This is going to be delicious!" said Naruto enthusiastically, "A huge heaping pile of Hyuga-Uzumaki sushi." He looked thoughtful. "Wait… Should we call it Uzu-ga sushi or Hyu-maki sushi? Hmm…" He nudged Hinata and smiled. "What do you think?"_

_Hinata gave him a quick smile. "Either one is fine with me," she said, carving away. She took a deep breath and tried to cut another piece. It came off ragged._

_Naruto nudged her again. "Either way, I want to feed you the first piece." He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. "Man, this is going to the most romantic dinner ever. Something we will always remember."_

_Hinata put the knife down before she hurt herself. It clicked on the cutting board. Naruto looked up at the sound. "Is everything okay Hinata?"_

_"Why are we going to always remember this dinner?" she whispered._

_"What?" asked Naruto, forming up more rice blocks._

_Hinata closed her eyes. "Why will we always remember this dinner? Is it going to be our last one together?"_

_Naruto turned slowly and looked at her. "What are you talking about Hinata?" he asked in a small voice._

_Hinata stared straight ahead. "The full moon is tomorrow night."_

_Naruto sighed and dropped the rice ball he was holding. "You saw Sasuke's letter." He turned and faced the wall. "You had no right to go through my things."_

_"I was straightening up. I picked your jacket up from the floor, and the letter just happened to fall out," said Hinata, stretching the truth slightly. "When were you planning on telling me?"_

_Naruto took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "I don't know... I only got it yesterday evening."_

_"What are you going to do?"_

_Naruto shrugged and picked up the rice ball again. "Go stop him I guess. I don't see that I have much of a choice."_

_Hinata nodded. "I'm coming with you," she said firmly._

_Naruto shook his head. "No."_

_Hinata looked at him. "I wasn't asking your permission!"_

_"It's too dangerous! I can't take anyone with me!"_

_"Don't act like I'm some fragile flower!" snapped Hinata. "I've seen danger before! I've been on missions! I've fought in a war! I can take care of myself."_

_"Bringing Sasuke back is my responsibility! Do you hear me? Mine! I wasn't strong enough to stop him the first time, but I'm damn well strong enough to stop him now!"_

_"Then take me with you!" pleaded Hinata. "We'd be much stronger together wouldn't we?"_

_Naruto closed his eyes. "No."_

_"Why not?" asked Hinata her voice getting louder._

_"Because the last time you interfered in my battle, you nearly got yourself killed, that's why."_

_"Oh? So you think I'm not strong enough?" cried out Hinata. "I would expect to hear that sort of thing from my father, or maybe Neji, but never from you Naruto!" Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. "You were the one who always gave me the confidence I needed to do anything. Don't you dare say otherwise now!"_

_"I can't stand to see you get hurt again, Hinata!" yelled Naruto. "Don't you know what that does to me?" He clutched at his chest. "I nearly gave up on everything. I nearly released the Kyubi!"_

_Hinata stepped closer to him. "And how do you think I'll feel when you don't come back again?" Her mouth trembled as she tried to maintain her composure. "That's your big plan isn't it? You are going to sacrifice yourself to take out Sasuke, aren't you? Do you think it will matter anything to me knowing that the man I love died a hero?"_

_Naruto dropped his head and looked away. "Who told you? Have you been talking to Kakashi-sensei or Sakura?"_

_"Does it matter?" asked Hinata. "You can't do this Naruto… You can't forbid me to go. If dying is the best plan you can come up with on your own, then you need to let others help you."_

_"You just don't understand!" said Naruto coldly. "I am the only one who understands Sasuke well enough to bring him back! I am the only one he can talk to. It has to be me!"_

_"You are wrong Naruto! I understand that part just fine. You go get Sasuke, you talk to him, you go fight Sasuke if you need to. But I am going to along come too. I will come and I will bring Sakura, and Kiba, and Neji, and Shikamaru, and anyone else I can find." She reached out with one hand to touch him. "Stop acting like Sasuke is all your fault. Stop acting like he is only your problem." She stepped closer. "He is still a member of the Hidden Leaf Village. We will all help him together." She took another step. "You can tell me not to come, but I will not listen. You can say you won't see me anymore... I can live with that... as long as you are alive and well. You can threaten me with violence, but I would drag myself on two bloody stumps to stay by your side." She grabbed his hand. "You can tell me that whoever goes will die. Fine I say, I would rather die next to you, than live a lifetime without you in it."_

_Naruto stood there, his face twisted with some painful decision. "Okay," he whispered. "We'll do it your way. We will get everyone together." He looked up at her, "Let's finish dinner first."_

_Hinata shook her head. "No, we go now. We don't have much time to meet up with him, we should get moving."_

_Naruto made a big sigh. "Alright," he said. "Let me use the bathroom first."_

_Hinata paced around the small bedroom while she waited. Naruto seemed to take an awfully long time. Finally the toilet roared, the sink ran, and the door opened. "Go get your gear," said Hinata. "We shouldn't waste any time."_

_Naruto shook his head. "Everyone else who wants to come is going to have to get ready as well. There is no sense in running around town in a full kit now, when I'll have time later to put it all together."_

_Hinata nodded sternly. She felt very cold and hard inside. It was like a steel door had slammed shut around her heart. She purposefully started towards the door. Naruto grabbed her arm. "Hey Hinata," he said quietly. "I'm... really very sorry."_

_Hinata turned around back to him. She touched his face and smiled. "Our first fight," she said sadly. She leaned forward and kissed him. "Don't worry," she smiled, "We'll have many many more."_

_"Yeah," said Naruto cagily. "So who are we going to get first?"_

* * *

_Ten minutes later they were tapping at Sakura's window. "Sakura!" Naruto hissed. "Are you there? Get up!" A shape in the bed slowly rolled over and pulled a pillow over its head. Naruto tapped again louder. "Sakura! Get up!" Naruto turned to Hinata. "I don't think she'll wake up."_

_The blankets exploded as the furious Sakura charged the window. "What the hell do you think you're doing Naruto? Haven't you ever heard of a doorbell?" She tore open the window and lunged at him._

_Naruto flinched away. "Don't hit me! It was her idea!"_

_Sakura looked and her bleary eyes widened in surprise. "Hinata? What are you doing here?"_

_Hinata's manners took over. "I'm so sorry Sakura, we didn't think you would be asleep so early."_

_Sakura yawned. "Yeah, well, I just finished a twenty four hour shift at the hospital. It's past bedtime for me." She looked curiously at them. "What do you want?"_

_Hinata took a deep breath. "Naruto knows where Sasuke is. We're going to get him. Do you want to come?"_

_Sakura twitched. She slowly turned to stare at Naruto. "You found him?" she asked in a strangled voice. "Where?"_

_Naruto looked down. "He'll be at the old bridge where we saw him after the Five Kage summit in the Land of Iron. He'd said he'd wait for me to meet him there until the full moon."_

_Sakura leaned out the window and gazed up at the moon. "Let me get dressed." She pulled the curtains. Minutes later she flung them open and climbed out the window. "Right," she said hopping down to the ground. "What is the plan?"_

_"We get together everyone we can find," said Hinata excitedly. "We're all going to bring him back, together!"_

_Sakura nodded. "We should meet up with Kakashi-sensei next. I'll bet he'll have some good ideas."_

_Naruto frowned. "I don't know if we should involve any of the adults. I mean, they'll just want to tell the Hokage, and then it will be all official."_

_"Why shouldn't it be all official?" asked Hinata._

_"Well, isn't there still a kill-on-sight order out for Sasuke? Didn't Danzo issue that?"_

_"Oh come on Naruto," snapped Sakura. "You can't actually believe for a single moment that Kakashi-sensei would actually carry through on that, not unless he really didn't have any other choice." Sakura gave him a shove. "Now move, we need to get going."_

* * *

_Hinata knocked nervously at Kakashi's door. There was no answer. "Maybe he's not at home?" she said timidly._

_"Oh he's home all right," said Sakura grouchily, pointing downward. There were two pairs of boots seated outside the door. Sakura slammed a fist on the door, causing it to jump in it's frame. "Kakashi-sensei!" she bellowed. "Get over here right now and open the damn door! It's important!"_

_They could hear noises from inside the apartment. The door creaked open a crack and Kakashi's eye peeked out the narrow space. "Hey guys!" he said cheerfully. "I don't suppose I could ask you very nicely to come back in the morning? I'm a little bit occupied right now."_

_Sakura smiled at him. "Sensei, open this door right now or I'm taking it off it's hinges."_

_Kakashi paused "Well..."_

_"Hurry up and get rid of them Kakashi! I can't stay in this Icha-Icha costume forever, you know? It's drafty." Anko's voice rang out from inside the apartment._

_The three younger shinobi looked at him incredulously. "Don't you ever take that mask off sensei?" Naruto asked in a concerned voice._

_Kakashi had the decency to blush. "Kakashi-sensei," said Hinata seriously, "we need your help. We found Sasuke."_

_The blush on Kakashi's face faded. "Well then," he said. "I'd better let you in... just... let me put on some pants."_

_"So," said a half-dressed Kakashi a few moments later. "You got in touch with Sasuke via courrier ninja, and he agreed to wait to fight with you at the old bridge when the moon was full." He looked at the three of them. "And now you are assembling a team to capture him. Does the Fifth Hokage know about this?"_

_"Not yet," murmured Naruto._

_Anko stepped out of Kakashi's bedroom, strapping on her greaves. "Well, I for one say, why tell her? It would only complicate this with a lot of unnecessary rules and paperwork if we do." She gave all of them a predatory smile._

_"Um, Anko-sensei? Thank you for your support but..." started Hinata._

_"But what?" asked Anko, her grin vanishing. "This Sasuke guy works with Kabuto right? I owe that wriggly bastard a world of hurt. If the Uchiha knows any clues that would help me get my pretty little hands on Kabuto, then I want in on this mission!" Kakashi sighed. Anko turned on him. "Don't you sigh at me mister!"_

_Kakashi held up his hands. "I was only wondering how big this so called mission was going to get." He leaned forward. "You do realize that this will be an unsanctioned mission… we could get into a lot of trouble because of this."_

_Sakura looked up at him and smiled. "Those who break the rules of the shinobi world are considered scum. But those who abandon their friends are worse than scum," she quoted._

_Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "As long as we are all in agreement then. Who else are we asking?"_

_"Anyone who will come," said Hinata firmly._

_"Very well," said Kakashi getting up, "We had better get started." He looked over at Naruto. "You've been... unusually quiet."_

_Naruto swallowed. "I've just been thinking sensei... Maybe... we should all split up to get people. It would take less time that way."_

_Kakashi nodded. "That is a very good idea Naruto. I've got a better one. Why don't you make a bunch of shadow clones and they can go get everyone." He looked at Naruto expectantly._

_Naruto hung his head. "I thought so," said Kakashi. "Where is he?"_

_Hinata stared at Kakashi. "Where's who?"_

_"The real Naruto. This is a shadow clone!"_

_Hinata stared at the clone. A cold lump of ice was in her throat. He looked up at her sheepishly. "Sorry," he mumbled._

_Hinata felt her heart start to pound in fear. "You promised!" she cried out._

_The clone sadly shook his head. "He really doesn't want anyone else to get hurt," he said sadly. "He thinks that even if he does die... it will still be okay. At the end of the day, he's still only a Jinchuriki. He'll die a hero, get his name on the monument, and... you'll all get over it someday."_

_"Oh Gods," gasped Sakura. "Sensei! He told Sasuke that if they ever fought again, that they would both die!"_

_"And end Sasuke's burden of the Uchiha clan and his pain of being a Jinchuriki… I remember," finished Kakashi quietly._

_"How could he think that?" whispered Hinata, "He's so important to… everyone."_

_"It's… been a lot harder for him than he lets on most of the time," announced the clone. "Things are better for him now than they have ever been before in his life, but he still hears the whispers. He still sees people pointing as he walks down the street. It doesn't make him mad like it used to, it just... makes him feel empty." The clone shrugged. "Plus, Sasuke has always been his responsibility. He's one of the first people Naruto formed a bond with, and now look at him. Why not let one monster destroy the other?"_

_There was a pregnant pause. Hinata's stomach roiled as if she was going to be physically ill. "We have to find him now!" said Hinata with a wild look in her eyes. "We have to find him and stop him! He's going to die if we don't!"_

_Kakashi took charge. "Sakura, you and Hinata start the search for him at his apartment" He looked at Hinata. "It's a long shot, but see if you can spot him using your byakugan." He turned to Anko. "Do what you can to alert the wall guard. Don't make it into too big a thing, we don't want him stopped at all costs, just detained or delayed." He sighed. "I guess I'd better go wake up the Hokage," Kakashi frowned. "Whether or not we succeed in getting Naruto back, she will need to know about Sasuke and his threat."_

* * *

_They ran. The shadow clone, without saying a word, followed Hinata and Sakura. They rounded the corner of Naruto's building and flew up the stairs. Sakura shattered the door with one blow. As soon as they stepped inside, Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. "All his gear is still here! Thank goodness. Maybe he is still in the village and we can catch him!"_

_The clone sadly shook his head. "He left without it... He left as soon as you made it clear that you were going to follow him. He made the decision to leave the moment you said that everyone he cares about would want to go with him." He smiled at her sadly. "I'm really sorry he did this to you."_

_Hinata shoved the clone out of her way. "Byakugan!" she screeched. She glared in every direction, forcing her eyes to scan farther and farther away. She looked everywhere to no avail._

_"Do you see him?" asked Sakura anxiously._

_Hinata hung her head. "I can't find him… I can't find him anywhere! He's vanished!" She felt herself start to hyperventilate._

_Sakura grabbed Hinata and spun her around. "Hey! Look at me!" She gave Hinata a shake. "Don't give up yet. We know where he is headed. We can still catch up to him." Hinata glanced up at her. Sakura gave her a reassuring smile. "Go get your gear! We'll find him. We'll find that idiot if it's the last thing we do! We'll find him and we'll help him in this stupid fight against Sasuke!"_

_"And then what?" asked Hinata in a voice thick with emotion._

_Sakura grinned. "And when we're done… we'll take turns beating the snot out of him!"_


	28. Chapter 13 Hinata's Tale part 3

_Hinata ran home. The clone followed her. _

_Hinata didn't even bother with the front door. She ran up the wall and ducked in through her window, frantically grabbing her shuriken holster and her equipment pouch. The clone stepped through the open window as well. "Wow," he said quietly. "So this is your room huh?" Hinata dodged around him. She usually kept a small knapsack ready with some supplies in case she needed to leave for a mission in a hurry. She slid her arms through the straps. "I've never been inside a girl's bedroom before," the clone said in awed wonder._

_Hinata stopped and glared at him. "Was there something you wanted?" she asked icily._

_The clone grinned nervously and scratched the back of his head. A dull ache throbbed in Hinata's heart as she watched the clone. It looked and acted so much like Naruto, and yet it wasn't him. "Look, the original... he basically created me for two reasons. First to be a distraction, and second... to give you a message." The clone stared down at his feet. "It's kinda personal… so I didn't want to give you the message where everyone could hear it."_

_Inwardly, Hinata screamed in pain. "He wants to leave me a message? He runs off to his death and he leaves a message?" she said in a dry voice. She turned her back on the clone, so he couldn't see the tears in her eyes. She pretended to be searching through her desk. "What makes you think I want to hear anything he has to say right now?"_

_The clone shuffled his feet. "Well, he only gave me enough chakra to last for less than an hour. I don't have that much time left. So if you think you might want to ever hear this message... you should probably listen to it now."_

_Hinata stopped her pretend search and looked up. "When the shadow clone jutsu ends, you go back to being a part of him correct?" She looked over her shoulder at the clone. The clone nodded. "So after your message… if I tell you something in return, you could carry it back to him?"_

_The clone nodded again. "He gets my memories when the jutsu is done."_

_Hinata's arms dropped. She stared straight ahead at the wall, away from the clone. "What was this message of his?" she whispered._

_"He wants you to know that he's doing this to protect the village. He wants you to know that he's doing this to help his friend. And lastly he really wants you to know that he's doing this to protect you." The clone shrugged. "He's worried that this might be a trap. He feels like he can't afford to put anyone else in danger like this." The clone took a step closer to Hinata and put a hand on her shoulder. She did not turn around. "You told him once that he changed you? That he helped you to find the correct path?" The clone took a deep breath. "Well you changed him. You've shown him that there is more to life than training and work and sacrifice. You reminded us time and again that there is hope and joy to be found in this life." He put his other hand on her shoulder. "When he's been lost in the darkness, you've always been the light that helps him to find his way back. You have shown him what it is like to be loved." The clone took another step forward. "And now he knows what it is like to love in return."_

_Hinata reached up and brushed away tears from her eyes. "I am really… so very angry at you right now," she said in a hoarse voice. "You waited until you were running off to die to finally find the courage to tell me that you loved me!?"_

_The clone looked uncomfortable. "That was his choice, I'm just a clone." He shook his head. "He's always had a flair for the dramatic, you know?"_

_Hinata wiped her face again and turned. "So how does this work?"_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"Do I talk to you like you are Naruto? Do I keep referring to him as though he isn't here? How does this message… memory... thing work?"_

_The clone shrugged. "It all comes flooding into his head when I go… If you're more comfortable that way, you can talk to me like I was him."_

_Hinata took a deep breath. "Naruto, I love you. Do not do this without me. Do not do this alone. I promised Kurama-sama that I would not let you go face Sasuke alone! Do not make me break my promise! Wait for us. We are all coming to help. I beg you, let us help you. Let me help you. You are so important to me. I need you in my life Naruto! Wait for us when you get close to the bridge. We will all do this together."_

_The clone looked down embarrassed. "Um…" he started._

_Hinata gave him a withering glare. "If you can't wait, then hang on. Help is on the way." She took a step closer to the clone and stared into his eyes. "You have to come back to me! I don't care what else happens but you have to come back!" She reached up and passionately kissed the clone. "Come back to me Naruto… I can't live without you."_

_They stood there awkwardly for a moment. "Now what?" asked Hinata._

_"Oh, I was just wondering if you were going to kiss me some more," said the clone. He backed away as Hinata gave him an evil stare. "Okay, okay, I'll get going."_

_The clone hesitated, a worried look on his face. "Please... try not to get too mad at him. He really does think that he is doing the right thing." The clone smiled at her sadly and vanished in a puff of smoke._

* * *

_They made it to the old bridge around three AM. Hinata and Neji's byakugan saw no one. Kiba and Akamaru smelled nothing. Shino's beetles found nothing but ordinary wildlife._

_"Are you sure that this is the right place?" asked Shikamaru._

_"The clone told us it would be right here!" insisted Sakura._

_Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his temples. "The clone said that... What did the note say?"_

_Sakura frowned. "I… I never read Sasuke's note… Hinata? Did you see it?"_

_Hinata felt numb all over. The emotional pitfalls of this evening, The frantic race to the bridge, only to have it all be for nothing, had taken everything out of her. She was sitting on a fallen log with her head on her knees. "Hinata?" prompted Sakura again._

_Hinata looked up. "Hmm?"_

_"The letter from Sasuke… What did it say?"_

_"It said Sasuke would be waiting in the place where he first acknowledged Naruto." She looked downwards. "The clone lied to me as well… Didn't he?"_

_Shikamaru shrugged. "It's beginning to look that way." He turned back to Sakura. "Well Sakura, you've known them for the longest time. Do you know where this place where Sasuke acknowledged Naruto might be?"_

_Sakura frowned in thought. "It always drove Naruto crazy that Sasuke looked down on him when we were younger. " She thought some more. "At the preliminary match area for our first chunin exams? Sasuke said he wanted to test his strength against all of the strong shinobi there, and Naruto as well…"_

_Shikamaru thought about it. He pulled out a small scroll and summoned a messenger hawk. "I'll ask someone back at the village to check it out, but I don't think that will be it. It's too close to the village." He wrote a short coded message and attached it to the hawk's leg. He released the bird. "Anywhere else you can think of?"_

_Sakura's lip started to tremble. "On the great Naruto Uzumaki bridge in the Land of the Waves? Where we fought Gaara during the Sound and Sand Village assault? On that floating castle from the Sky nation?" She tugged at her hair and looked back and forth between Shikamaru and Hinata. "I just don't know! It could have been anywhere!"_

_Shikamaru sighed. "Well, we'll just have to find a comprehensive list of where they could be and track them all down one by one. It can't be too far away." Shikamaru looked down at Hinata. "I think that we should all get back to the village and get some rest while we can. This search may take a while."_

_Sakura looked up. "But what if…" she glanced over at Hinata and dropped her voice, "their battle is over by then?"_

_Shikamaru smiled. "I don't believe that anyone, not even Sasuke, could take out Naruto that quickly." He looked up at the full moon. "We have a little bit of time. We can still do this."_

* * *

_Neji helped Hinata back to the village. She collapsed onto her bed fully clothed and tried to get a few hours of sporadic rest. Every time she shut her eyes, wild scenes of Naruto and Sasuke battering each other bloody filled her mind. When she couldn't take anymore, she headed over to the Intel division's headquarters where there was a bustle of activity. Sai was on the main grounds drawing bird, after bird, after bird._

_Sakura saw Hinata standing there and strolled over. "Did you manage to get any sleep?" she asked._

_Hinata nodded. "A little," she lied. "What's going on? Has there been any news?"_

_Sakura pointed. "Shikamaru is going through all of Naruto's old mission reports. Sai is sending birds to scout every location where he was with, or ever encountered Sasuke." She smiled. "We should have a bunch of them ruled out by noon. We will then re-evaluate and make a plan."_

_Hinata nodded tiredly. On the verge of exhaustion, she still remembered her manners. "Thank you Sakura, you are being so very helpful."_

_Sakura patted Hinata on the shoulder. "Hey... Naruto is my friend… my teammate! I'd do anything to help him."_

_Sakura got called away by Shikamaru. She entered into a conference with him and Kakashi-sensei. Hinata watched them for a while, then she wandered over to a food cart, purchased an orange and two rice balls for breakfast and sat down under a shady tree to wait._

_She must have drifted off to sleep, because she awoke with a start as a flock of birds settled on the ground and dissolved into words. She stood up and hurried over. Sai was hunched over reading. "Any news on Naruto, Sai-kun?" she asked anxiously._

_Sai looked up at her. "Nothing in this batch, but that doesn't mean much. There is a storm blowing in from the North, near the border with the Land of Rice Paddies. My jutsu tends to fall apart in the rain, so a lot of my birds have had to turn back. We'll have to find some other means to scout up there." Hinata's shoulders slumped. "Don't worry," said Sai, "We'll soon have Naruto back safe and sound."_

_Hinata nodded. "Thank you for your reassurances."_

_Sai smiled at her. "Maybe when he gets back, the pair of you will get over your initial nervousness, and then you can finally have sex!" he said cheerfully._

_Hinata blushed bright red. "WHAT?!" she yelped._

_Sai's face held an expression of genuine shock. "I'm sorry, was I not supposed to say anything? I had assumed that since you were one of the parties involved, I could safely communicate my thoughts to you on this matter." Hinata stared at him dumbfounded. "You see I have a large collection of books about human behavior and the human psyche, and recently Naruto asked if he could borrow some. He was trying to find some way to build trust and comfort in your relationship so that you would be able to consummate it in a passionate manner." Sai leaned forward. "He made me promise that I would keep this a secret," he whispered. He smiled again and held up a small book with a green cover. Its title was 'Making Friends and Keeping Friendships'. "In chapter three it suggests that confiding secrets is an important part of building a rapport with others, but it also suggests that keeping them can be very difficult. It recommends that if one feels the desire to talk about things which should be kept secret one should discuss them with one of the parties involved." Sai looked at Hinata and his smile faded. "I've made you upset haven't I? Could you please do me the favor of telling me what I did wrong? That way I could keep the secrets better for the next time!" Sai gave her another bright smile._

_Hinata took a step back. "Please excuse me Sai-kun. I have to go." She angrily stormed off._

_She headed to the nearby Hokage's gardens. Once there, she camped out by the Koi pond and stared at the fish. An hour or so later Kakashi-sensei strolled up and sat down next to her. "Well, my Nin-dogs have been dispatched. They'll take a little longer to search the area than Sai's birds would have, but at least they won't wash away in the rain."_

_Hinata picked at the gravel lining the pond. "I don't understand why he's doing this Kakashi-sensei. Doesn't he realize how much this is hurting me?"_

_Kakashi sighed. "I would bet he does. It's probably eating away at him inside. I would suspect, however, that he hasn't realized that hurting someone to protect them feels almost as bad as watching them get hurt." Kakashi smiled at her and patted her hand. "Why don't you go home and get some rest? You will feel better once you do."_

_Hinata shook her head. "No. What if some information comes in while I'm away? I have to stay here."_

_Kakashi stood up. "Hinata, if you want to join us to reinforce Naruto, you will need to be at your best. I really recommend that you go home… Relax, eat something." Kakashi held out his hand to her._

_Hinata looked up at him. "I don't think I can rest right now Kakashi-sensei"_

_"Hmm," pondered Kakashi. "I have an idea, on the way home, why don't you stop and see Kurenai? At the last jonin meeting she was complaining how Asuma junior was taking up all of her free time. Why don't you stop by and say hello?"_

_Hinata thought about it. "I guess I haven't visited her lately." She slowly reached up and took Kakashi's hand._

_Kakashi pulled her up. "I promise that when we hear something... you will be one of the first people we contact. We won't leave without you."_

_"Thank you Kakashi-sensei," Hinata said. She gave him a tired bow, and left._

* * *

_Kurenai-sensei made her feel at home. Hinata even smiled as Asuma junior toddled his way around the apartment. He kept fetching toys and bringing them to Hinata. Soon her lap was buried under a pile of stuffed animals, blocks, and colorful things that went squeak. "Why thank you Asuma-kun!" she said to him as he deposited a rabbit with bells in his stomach. "This is lovely!"_

_Kurenai smiled as Asuma clapped his hands and waddled off. "I should have you over more often," she smiled at Hinata, "He hasn't been this engaged all day."_

_Hinata sighed. "What should I do Kurenai-sensei? I feel so nervous and worried that I think I am going to be sick." She looked away. "And… at the same time I feel so angry and betrayed by him." Hinata started to play with her fingers. "Is this the end of our relationship? Does he just not care for me anymore?" Hinata looked up. There were tears dripping down her face. "Did he ever truly care for me? What if I don't want to be with him anymore after all this? What if he isn't the man I think he is?"_

_Kurenai walked over to the couch brushed away some toys and sat down next to Hinata. She put her arms around her. "Shhh, It's okay." Kurenai rocked her a little back and forth. She held her until Hinata's tears dried up._

_"Da!" said a loud voice. Both Hinata and Kurenai looked down. Asuma was proudly holding out a plush pink pig. He squeezed it and it made a loud raspberry noise. He proudly added it to the pile and walked away._

_Kurenai smiled. "He must really like you. He let you have Piggy-sama." She turned serious and looked at Hinata. "I can tell you this, being in a relationship with a shinobi is the most heart wrenching thing that will ever happen to you. The constant worry and late nights combined with the loneliness are brutal at times." Kurenai turned her head away. "You never know which moment might be the last one you have together." She sighed, and then forced a smile. "Let me give you some relationship advice that my mother once gave to me. Do not burn any bridges when you are upset. Wait until you've calmed down first before you make a life altering decision. You need good judgment for something like that."_

_Hinata leaned against her sensei. "But right now I'm so… so… I don't know what I am."_

_Kurenai shrugged and put her arm around her. "So? Make a decision when he gets back. It can wait until then can't it? Maybe he'll apologize. Maybe he'll make it all better." Kurenai looked over at Hinata. "What he's done right now is pretty bad, understandable, but bad. Does it negate all the good things that you have in your relationship? That's what you have to figure out. Even if it does negate everything, is the relationship you and Naruto have worth working on? Can it be made better?"_

_Hinata slowly stirred. "So you're saying… I shouldn't give up, not yet."_

_Kurenai smiled at her. "It is entirely your decision... But if I may be honest with you, I don't think I've ever seen you happier than when you are with him."_

_"Da!" Asuma called out again. Both Kurenai and Hinata looked down._

_Kurenai laughed. "I had no idea we even had that toy!" sitting in his outstretched hand was an orange plastic fox._

* * *

_Hinata went home. Again, not wanting to run into any family members or staff, she climbed in through her window, then drew her curtains and collapsed into her bed. Again, she did not sleep well, she kept having terrible dreams._

_She was battling Pain once again. Naruto was there staked out over the ground as before, but each time she tried to help him he would just jeer at her._

_"Get away!" he cried out. "I don't need any help from the likes of you!" Her eyes blurred with tears as she activated her twin lion fists and charged at Pain._

_"Oh Gods!" moaned Naruto, as Pain dodged each of her attacks. "Why couldn't a competent kunoichi have come to rescue me? Where is Sakura? She could handle this guy no problem!"_

_Hinata was sobbing openly as Pain blasted her away into the air. "You are worthless! Even Hanabi would be better than you!" Naruto yelled out._

_Hinata awoke and sat bolt upright, her heart pounding. After a moment, she rubbed her eyes and wondered for how long she had slept. It was dark now and a stiff breeze was blowing in through her still open window. A light rain was falling._

_The breeze relaxed and the curtains fell closed. Hinata jumped. For in the darkness, she swore she caught sight of a familiar figure seated at the foot of her bed. "Naruto?" she called out._

_The breeze blew the curtains open again, letting more light into the room. The figure had vanished. A single leaf floated in through the window and landed in her lap. Hinata was filled with a foreboding sense of dread. She thought about losing Naruto forever, and began to cry._

* * *

_Feeling numb and empty inside, she got up and headed back to the Intel division building. She could hear Shikamaru yelling from outside. "Stupid! How could I have been so stupid! The Valley of the End! Arrg! I should have guessed that! It is so stupidly obvious! How could I have overlooked it?"_

_"Maybe because Sasuke beat Naruto and left him for dead. That doesn't seem like the optimal requirements to acknowledge someone's prowess." Kakashi coughed. "Although to be honest with you, I'm feeling pretty stupid right now as well. After all, I'm the one who brought him back from the valley."_

_Hinata looked in around the door frame. Shikamaru, Sakura and Kakashi were all staring down at a small pug dog dripping water in a growing puddle on the floor. "Are you sure it was them Pakkun?" asked Kakashi._

_Pakkun shook, spraying water everywhere. "Well, there was a huge fight there. The whole valley is trashed. There's plenty of blood as well." The dog looked up with a frown. "It's Sasuke's and Naruto's. Of that much I'm sure."_

_"Naruto?" gasped Hinata. She stepped inside._

_Kakashi waved her over. "Pakkun just got in. We were just about to send for you."_

_Hinata leaned over the dog. "What did you find?"_

_Pakkun scratched his ear. "They were at the Valley of the End. Sasuke was waiting there for about a week. I found his old campfires. Naruto was there for about a day." Pakkun looked up at Hinata. "I can tell you there was a hell of a fight. Both of them were pretty banged up from the looks of things. Then the storm hit and washed most of the smells away. By the time I got there, both of them were gone. I have no idea what else happened or where they are now. Sorry, the trail's gone cold."_

_Hinata sank down to the floor. "He's gone," she murmured. "He's gone, I know it." She began to quietly rock back and forth._

_Sakura sat down next to her and put her arm across her shoulders. "Hey... you don't know that. Naruto has come out of some pretty crazy spots before." Sakura smiled with tears in her eyes. "I've seen him bounce back from so many things that should have killed him."_

_Kakashi looked down at Pakkun. "Is there any reason to search the valley?"_

_Pakkun shook his head. "Not unless you like looking at destroyed scenery. With all the rain, any trail they might have left is washed away. Why do you ask?"_

_"How can you not sniff out a trail? You could smell that they were there, even with all the rain?!" asked Sakura interrupting._

_Pakkun glanced at Hinata. "If you saw it for yourself, you would know. There was lots of... evidence that there was a fight there. Everyone involved must have been... really badly hurt. At best."_

_"I don't like how they've both vanished," said Kakashi quietly. "They're both extremely powerful shinobi. Sasuke is the last Uchiha and Naruto is the Jinchuriki for the Nine tails. If someone else managed to capture them… or take their bodies…"_

_Shikamaru who had been sitting quietly with his thoughts stirred. "How far away would you say was the Valley?"_

_Kakashi shrugged. "Six hours at full speed. Maybe a day and a half's journey at a slow walk, why?"_

_Shikamaru looked away. "We don't have much time then. According to Hinata, Sasuke's letter said he was going to come for us after he took out Naruto. We should go inform the fifth Hokage that Sasuke could be showing up at our doorstep any day now. And that's just one scenario. If someone like Kabuto got his hands on the pair of them…"_

_"We could be defending the Village from their reanimated corpses," finished Kakashi. There was a brief flurry of activity as Kakashi and Shikamaru delegated responsibilities._

_Hinata ignored it all. She gave a great sobbing wail and cried on Sakura's shoulder._


	29. Chapter 13 Hinata's Tale part 4

_Dawn broke over an anxious Leaf village. Hinata and Sakura were sitting, just outside the main gate. Hinata was a mess of emotions and Sakura was doing her best to comfort her and keep her company. Hinata was very thankful that the other kunoichi was kind enough to stay with her. She could tell that Sakura's own past kept pressing down on as well. Mostly they just sat in silence._

_"It's my fault you know," said Sakura quietly, "this obsession of his with Sasuke. I made Naruto promise to bring him back." She shook her head. "He's been trying for so long to fulfill that damned promise."_

_Hinata stared at the road, watching the morning mist drift through the woods. She started to speak but her voice caught in her throat. She coughed and started again. "I… I heard a rumor that you tried to kill him once… Sasuke I mean." She glanced over at Sakura. "Did you?"_

_Sakura nodded uncomfortably. "I tried… I probably could have. He was weak. He had just fought the Five Kage and all their escorts. He'd just killed Danzo, the temporary hokage, and he was in the middle of a duel with Kakashi-sensei." Sakura looked away. "I gave him half a chance first. I told him I was going to join him. I said that I was leaving the Leaf Village to be with him."_

_Hinata looked up. "Did you really mean that?"_

_Sakura paused. She glanced away. "Of course not. I was… hoping that I might get the opportunity to convince him to change his ways… one last time." She swallowed. "Do you remember that redheaded kunoichi we had captured, Karin? She'd been injured in the fight. She was bleeding badly, punctured lung." Sakura took a deep breath. "Sasuke told me to prove my loyalty to him by killing her. He said she was no longer any use to him. I hesitated in killing her, and he... tried to attack me instead. Kakashi saved me. That's what convinced me that Sasuke was gone, really gone. I no longer knew who this person was. While Kakashi and Sasuke were fighting, I saw my chance. I crept up behind him and tried to cut him with a poisoned kunai I prepared specially for him." Sakura's voice dropped to a whisper. "I still couldn't do it. I hesitated. Sasuke disarmed me and moved to attack me with my own kunai." Sakura shrugged. "Naruto saved me."_

_"Was this before or after you told Naruto you loved him?" asked Hinata in a small voice._

_Sakura winced. "You heard about that?" Hinata nodded slowly. "It was after," admitted Sakura. "I was... hoping to convince him that he should just give up on Sasuke. This obsession of his was killing him."_

_"Do you love him?" asked Hinata quietly. She couldn't quite put into words why, but the answer to that question was suddenly very important to her._

_"I… That's…" Sakura sighed heavily. "He's one of my best friends. He's always been there for me." She smiled. "He's also an obnoxious, loud, crude little idiot. Maybe… Once… I thought we could date but…" Sakura shook her head. "Do you know what he said to me after I confessed to him? 'I hate people who lie to themselves.' That little snot." Sakura shook her head._

_"He loves you, you know."_

_Sakura looked up at the sky and frowned. "No. Naruto's had a crush on me forever. All the time when we were growing up he wanted to be around me. He was always bugging me, always asking me out and stuff." She stared at Hinata. "When he came back to the village, the one he asked for was you." Sakura sighed and leaned back. "He's my friend. One of the best friends I've ever had," she smiled. "But you are the one he wants." Sakura laughed. "Did you know he took two hours trying to pick out flowers for your first date because he wanted to get them 'just right'?"_

_"Really?" asked Hinata._

_Sakura nodded. "I was there. He made Ino go through every flower twice just to make sure that there wasn't any hidden meaning behind them. Ino just kept getting more jealous and upset. Finally, she just threw a sunflower at him. 'Here, just tell Hinata you were thinking of her! Now beat it!'"_

_Hinata smiled weakly. "He did tell me he had been thinking of me."_

_Sakura smirked. "So it worked. I was afraid he was going to say something stupid and mess it all up."_

_Hinata smiled back. "He did say something stupid, but I forgave him."_

_Sakura patted Hinata on her back. "See? You are better for him than I would ever be. I would have just punched his lights out!"_

_Hinata's smile crumbled. "What if he's gone Sakura? What will I do?"_

_Sakura put her arm around Hinata. "Love him. Love him but say goodbye." She stared off down the road. "That's all you can ever do."_

_An alarm began to clatter in the village. There was a blur of speed and a squad of wall garrison shinobi appeared at the main gate. There were reinforced by a second squad, and a third, and a fourth. Neji, Tenten and Lee appeared. Neji gave her a quick nod. "Hinata-sama," he said bluntly. His byakugan was activated and he was scanning the road._

_Groggily Hinata stumbled to her feet. "Neji-onisan. What happened?"_

_"Two people on foot are approaching. Somehow, they managed to bypass the first two picket lines without alerting anyone. They only showed up a minute ago by byakugan." Tenten unrolled a scroll and summoned a feathered fan. Lee reached down and slowly unbuckled the weights from his legs. "Take a look," he said simply._

_Hinata activated her byakugan. The distance flew by and she stared at the two flickering points of chakra. Her cheeks grew damp as she looked at the one on the left. Sakura came up beside her. "Is it Naruto?" she asked quietly._

_Hinata focused on the one on the right. "It's both of them I think," she said softly. Sakura took a small step back._

_Hinata was suddenly aware of the presence of Kiba and Shino beside her. Akamaru whined at her feet. "Are you going to be okay Hinata?" asked Kiba, his voice cracking with stress._

_"I'll do what I have to," said Hinata firmly._

_Shikamaru arrived. Ino and Choji trailed him. "Everyone needs to spread out here people!" he called. We've got four sealing teams en route. Our job is to assess the situation and act as necessary." He began pointing around the area. "I want a solid force here holding the gate. Scouts and ambushers, I want you deployed in the woods. Anyone with powerful ninjutsu or summoning," he looked over at Temari, "I want a killing zone there!" He picked up a stone and threw it twenty meters down the road. "When I give the word, I want anything within ten meters of that stone to be dust. Am I clear?" He looked around at the gathered shinobi. "Let's move people!"_

_Shikamaru gave Sakura and Hinata a glance and then walked over to them. "If you guys think you would be better off somewhere else…"_

_"We'll stay," said Hinata flatly._

_Shikamaru nodded curtly. "Alright. Sakura, I want you with the main group here at the gate. You are acting chief medic until I say otherwise. Hinata," he said turning, "you are on scout and ambush with your squad." He leaned forward. "Make sure these two are the only ones," he said quietly._

_Kiba picked a spot about a hundred meters from the main gate, four meters from the edge of the road in the woods. As usual, he and Akamaru just seemed to melt away into the underbrush. Shino crouched next to a termite mound beside a rotten old tree. There was a buzzing noise and a flurry of dust and he just faded into the mound._

_Hinata used the transformation jutsu. She turned into a large stand of bamboo. She let the wind rustle through her leaves. She sat and waited._

_A small beetle flew by and tickled her ear. It began to buzz in long and short bursts. Hinata translated the Morse code. "Chakra leaking," she thought. Her emotions were getting the better of her. Shino could detect her hiding spot. She decided to burn off the excess nervous energy. Surrounding the stand of bamboo was now a clutch of sunflowers._

_There were footsteps on the road. Hinata could hear two sets of voices, one loud, one indistinct. Her heart clenched at the sound of the loud one._

_"I'm telling you, there is no one who has ever made me feel like this! I mean she gave me a whole book full of ramen coupons. How cool is that that, that she knows me that well?" The fainter voice said something back. "I am not just a stomach with legs!" yelled Naruto indignantly. "There's a lot more to it than that! I'm telling you, she may not always agree with me but it's like…" Naruto stopped and sighed. "It's like she knows the exact thing to make me feel better. It's like no matter how bad things are she knows just how to bring me back."_

_Sasuke scoffed. "Yeah, with ramen."_

_"Shut up jerk," said Naruto grouchily. He started walking again, this time looking pensive. "I hope I didn't screw everything up this time."_

_Sasuke snickered. "I'm sure that if she's half as wonderful as you've been telling me she'll meet you at the main gate wearing nothing but an udon negligee and holding a pair of chopsticks."_

_Naruto blushed. "Shut up," he said angrily. "At least I have a girlfriend."_

_Sasuke stopped. "Hey, I've had women chasing after me since forever."_

_"Uh-huh," said Naruto smugly, "and how many of them have run away screaming because big scary Sasuke Uchiha started jumping up and down and ranting about blood and revenge… Oh wait, could it have been… All of them?"_

_Sasuke turned on him. "You are still the most annoying person I have ever known. Am I going to have to beat your ass again to get you to shut up?"_

_Naruto grinned at him. "Oooh! Naruto is right yet again, but that hurts my tender little feelings, so I'm going to threaten to pummel him!" He waggled his fingers at Sasuke._

_Sasuke turned and started walking away from the village. "Seriously, If you're going to be like this, there is no way I am going back to the Leaf Village with you. I will turn around and walk away right now."_

_"Sasuke!"_

_"I'm not joking Naruto," he said still walking. "I didn't think this was such a good idea in the first place. Don't make me regret it before I even get there."_

_"Okay, fine, you win," called Naruto. "I'll stop picking on you, you big baby. Jeez." Sasuke turned and started walking back. Naruto came alongside him. "Would it kill you to pretend to be just the littlest bit happy? I mean you're coming back to Konoha for the first time in six years. Don't you miss it?"_

_There was a long pause. Sasuke looked away. "I'm a bit more concerned with what will happen to me once I walk through that gate."_

_Naruto snorted. "You mean aside from the welcome back celebration and all the girls screaming your name?"_

_Sasuke stopped again. "I'm serious. I've done a lot of… things."_

_Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Hey don't worry about it. We'll be walking in there together. We'll get a hero's welcome!"_

_Sasuke shrugged and looked down at his feet. "You do realize that we're surrounded right now?" He glanced at Hinata's hiding spot. "We're being set up for an ambush," he said in a conversational tone._

_It was Naruto's turn to shrug. "I guess it was too much to hope that they'd greet us with milk and cookies." He grinned at Sasuke and clapped him on the back. "Look at it this way, they haven't attacked. Maybe they just want to have a look-see?" He started walking again. "Come on Sasuke, trust me, if we want everything to work out, this is the best way. Let's just stroll on up and say hi."_

_Hinata released her transformation jutsu after they passed. She stared after them in silence. There was a hot worm of pain gnawing under her breastbone._

_Kiba reappeared beside her. "Well... it doesn't sound like they're planning on attacking the village," he said quietly._

_"There is always the small possibility that their conversation could have been a very clever ruse in order to put us at ease," murmured Shino who had popped up from the termite mound._

_Kiba looked at him in a funny way. "I don't know, Naruto sounded pretty much like his usual idiotic self."_

_"Like I said, It would have to be a very clever ruse," muttered Shino._

_"What do you think Hinata?" asked Kiba. He looked around. "Hinata?" Hinata had climbed out of the brush and was following Naruto and Sasuke at a distance._

_Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth. "Oi!" he called up to the gate. "Is there anyone up there? I need to speak to whoever is in charge!" He thought for a moment. "Actually... I'd like to talk to whoever is just in charge of the main gate right now! I don't want to talk to Granny Tsunade just yet. She's probably still really mad at me!"_

_Sasuke nudged a rock in the road with his foot. He murmured something to Naruto. Naruto grinned and raised his hands to his mouth again. "Sasuke wants to know if we're in the exact center of the killzone, or if you'd prefer we moved a little bit to the left?"_

_Sasuke elbowed him. "Shut up you idiot!" he said audibly._

_The gate creaked open and Shikamaru stepped out. He stopped well away from Naruto and Sasuke. "Naruto," he said nodding. "You've managed to cause us a great deal of worry. Do you want to explain what happened?"_

_Naruto grinned and motioned towards Sasuke with both hands. "Hey Shikamaru! Am I glad to see you! I found him!" he said proudly. "Sasuke is back! Any chance we could head on in? I promised him a bowl of ramen."_

_Shikamaru tensed. "Nobody is going anywhere until you can explain what the both of you are doing here, and that you really are who you say you are."_

_Naruto stepped forward. "Hey, Shikamaru don't be like this. You know it's me right?"_

_"I know you look like Naruto, and you sound like Naruto. Now I would recommend that you do not move from that spot until we can verify that there is no threat to Konoha here!"_

_"Come on Shikamaru. I'll vouch for Sasuke. I promise, he intends no harm to the Leaf Village," called out Naruto._

_"And who will vouch for you?" asked Shikamaru._

_"Huh?"_

_"How do we know that you don't intend any harm? How do we know that you are the real Naruto?"_

_Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a worried glance. "Um… How long have I been gone?" asked Naruto._

_"You don't know?" asked Shikamaru incredulously._

_Naruto and Sasuke exchanged another glance. "We fought for a while," said Sasuke._

_"And I beat him!" said Naruto._

_"Shut up doofus, you did not," said Sasuke. He cleared his throat. "We both kind of fell into the river and got swept away."_

_"And then we fell unconscious," said Naruto. "We lost track of time."_

_"We came to, on the riverbank some kilometers away," added Sasuke._

_"And then we had a long talk," said Naruto, "really really long."_

_Sasuke turned his head away. "I've been convinced that I made some… poor life choices. I've returned to…" His voice trailed off. Naruto nudged him. "Try to rectify my mistakes and pay for my crimes."_

_"I totally beat him," said Naruto in a stage whisper._

_"Did not, loser."_

_Shikamaru shook his head. "Okay, witty repartee aside, I need some proof of who you are here guys."_

_"Come on Shikamaru you heard our story. What more do you need?" asked Naruto._

_"Well, for starters I'd like more than that lame-ass excuse for a report! We found your battle site in the Valley of the End. I'd like to know how come the pair of you are still alive?"_

_"We told you," started Naruto. "We fell into a river."_

_Shikamaru palmed his face. "And you really expect me to accept that? Just how stupid do you think I am?"_

_Naruto and Sasuke exchanged another glance. "It's true, more or less," said Naruto simply. "Look, is Granny Tsunade behind this? I don't understand what all the fuss is about."_

_"Wow, you really are dense aren't you? How long ago was it we were fighting powerful shinobi that had been brought back to life?" asked Shikamaru._

_Naruto's jaw dropped. "You think... I'm dead?"_

_Sasuke swore under his breath and stepped forward. "I have important information regarding the war criminal Kabuto Yakushi that I wish to give to the Leaf Village," he said in a booming voice. He worked his Katana scabbard from his belt and let it fall to the ground. "I have the location of his hideout, intel on his forces and jutsu, and I know that he is planning attacks on the Five great nations. I swear that I will not lift a hand against anyone in the Hidden Leaf Village. I am willing to exchange this information in return for being allowed to enter."_

_"They think I'm dead?" murmured Naruto pulling at his hair. "Shit... This is not good. This is really not good!"_

_Shikamaru rubbed his chin and stared at Sasuke. "I'm willing to accept that offer on a temporary basis if we can find some way to verify your identity."_

_"Where's Hinata?" asked Naruto anxiously._

_"I will take any test you require," said Sasuke calmly. "I'm ready to come back and prove that I can be trusted."_

_"Is Hinata okay?" called out Naruto, a little louder._

_Shikamaru looked at Sasuke thoughtfully. "Are you sure? The accommodations you'll have until you can be trusted will be pretty... uncomfortable." Sasuke looked up at the sky and made a quick nod. Shikamaru sighed. "I'll pass the message to the Hokage." Sasuke exhaled and his shoulders slumped. Shikamaru looked at Naruto. "Now we just have to figure out how to verify him."_

_"What did you say to me via your clone!" called out Hinata._

_Naruto jumped. He turned around, relief plain on his face. "Hinata!" he called out. He took a step towards her that faltered as he saw her expression. "Um… Hey Hinata," he said quietly._

_She was trembling. "I asked you, what was the message you left for me after you ran off?" Her voice was shaking. She took a shuffling step forward._

_Naruto swallowed. "That I was leaving to protect the village, to save my friend and to protect you." He glanced up at Hinata and quickly looked away. "I also said I love you."_

_Hinata took another step forward. "And what else?"_

_"That I'm really really sorry, and that I did this because I didn't want to see you get hurt," he mumbled._

_"And how do you think I have felt since you left me?" She took another step. "What do you think happened to me after you ran off, and then lied to me, and tricked me, left me to worry and to cry?" She took another step. "How do you think I felt then?"_

_Naruto looked down at his feet. "I came back to you didn't I? Just like you asked me to."_

_Hinata took another step. She was within an arm's length of Naruto. She nodded and tears began to trickle down her face. "Yes, you did come back. But I'm not sure what that means to me anymore," she whispered._

_Sasuke made an uncomfortable face and took a shuffling step away. Naruto grabbed him and pulled him back. "You remember Sasuke don't you Hinata? I managed to bring him back. Look!"_

_Sasuke shot Naruto a disgusted look. Then he turned to Hinata and gave her a small bow. "Hinata-san," he said politely, "I have heard a great deal about you from Naruto."_

_Hinata ignored him. She took another step towards Naruto so that they were inches apart. She reached out and touched his arm. "Is it really you?" she asked quietly, "Are you really here?"_

_Naruto looked down at her and nodded. "I'm really sorry Hinata. This was... just something that I had to do."_

_Hinata touched his arm again, and nodded her head sadly. She turned and walked between Sasuke and Naruto back towards the main gate. When she reached Shikamaru, she stopped next to him. "It's Naruto," she said quietly._

_"Are you sure?" asked Shikamaru. "Some of the resurrected Shinobi could talk and think and still had their memories."_

_Hinata nodded. "I'm sure. It wouldn't hurt this much if he were dead." She walked through the gate and into the village. She barely heard the conversation between Sasuke and Naruto._

_"Well, I guess that answers your question," said Sasuke flatly._

_"What question?" asked Naruto._

_"The one about whether or not you messed things up, doofus."_

* * *

_Hinata didn't get out of bed for the rest of the day. She slept right through until the next morning. She woke up, ate and then returned to bed. Sleep seemed to be the only way to dull the emptiness she felt._

_She arose again in the late afternoon to use the bathroom. When she re-entered her bedroom, she stopped and stared. Sitting on the corner of her bed was Hanabi. "What do you want?" Hinata mumbled._

_Hanabi swung her feet back and forth. "Naruto-nichan has been to the compound four times so far. He keeps asking for you and bringing presents."_

_"Really," said Hinata in a dry voice._

_Hanabi nodded. "Neji-onisan caught him trying to scale the wall last night too. He had to chase him away." Hanabi paused and stared at her sister. "Are you going to want to see him again?"_

_Hinata sighed and sat down on the bed. "I don't know Hanabi... What he did to me was pretty awful."_

_Hanabi shrugged. "I don't know about awful… It was certainly stupid, but Naruto-kun has never been that bright." She glanced over at her sister. "It never seemed to bother you before."_

_Hinata lay back across the bed. "He was never my boyfriend before."_

_Hanabi twisted her mouth in thought. "It seems to me that if you didn't want a stupid boyfriend, then maybe you shouldn't have picked a stupid boy." She looked over at her sister. "If it matters anything to you... I think he still really wants to be your boyfriend. The most recent present he brought by was a bunch of fancy chocolates in a heart shaped box."_

_Hinata rolled over. "What else did he bring?" she asked, muffled into the mattress._

_Hanabi counted off on her fingers. "First there were the flowers. He got you a dozen roses. Father said not to tell anyone because he felt that red roses were an inappropriate declaration of passionate love. Then came a sunflower with a note attached. Father wouldn't let me read the letter, but he muttered something about 'unseemly poetry with horrible meter and poor imagery besides'. Then there was a little stuffed toy blue bird and a little stuffed toy fox." Hanabi frowned. "I don't quite get that one, and if it's anything kinky, I'm not sure I want to." She smiled again. "But the animals are really cute! Father said I wasn't to bother you about it, but if you don't want them, can I keep them?"_

_Hinata did a half shrug into her pillow. "Go ahead," she said._

_"Cool," said Hanabi. "Then there were the chocolates. Father gave orders to have them thrown away in the trash, but I thought 'Hey! This is the good stuff from the Akimichi Chocolatiers! I can't let it go to waste!' Most of them were amazing, but there were these ones with a whole cherry inside." Hanabi stuck out her tongue. "They tasted nasty." He gave a small smile. "Oh! And then he tried to sneak into the compound a couple of times. I think he was planning on singing to you or something. He had a guitar and everything." The bed gently rocked with each kick of Hanabi's feet. "Father says if you're going to break up with Naruto you should hurry up and do it. We're leaving for some Hyuga business meeting in the capital in a couple of hours and there won't be enough people around to chase him away." Hanabi poked her sister gently. "Personally, I'd like it if you waited until he brought you some more candy first. But tell him no more of those cherry things okay? They were gross." Hanabi hopped off the bed and sauntered out the door._

_Hinata shifted so she was lying lengthwise in the bed. She tried to fall back asleep, but it was just no use. She was all slept out. Her thoughts kept buzzing around in her head as she tried to make sense of her current situation and her feelings. She kept flipping back and forth between the good memories of Naruto, the way it felt to hold him and to kiss him, and the cold stab of betrayal she felt when he left her. She remembered how good it felt just to be sitting next to him on a warm sunny day, followed by the crushing loss when she believed he was dead. Her room seemed very small and the air oppressive. She decided to go for a walk._

_Her feet took her to the bridge over the canal. She leaned against the railing, and stared out over the water. Every so often she would look up at the clouds and the sun. There were flights of swallows darting and swooping through the clouds of insects hovering over the water. Occasionally a fish would jump from the stream and splash into the water._

_She sensed him standing behind her, but she ignored him. Finally Naruto cleared his throat. She did not turn around. "How did you know I was here?" she asked._

_Naruto stepped next to her and leaned both hands on the bridge. "I left a couple of clones watching your house. One followed you when you left, and then undid himself to let me know where you were headed." He thought for a second and frowned. "That sounded a lot more creepy and stalker-ish right now than it did when I first came up with that plan. So let me apologize for that right away." Naruto looked up at the sky. "It's nice out isn't it?" Hinata just stared out over the water._

_"I'm sorry I couldn't come see you right away. Granny Tsunade kept me under observation for eight hours, and they ran all sorts of different tests on me and Sasuke just to make sure there wasn't anything weird about us." He scratched the back of his head. "Sasuke is still in holding and interrogation right now. I'm going to show him around the Village when he gets out." He looked over at Hinata. She still refused to meet his gaze. He sighed and bowed his head. "I'm so sorry Hinata... I don't know what else I should say." He reached out and touched her hand. "Can you at least tell me what you are thinking?"_

_Hinata pulled her hand away. She wrapped her arms around herself. "I am thinking how all my life I was told that I was worthless. How all my life everyone told me I couldn't do anything, that I wouldn't amount to anything." She looked up at him quickly and then looked away. "Everyone said this, except for this one boy whom I gave my heart to. I confessed my feelings to him, and received nothing in return. I waited and hoped and tried to rationalize away every time he rejected or ignored me. Then one day it turns out, he likes me back and for once in my life, I have everything I have ever needed." Hinata stared up at Naruto, her lip trembling. "Then a few months later the boy goes off on an impossible mission, and he leaves, expecting to never return. Even worse he wasn't going to tell me about it. And when I do find out, he sneaks away, leaving me behind." She swallowed. "At least my father told me I was worthless to my face." She shook her hair in front of her face to hide her tears. "Why didn't you want me to come with you? How could you do this to me? Have you ever believed I was good enough for you?" she cried. Her shoulders shook with sobs._

_She stiffened when he first embraced her. "It's okay," he said quietly. "It's okay." Naruto stroked her hair. "It's all my fault. I am the stupidest person alive." Hearing his voice, feeling his touch... Hinata relaxed in his arms. She loved him so much. The question was, could she still be with him?_

_That thought sent a fresh wave of anguish through her. She pressed her face into his shoulder. "I made a mistake," he said softly as he tried to comfort her. "I made the biggest mistake I could ever make. I hope you can forgive me." He rested his chin on the top of her head and continued. "Kurama was so angry with me when he found I left you behind. In a way, I was angry with me as well. I thought I knew the exact right thing to do, and all I ended up doing was hurting you." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I don't think you are weak Hinata. I know you are strong. I just... didn't want you to get hurt for my sake again." He sighed. "I know now what a mistake that was." He smiled down at her. "Do you remember how my clone told you that you know exactly what to do or say to bring me back from the darkness? Well, I learned something else - you are also what makes me strong." He looked up into the sky. "I really wish that I had brought you with me. Things would have really turned out differently. Even so, it was the memories of you that kept me going when... everything looked so terrible."_

_Hinata looked up at Naruto. "What are you talking about? Your fight with Sasuke?"_

_Naruto grimaced. "Kind of… Yeah."_

_Hinata stared at him. "Kind of? Naruto… What happened?"_

_"Well, it was... more or less like we told Shikamaru."_

_Hinata stared into his eyes and shivered. There was something in his gaze she'd never seen before. A deep seated pain... pain and... fear? "What aren't you telling me?"_

_Naruto sucked in a breath. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, that traumatized, hunted look was gone. "Look Hinata… There's a lot of other stuff that happened but it's very… personal." Hinata gave him a frown. "Personal to Sasuke," explained Naruto hurriedly. "I'm not quite... comfortable sharing his stuff without his permission... especially… something like this." He gave her an imploring look and bit his lip. She could feel the anxiety coursing through his body. "Please… I know that... right now... I have no right to ask you for a favor… but please… don't ask… not now."_

_Hinata stepped back and glared at him. "Fine. I won't ask for specifics. Can you at least reassure me that everything is alright?" she asked, hoping that the irritability in her voice covered up her own uneasiness. She would definitely have to hear more about this later ._

_Naruto gave her a somewhat relieved smile. "I'm still me and Sasuke is Sasuke, more or less." He reached out for her hand. She gave it to him hesitatingly. "Look… the most important thing right now is: What can I do to make things better between us?" he asked with a pleading look on his face. "The one thing I've learned from all this is that I want you to be by my side." He swallowed. "Is there anything I can do to... convince you to stay with me?"_

_Hinata was silent for a long time. Naruto was begging her to stay with him… and she found that deep inside her heart, she still wanted to be his girlfriend… but some things would have to change. "Promise me…"_

_"Anything," interrupted Naruto._

_Hinata gave him a frown. "Promise me that you will never do anything like this again. You will never leave me out, you will never lie to me again. If you feel like you need to protect me, we will talk about it first, understood?" Naruto nodded. "You say that I am strong? Well, start treating me that way."_

_"I just want to say again, I'm so sorry," said Naruto._

_Hinata gave his hand a little squeeze. "I love you very much Naruto Uzumaki," she said quietly, "but having you leave like that, and lie to me like that and then to think that you had died… That was too painful Naruto. I can't take anything like that again." She looked up at him. "When I heard that you were dead, I felt like I was ready to die too."_

_Naruto looked away. "Don't ever do that Hinata. That would ruin my world." Naruto looked back at Hinata and cleared his throat. "So… does this mean you're you willing to give me a second chance?" he asked nervously._

_Hinata took a deep breath and nodded. "You are very precious to me Naruto Uzumaki. Of course I will give you another chance."_

_Naruto smiled and inched forward. He traced her jawline with one finger. He gently lifted her head up and stared into her eyes. "I love you Hinata Hyuga. I promise not to lie to you again. I promise that I will do better and try not to do or say as many stupid things. I promise that I will try to be more sensitive to your feelings. I promise that…" Naruto ran out of things to say. He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips._

_Hinata pressed back, gently at first and then harder. Their tongues danced together, and Naruto pulled her close to him. Her hands slid under his jacket, and under his shirt. He groaned as she ran her nails over his back. He began to kiss her face, her ears and her neck. Hinata shivered and pressed her nose into his jacket and inhaled the smell of him. She felt dizzy to be held by him again._

_"Oh, Naruto," she moaned as he nipped at her neck. "I am so glad that you are here with me."_

_He leaned back and brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. He stared into her eyes. "I missed you so, so much Hinata." He crushed her to him and kissed her fiercely._

_Hinata giggled and gave him a gentle push. "It's nice to know that you miss me that much after only three days."_

_Naruto grinned weakly. "Yeah… Sorry... It seemed longer."_

_Hinata gave him a hug and a quick peck. "I have one more request for you Uzumaki-san."_

_"Anything," said Naruto eagerly._

_Hinata linked her arm with his. "Take me out to dinner. I'm starving."_

_Naruto smiled and spun her as if they were dancing. "Anywhere my lady wishes to go, I will take her."_

_Hinata smiled. "Do you think you could manage to take me out for ramen?"_

_"Ramen?" asked Naruto, a little surprised. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather go somewhere fancier?"_

_Hinata smiled and slipped an arm around his waist. "I think I'd rather have ramen. It always reminds me of our first date."_

_Naruto laughed. "Well, if you want to be really nostalgic, I can use these to pay for our meal." He dug through his pockets and pulled out the booklet of coupons. "Do you want to go to Ichiraku's?"_

_Hinata grinned. "I'm hungry enough to eat up the rest of your coupons. I am a little surprised though. I thought you would have eaten through them all by now."_

_Naruto leaned over and kissed her. "The most beautiful woman in the world gave these to me as a gift. It wouldn't feel right using them without her."_


	30. Chapter 13 Hinata's Tale part 5

**Author's Note:**

Okay, so remember how in the last chapter I gave a warning that things were going to get a little steamy?

I think I'm walking up to the boundary of the 'T' rating and staring over the edge with this part below.

Now just to reassure everyone, while I am quite certain that the below scene, although rather sultry, is in 'T' territory... you may want to read said scene in a location free from curious young children, inquisitive grandmothers and Parochial School nuns.

Especially the nuns. Trust me on this, I know from experience... Sister Mary Josephine may have have been legally blind and deaf and weighed eighty five pounds when soaking wet, but that woman could smell an impure thought at a hundred yards and could move like the wind wielding that ruler of hers with a righteous fury.

Anyway, if you think this crosses a line and the whole story needs to be reclassified as rated 'M' let me know.

-Cas

* * *

_They walked arm in arm down the main street of Konoha. They had to step aside to avoid a long line of wheel houses, carriages and wagons that were headed for the main gate. The lead one pulled up short in front of them. With a jerk the curtains pulled back on the passenger compartment. Naruto yelped in surprise and then bowed. "Hyuga-sama," he said._

_Hiashi Hyuga gave him a frowning glare. He turned to Hinata. "Hinata," he said curtly, "I was hoping you would be home to see us away, but I see now you were resolving… other matters."_

_Hinata bowed. "Yes Father." She tugged gently on Naruto's arm. "You remember Naruto Uzumaki, do you not?"_

_Hiashi scowled. "I doubt I will ever manage to forget him." He gave Naruto a nod. "Uzumaki-san. I have heard tell that you single handedly captured the rogue-nin Sasuke Uchiha and brought him back to the Hidden Leaf Village. Well done."_

_"Well actually..." started Naruto with a mildly vexed look on his face. Hinata gave him a small nudge. Naruto composed himself. "Thank you Hyuga-sama," he said simply._

_Hiashi looked back at Hinata. "Given that the pair of you appear to be... on speaking terms again... may I safely assume that there will be no more late night intruders at the compound?"_

_Hinata bowed a slight smile on her face. "Yes Father, I believe those issues have been resolved."_

_There was a slight pause before Hiashi nodded. "Very well then. I trust that you will maintain the integrity and the honor of our house and name. You will only have minimal staff with you while we are away."_

_"I can manage Father. Thank you for your concern," said Hinata._

_Hiashi nodded and pulled back from the window. Before he could close the curtains, Hanabi stuck her head out._

_"Hey! Naruto-nichan!" she shouted, "Bring my sister some more chocolate! But not the cherry ones! They're gross!" Hiashi hissed something at her, and Hanabi smiled. He twitched the curtains closed and the cart rumbled off._

_Hinata looked sheepishly at Naruto. "My sister took all of the gifts you left at my house. Sorry about that."_

_Naruto shrugged and smiled. "That's okay. I would have given you a hundred times that amount if it would have brought you back to me." He paused as they watched the wagon train rumble past. "In a way though, I'm glad they didn't matter," said Naruto. "I'd rather you came back to me for me, not for my presents."_

_The very last wagon went rumbling past. Sitting in the back was Neji. He looked at Naruto and Hinata together and gave them a smile and a nod. The wagon train pulled off in a cloud of dust._

_"So Neji's leaving as well?" asked Naruto._

_Hinata nodded and grabbed his arm. "There will be no one around to stop you from serenading me… Do you want to drop by?"_

_Naruto blushed. "I'm not really that good a singer."_

_Hinata leaned in and kissed him. "I'm sure you will be the best musician who's ever sang underneath my window."_

_"But my guitar broke when I was trying to climb over the wall!"_

_Hinata raised her eyebrows. "You know how to play a guitar?"_

_Naruto looked down. "Not really," he mumbled._

_Hinata smiled. "It's probably for the best then… Why don't you stop by sometime after it gets dark?"_

* * *

_The ramen was good. Naruto's company was even better. He kissed her outside of Ichiraku's and said he had to go rehearse. Hinata walked home. She felt warm and full. She felt a thousand times better. Some of that was because of the food, but most was just being with Naruto again. She felt so comfortable having him back. She could still feel the some of the hurt inside of her, but it had calmed down from a sharp pain to a small dull ache. It was more than overwhelmed by her satisfied well-being._

_She ran her hands through her hair and smiled. She still smelled faintly of him from their embrace on the bridge. She smiled dreamily. "Naruto's going to be alone with me in my room tonight," she thought._

_She stopped for a moment and blushed hotly. Her feet refused to move as that single thought played through her head. Furtively looking over her shoulder, she quickly stepped into the nearest pharmacy._

* * *

_**"...You said if you could fly,**_

_**you would leave all this behind you.**_

_**And soar up to the sky,**_

_**So blue, so blue, that sky so blue.**_

_**If there's a place for us,**_

_**Would you be sure to take me with you?**_

_**And never come back down,**_

_**So blue, so blue, that sky so blue.**_

_**So blue, so blue, that sky so blue.**_

_**Only you, only you, only with you."**_

_Hinata clapped from her window and laughed. Naruto and seven of his clones were singing a cappella beneath her in the garden. They were far from concert quality, but they weren't too bad. She was sure her father would have something disparaging to say about their song. Naruto and the clones bowed._

_"Encore, encore!" called Hinata._

_Naruto and his clones looked at each other. "Um… We didn't really rehearse anything else," he called up. "We could sing 'Row Row Your Boat' I guess."_

_Hinata laughed. "Never mind then. Why don't you come on up for a kiss my darling troubadour."_

_The clones disappeared in a puff of smoke as Naruto released the jutsu. He ran up the side of her house and grabbed Hinata's windowsill. The moon was full and his blue eyes seemed to sparkle in the soft light._

_Hinata leaned down and kissed him. She liked it so much, she grabbed his face and did it again. She kissed him harder and faster until finally Naruto grunted and pulled away. "What is it?" she asked._

_"I'm losing my grip here. I... I don't suppose I can come in?" Hinata smiled she grabbed his hands and pulled._

_Naruto scrambled inside. He looked around. "A girl's bedroom. I'm seeing the inside of a girl's bedroom." He smiled. "Well… for real this time anyway." Hinata just stood there, staring at him. "What?" he asked._

_Hinata blushed shyly. "When I was younger, I used to dream that you would climb in my bedroom window late one night.'_

_"Really?' asked Naruto. He looked down with his face flushed, but smiling. "And then what would happen?"_

_Hinata didn't say a word. She just stepped forward and kissed him once. Naruto leaned in to kiss her some more but she placed a finger on his lips and stopped him. She reached up and grabbed the zipper on his jacket and slowly pulled it down. She pushed it off his shoulders, tugged until it freed itself from his arms and then tossed it in the corner._

_She stepped forward and kissed him again. Hinata ran her hands over his shoulders and chest. She slid them down to his waist. Staring into his eyes, she hooked her fingers under his armored mesh undershirt and pulled it up over his head._

_Naruto stood there with his eyes closed. Hinata stood next to him and gently kissed his lips, then his ear. She ran her fingers over his stomach and felt him shiver. Naruto opened his eyes and looked at her. "Now what?" he whispered._

_Hinata just placed a finger on his lips and smiled. She took his hands and brought them up to the zipper on her pullover. Naruto tugged on the zipper and pulled the coat, first off one arm and then the other. He kissed Hinata slowly at first and then faster. His arms wrapped around her and she pressed up against him. Naruto slid his hands down her spine and over to the side, until they were resting on her hips. He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose._

_Hinata stared up at him. She placed her hands over his and then slid his hands from her hips to her bottom. She gasped as Naruto gave a gentle squeeze. She wrapped one leg around him and thrust her tongue inside his mouth as he pulled their pelvises together._

_Hinata's hands slid to the front of his pants. Naruto froze as she unbuckled his belt and undid his fly. His pants fell to the floor in a heap. Naruto gave her a concerned stare. "Um… Hinata... What…?"_

_She silenced him with a kiss. She kissed his lips, his chin, his throat, his chest. She kissed all the way down until she was kneeling in front of him. Then she reached down and pulled off his shoes. She took him by the hands and made him step out of his pants. Then she went back into his arms._

_They kissed some more. Naruto's hands wandered over her body; whatever he touched began to tingle. He slid them up underneath the steel links of her mesh shirt. Hinata made a little satisfied noise as his hands explored._

_She pulled away from his kisses and began to pull his arms out from under her shirt. "What?" he asked._

_She pushed his hands down to the front of her pants. "I want you to undress me," she whispered._

_Naruto stared, blushed and then kissed her. His hands fumbled with the waistband of her pants and then, they too slid down. Their legs touched, skin on skin. Hinata slid her knees on his thighs and wrapped her hands around his butt._

_Hinata could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Naruto kissed her and once again slid his hands up under her shirt. He gave her a questioning look. Hinata nodded and lifted up her arms. Naruto pulled her shirt up and over her head. She stood shivering in the moonlight, clad only in her bra and panties._

_Their bodies came together of their own volition. Hinata felt intoxicated. Naruto's skin was touching hers everywhere. His smell filled her nostrils. The only thing separating them, as they rubbed against each other, was their underwear._

_Hinata sat down on her bed, holding Naruto as she pulled him down on top of her._

_Naruto's hands fumbled with her bra strap. "Here, let me," she said. She reached behind and unclasped it. She pulled Naruto over her like a blanket. Naruto kissed her face all over. Hinata pressed his face to her neck and then gasped as he kissed his way down lower. She wrapped her legs around him and squeezed._

_Naruto propped himself up and looked down at her. "You are so beautiful," he whispered._

_Hinata slid her hands down his chest, teased the waistband of his boxer shorts and then boldly slipped her hands inside. Naruto groaned, and stared at her, his mouth hanging open. She smiled up at him and began to move her hand._

_Naruto pulled away suddenly. "Hey Hinata?" he said nervously. "I'm not so sure we should be doing this... I mean this is your Father's house. What if someone catches us?"_

_Hinata smiled. "There is no one here to catch us. The gardener is supposed to show up at nine in the morning. I'm sure that we can both be awake and away by then." She took Naruto's hands and hooked his fingers in her underwear. She lifted her hips and slowly pushed his hands down._

_Naruto stared at her and swallowed. "Well, um, what about protection? I didn't bring anything with me."_

_Hinata opened her nightstand drawer. Her heart was racing in her chest, but she was feeling so very very good. Despite years of having clan traditions drilled into her, she was positive she wanted this. It just felt like it was the right thing to do. She pulled out a box of condoms from her nightstand drawer and dropped them on the bed. "I got these... just in case." She reached up and tugged off his boxers._

_Naruto looked down. "Oh... Okay."_

* * *

They lay pressed together in Naruto's bed. It was a warm evening and they were both sweaty from their lovemaking. Hinata didn't mind. In fact she wanted more... anything to distract her from the unwelcome future looming over her head. She wrapped herself around Naruto and pulled him tighter. "Do you remember the first time we made love?" she whispered in his ear.

Naruto's fingers were tracing circles on her back. He smiled and nodded. "This whole day has just been one long trip down memory lane for you hasn't it?"

A cool breeze blew in the open window. It did little to cool down the room but it felt wonderful on her skin. Hinata leaned over and kissed Naruto. "I love you."

Naruto smiled wistfully. "Yeah..."

Hinata pulled back "Yeah? That's all you have to say?" She kissed him again. "What is bothering you?" she asked, even though she could guess.

Naruto smiled weakly and kissed her as well. "I love you too…" He sighed. "I'm sorry… I just feel really... weird… doing this… I mean, you're supposed to be engaged to someone else tomorrow." He shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I want to do it, but… I kind of don't know how to feel."

Hinata lay her head down on his chest. "I know," she said quietly. "I'm being forced to make a decision I really don't want to make."

Naruto played with her hair. "Well if it makes you feel any better, I don't want you to have to make it either. I just… " Naruto sighed. "I know how much your father's approval means to you. I know you'll do a great job as the Head of the Hyuga clan." Naruto grinned and ran his hand down her side. "I also want you to stay with me, for my own personal selfish reasons of course."

"Of course," echoed Hinata, snuggling closer. She trailed her fingertips up and down his body. She tilted her head up and kissed him.

"Are you trying to distract me from this conversation?" asked Naruto. "Because if you are… It's working."

Hinata stopped. "I know. It is just not fair. I hate this. I hate that I have to make this choice. I don't want this ever to end. I just want to stay here with you."

"Well, I don't want this to end either." Naruto sighed. "Everything inside me is screaming for me to do whatever I can to convince you to choose being with me over being the head of the Hyuga clan. But," he shrugged, "it sounds like it would be pretty bad if you didn't do this. It sounds like a lot of people would get hurt." Naruto smiled in thought. "I don't suppose you could take the job and then say 'Neener-neener I'm not going to marry you!' Could you?"

Hinata shook her head. "My father would be forced to disown me. It would heap more shame upon him and open him up to more attacks."

"Hmm… Well it was just an idea. How come the Hyuga clan needs a Head anyway? Was it always a hereditary thing?"

Hinata sighed. "These days it is. Once one of the Head families has the chair it is generally passed down from parent to child. There is usually some jockeying and playing for position but nothing like the huge amount of infighting that would occur if the Head has no successor."

"Because then all the other Head families go all out to secure the spot. Got it," finished Naruto. "But why make it hereditary in the first place? Why not just hold a vote or something? Who came up with this?"

Hinata smiled "Homaru Hyuga. He started this. He was the creator and the first grand master of the jukken fighting style. Before him, the head of the Hyuga clan was always determined in a trial by combat. He kept his fighting style a family secret, and his children and grandchildren went on to dominate the clan hierarchy for generations. Eventually everyone else swore fealty to his family. They became the referred to as the branches to Homaru's family's trunk. Eventually intermarriage with the branch families and squabbles amongst Homaru's descendants broke the secret of the jukken style and it became less invincible than it once was." Hinata paused, thinking.

"What happened then?" asked Naruto.

"The Branch family rebellion. At least that is what the clan historians call it. Enough members of the Branch family grew skilled enough in jukken to challenge the current head of the clan. One of them, Hiro Hyuga, managed to defeat him, but the other Head families refused to acknowledge his victory. The branch families began to follow Hiro as their new clan chief, while the Head families followed the original. There was a huge schism in the clan that erupted in violence one night when elements in the Head family kidnapped and murdered Hiro's wife and children. Hiro and the Branch family struck back. They killed those who were directly involved in the attack. Hiro was very skilled in sealing jutsu. He punished the families of all those involved in his family's death by placing the caged bird seal on them and decreeing that from then on, only Hyuga who have been sealed would be referred to as Branch family, and all those unsealed would be the Head family. He did this to try to restore some equality to the clan." Hinata sighed. "Poor Hiro, he didn't last very long as the head of the clan. He was unseated less than a year later. The the Head of the Clan position changed hands five times in three years. It was at that point that they tried to make the challenges more organized. If you wanted to challenge the head of the clan, you needed support from both the Head and the Branch families. And no Branch families that are under your family's obligation."

"Because they were sealed to you right?" asked Naruto. "You could force them to vote any way you wanted?"

"Not quite," said Hinata. "At first, the seal was only placed on those who were criminals. However, after a decade or so, the seal was being used much more commonly. It became commonplace to demand a sealing as part of a contract. After all, why wouldn't you place a seal if it could ensure the loyalty of your vassals?"

Hinata took a deep breath. "The seal was supposed to bring equality. No more divisions between the Hyuga unless someone was deserving to be punished. In reality it brought servitude. Those who started out with the power just got more powerful. They could manipulate people's lives and fortunes and then coerce the desperate into joining their little private fiefdoms." Hinata shrugged. "Not much has changed since then. The Head families in power have gotten more and more soft, relying more on their branch families to do the actual work while they reap the profits."

"Your family doesn't do it that way," said Naruto.

Hinata shook her head. "No, my family has a proud tradition of being shinobi. 'We are Hyuga! All of us are skilled. All of us will serve,' my father likes to say." Hinata rolled a bit closer to Naruto. "You know what he thinks of me."

Naruto kissed her forehead. "Your father is dead wrong about that." He frowned. "One thing is bothering me. I'm a little surprised that the Hokage would just sit back and let and this happen. Isn't he supposed to maintain order on the village?"

Hinata used her finger to trace circles on his chest. "This was back during the Second Great Ninja war. Konoha needed the byakugan. They would have overlooked a lot worse than the Caged Bird seal to keep that edge in that war."

Naruto gave her a tender kiss. "I once told Neji that when I was Hokage I would get rid of the Caged Bird seal."

Hinata smiled. "Perhaps you will, or maybe it will be me," she said playfully. Her smile faded as she realized what she had said. She looked over at Naruto's face which was carefully blank. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I… I didn't mean it that way."

"I understand," he said. He slowly sat up and got out of bed. "I'm thirsty," he announced. "I'm going to get a drink." He looked at her. "Do you want anything?"

Hinata shook her head no. Naruto started for the kitchen. In the darkness of his room, his feet got tangled up in his suit jacket he had been wearing at dinner. He yelped as he hit the floor.

Hinata jumped out of bed and ran over to him. "Naruto! Are you okay?"

Naruto rolled over rubbing his nose. "If I knew that you'd appear naked trying to rescue me when I tripped, I'd be falling more often."

Hinata giggled and moved forward to kiss him. She cried out as she put her knee down on something hard.

"Are you alright?" asked Naruto. "This is the night of injuries apparently."

"I'm okay," said Hinata rubbing her knee. She groped around in the dim light. "I just put my knee down on something." She fumbled with Naruto's suit coat. In the pocket, under her knee was a small wooden box. She fished it out and held it up. "What is this?" she asked, opening it.

"Um…" started Naruto. The moonlight glinted off of a small solitary diamond, set into a thin gold band.

Hinata stared at the ring. It twinkled back at her as her hand started to shake.

Naruto sighed. "I… um… was kind of planning to ask you over dinner," he said quietly. He gave her a small smile. "I figured it would be the perfect way to top off a really good day. But then with one thing and another…" He shrugged. "I didn't want you to feel like I was trying to force you to make a decision that you might not be comfortable with. You've... kind of had a lot of that... recently."

Hinata didn't say anything. She stared at the ring, glanced up at Naruto and then looked back at the ring. Naruto nervously looked away. "I mean we've been together for almost three years now, and I'm positive I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He sighed. "But I also want you to make the choice that's best for you, and if me asking you to…"

"How were you going to ask me?" interrupted Hinata.

"What?" asked Naruto, confused.

"How were you going to ask me? Could you show me, please?"

Naruto shifted. "Well, first we'd have this big fancy meal, and then we'd have dessert. After that at some point I'd just stare into your eyes," he looked into Hinata's eyes and blushed, "and hold your hand," he took her hand, "and then I'd tell you that I had something very important to ask you." Naruto got down on one knee and gently took the ring box from Hinata. "I'd say something like; 'Hinata Hyuga, I love you very much and I can't imagine living my life without you. Would you do me the great honor of marrying me?'" He held out the ring box and smiled. "And then I'd hope like hell that you'd say yes."

Hinata reached out and touched the ring. She picked it up and turned it over in her fingers. He was going to ask her... make the decision completely hers. How very like him... how very not Hyuga. She looked up at Naruto. "If you had to choose between being with me, and becoming the Hokage what would you choose?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply and then shut it slowly. He looked down. "I… I don't know what to tell you. I've never thought about that." He frowned, lost in thought. A minute passed, and then another. Hinata watched him expectantly. Naruto glanced up her nervously and then quickly looked away. He cleared his throat. "Once when I was younger, Ero-sennin offered to take me on as his student. He would teach me all sorts of jutsu, make me strong enough to beat the Akatsuki and become Hokage, but only if I gave up on finding Sasuke and bringing him back to the Leaf Village. He said he wouldn't waste his time training fools." Naruto grinned. "So I looked him in the eye and said 'Fine, I'll do things my own way! I'll train by myself, invent jutsu a thousand times more powerful than any of yours, defeat the Akatsuki, bring back Sasuke, and become Hokage, all without your help! I don't need your rules!'" Naruto looked up at her nervously. "I know it doesn't help you much, but that's what I would probably say if anyone asked me to choose."

Hinata looked down at the ring. "Doing things my own way…" She thought. An idea began to form in her head. "My own way… Yes," she thought. "That might work… It would be quite the risk… but it might work... No..." she thought, fighting her doubts away. "No... it will work!"

Her hands started to shudder with nervousness and excitement. She looked up at Naruto, holding out the ring. "Could you... please... ask me one more time?" she asked her voice shaking.

Naruto gave her a slightly confused look and held out the ring again. "Hinata Hyuga, I love you very much and I cannot imagine living my life without you. Would you do me the great honor of marrying me?"

Hinata swallowed, and clenched her fists to stop from shaking. "Yes," she said twitching with the emotion of the moment. She felt as if the destiny of the whole universe had swerved underneath her and was now on some vast uncharted course.

Naruto gaped at her. "What?"

She leaned forward and kissed him. "Yes. I would love to marry you Naruto Uzumaki. I want to be your wife. I want to be with you always."

"But," Naruto started to say. Hinata silenced him with a kiss. She held out her hand.

"Ring please?"

Naruto fumbled with it as he tried to slide it on her finger. "I know it's not that big a diamond. It's all I could really afford. I hope it's okay."

Hinata held out her hand at looked at it gleam on her finger. She kissed him. "It's all the diamond I will ever need." She climbed on top of him right there on the floor. They kissed slowly at first.

* * *

Sometime later they were back in the bed, more sweaty than ever. Naruto kissed her and entwined his fingers with hers. He held up her hand and looked at the ring. "So… We are really going to do this?"

Hinata nodded and hugged him tighter. "Oh yes."

"So what are we going to do about the whole Hyuga clan thing?" asked Naruto with worry in his voice.

Hinata rolled on top of him. "Do you trust me?"

Naruto kissed her. "With my life."

Hinata smiled. "Do you think I am strong?"

Naruto kissed her again. "I know you are strong. Strong enough to do anything." He said it with such conviction that she felt buoyed up by his certainty. Her own doubts faded.

"Do you love me?"

They shared yet another kiss. This one went on and on and on. "More than anything," said Naruto when they came up for air.

Hinata smiled. "Good... Because I have a plan. We are going to do this… My way."


	31. Chapter 14 Hinata's Tale part 1

**Chapter Fourteen: Hinata's tale: Blood and Water**

"This is madness," Neji muttered for the hundredth time. "Complete and utter madness! You cannot possibly mean to go through with this!"

Hinata brushed down her dress kimono and smiled. She could begin see why Hanabi enjoyed teasing him so much. It was rather amusing to see him get all flustered. "I am completely confident in this plan. And more importantly, Naruto is completely confident in me."

Neji scowled. "Hinata-sama, may I respectfully remind you that Naruto's skill as a tactician is... well one would call it doubtful if one was being generous . I would think twice before carrying out any plan of his."

Hinata smiled wider. "The plan, dear cousin, is mine and mine alone. All Naruto is giving me is his trust and his support." She looked around anxiously. "You did bring him didn't you?"

Neji looked exasperated. "He's here as my guest, under the extremely thin pretense of the Hokage's successor presenting himself to the clan I might add." He sighed. "Are you sure having him here is a good idea? You know it will end in a disaster if he interferes."

Hinata nodded. "He gave me his word. All he will do is give me moral support." She looked around excitedly. "Where is he, do you know? I haven't seen him yet." Neji pointed. Across the room Naruto was leaning against the wall talking animatedly to two young boys. She caught his eye. He gave her a small smile and winked.

Neji rubbed his face with his hands. "You really intend to go through with this? You do realize that this is insane, don't you?"

Hinata gave him a cold look. "And if you were told you had to give up Tenten, and doing this was your best chance to keep her, what would you do?"

Neji scowled and shook his head. "I… I understand why you are doing this. I just… I don't like the method that's all. It wanders too close to betrayal." He took a deep breath and exhaled. "According to tradition, you are going to need the support of four Hyuga at a bare minimum. Two Head and two Branch. None of the Branch can be under your family. Do you have that?"

Hinata shrugged. "Almost."

"Almost?" screeched Neji. Heads in the crowd turned to look at him and he quieted down. "This whole plan of yours is hinging on that support. What do you mean by almost?"

"Well," said Hinata sweetly, "since you married Tenten, you have technically started your own family, so according to the absolute letter of the clan charter, you have started your own house, cousin." She pointed to the two young boys who were jumping around Naruto. "Kento and Riku are young, but still unbound, so they count as members of the Head family."

"They are only children," muttered Neji. "Can you, in good conscience, let them do this?"

Hinata frowned. "They may be children, but they have already been threatened by Junko with violence and binding. They have little else to lose by supporting me." She sighed. "Although… truthfully, that is the part of my plan that I am the least comfortable with."

"So you have three... Who gets the honor of being the fourth person to attach their name to this recklessness?" asked Neji.

"Do you happen to know if the bar has opened yet?" Hinata asked innocently. "I need a drink."

* * *

Hinata tapped on the bar top to get the bartender's attention. "Water please," she said politely. He poured her a cup. "Actually, I was hoping to get mineral water?" The bartender placed the green glass bottle down on the countertop. Hinata eyed it and then smiled at the bartender. "Would it be too much trouble to get a few extra please? My family and I are really quite thirsty." She bought five bottles and stuffed them into her large purse.

Someone cleared their throat behind her. "I'm glad to see you are staying away from the sake today my girl. Last time it didn't go too well for me and my wardrobe."

Hinata turned and nodded coolly. "Honan-san," she said simply, "I was hoping to run into you here."

Honan gave her a weak smile and took a drink from his ever present mug of beer. "Nice to know that I'm so highly sought after. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Is it my charming personality?"

Hinata shook her head. "I'm sorry Honan-san, I wish to discuss some… business." She motioned to an open table far away from the milling groups. "May we have a seat?"

Honan took a large gulp from his beer and ran his eyes over the crowd. "I couldn't help but notice that a certain Uzumaki lad happens to be in the audience today, princess." He paused and waited for Hinata to comment. When she didn't, he shrugged and took a swallow from his flagon. "Two competing thoughts keep popping into my head. First, That you listened to your dear old dad, he is no longer your beau, and he really likes his heartache served up hot and fresh... Or the second, that the pair of you have some mischief planned." He lifted his cup and drank. "Which could it be… I wonder?"

Hinata ignored him. "I wish to discuss a business proposition Honan-san. Will you listen? I believe it will be of great benefit to you."

Honan shrugged. "I'll be the judge of that. What do you propose?"

Hinata leaned forward. "If my plan succeeds, you will have the eternal gratitude of both the Head of the Hyuga clan and the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. We will both do what we can to grant favored trade status to you for import of certain select items. All those restrictions will be lifted for your ships alone. You will be a rich, rich man."

"And if this miracle plan doesn't work out? What happens then?" asked Honan, taking a sip.

"If the plan fails," Hinata shrugged. "Then in all odds you will get the result you so eagerly sought out yesterday afternoon." She looked at him coldly. "We all fall down."

Honan smirked. "Oh? So, now it is okay for you to plan the total collapse of the Hyuga clan. But when I do it, it's a shameful bad thing."

Hinata looked away. "I confess I don't like it, but it is one possible outcome of my plan." She turned back to Honan and gave him a steely glare. "It is an acceptable risk however, as I do not believe my plan will fail."

"I see," said Honan sarcastically. He studied his beer, swirling it around in his mug. "I suppose your plan is worth listening to. It certainly does seem like I win either way." He took a drink. "Of course, whether I decide to support this little scheme at all depends on what the plan actually is. Would you care to clue me in?"

Hinata leaned forward. "All I ask is that at a time of my choosing you will say four little words."

Honan grinned mirthlessly and drank again. "You are very green at this game, aren't you princess? You're asking for blind faith? From me? I have no intention of agreeing to anything until I hear what those words are. Four words can get a man into a mountain of trouble around here."

Hinata's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "I need you to say 'I support Hinata Hyuga.'"

Honan leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling. He worked the words around in his mouth. He took another drink and continued to puzzle it out. "Okay princess, I give up. I can't see the angle here… How do you hope to become both the Head of the Clan and stay together with the kid?" He looked down with a cocky grin. "Although I am quite flattered that you think I am such an influential man that I can change your father's mind with a simple phrase."

Hinata sat back. "Can I count on your support or not?"

Honan shrugged and took a swig. "I make it a personal policy to know what positions I am supporting before I blindly pledge myself." He looked down and studied his fingernails. "For all I know I could be signing my own death warrant"

Hinata shook her head. "Sorry. I am having some issues with trust right now, especially with certain members of my extended family at the moment. I cannot afford to let the true nature of what I am going to do to be known at this time." She leaned across the table and stared at Honan. "I've explained to you what the possible outcomes will be and how they will each benefit you. To achieve either of these outcomes, I will need your help. Can I count on your words?"

Honan scratched his face. "The best I can give you is a maybe, my girl, and a very slim one at that. I like to see the horse first before I place my money on it."

Hinata smiled at him. "I'll take your maybe. I'm sure that you will find my plan very amusing." She gave him a nod, and grinning, pushed herself away from the table. Honan took another drink from his mug and stared thoughtfully after her as she left.

* * *

Hinata strolled her way around the whole meeting hall, trying to look like she was idly wandering. She took one of the bottles of water, cracked it open, and took a small sip. Then she left it, hidden behind a decorative plant. She wandered over to the windows and opened a second bottle. She heard footsteps behind her, but did not turn.

"So how did the meeting with Honan go?" said Naruto in a very quiet voice.

Hinata continued to look out the window. "As well as could be expected. He will hold off on any decisions until the last moment, but I think we can count on him."

Naruto nodded. "And how are you holding up?"

"A little nervous, I suppose." Hinata smiled and toyed with the bottle. "I keep thinking about last night."

Naruto chuckled. "Don't get too distracted. You've got a lot to focus on." He paused. "I wish there was more I could do," he said morosely.

Hinata gave her head a tiny little shake. "Sorry my love, If we want this to work out, there can be no outside interference here." She thought. "I wish I could find more backers though."

"Can I help with that?" asked Naruto eagerly.

Hinata gave a small shrug. "You can try. I doubt many here will be willing to talk to you, but if you can find someone, just be discreet, okay? I don't want anyone learning of the plan ahead of time."

"Naruto-Oni-chan!" whined Riku toddling up to him. "I'm bored! I want my mom!"

"When is this going to be over?" asked Kento. "I want to go home!"

Naruto smiled. "In just a little bit guys…" He smiled quickly at Hinata. "Hey have you two ever seen a talking frog?"

"Frogs don't talk," said Kento with the ironclad certainty of an older brother who 'knows' everything.

"They will if you ask nicely," said Naruto. "Come over here away from everyone and I'll show you."

Hinata smiled softly as she watched Naruto summon a palm sized frog. It was one of his messenger frogs, small and extremely fast. The boys squealed with glee as it grouchily asked Naruto why he called him there. She pushed away her anxieties and looked down at the bottle in her hand. She took a single sip and left it nestled behind the curtains. A third bottle was left next to the stairs near her father's 'office'. She heard footsteps on the raised dais.

Hinata bowed as her Father approached her. He had Ko in tow. "Hinata," he said acknowledging her with a nod, "I am pleased to see you here at the clan gathering." His eyes flicked over to Naruto. "I trust you have come to some sort of decision?"

"I have Father," said Hinata looking down. She had to be careful, if she strayed too far from the truth her father might sense it. "I have chosen to accept my marriage proposal."

Hiashi nodded curtly. "Excellent. It must have been a very hard decision to come to, but I am proud of you my daughter. You have truly grown as a shinobi." Hiashi's eyes darted to Naruto again. "I trust that there will be no… unseemly outbursts... from him during the clan meeting. I mistrust the pretence with which he has managed to insinuate himself into our gathering."

"I have spoken at length with Naruto, Father. He swore to me he will honor my decision."

Hiashi's eyebrow twitched in surprise. "Hmm… The boy is gallant at times I will grant him that." He watched Naruto laugh and joke with the Hyuga children. "It takes a courageous man to face his defeat with a smile. He will make an adequate Hokage one day." He gave Hinata a reassuring pat on her shoulder and started to move on.

"Father!" Hinata called out. "I have a small request to make of you." Hiashi stopped and turned. "I wish to change into something more... appropriate for the opening ceremony. May I be excused until the start of the clan meeting?"

Hiashi nodded his assent. "Try your best not to be late." He walked off.

Ko paused for a moment in Hiashi's wake. "I am sorry Hinata-sama... that things could not have been otherwise. I know how much Naruto-san meant to you."

Hinata looked away but gave him a weak smile. "I am sorry as well Ko. I wish circumstances could have allowed matters to go find a different path. I hope someday you will be able to forgive me… for my stubbornness." She bowed very formally to her family's faithful retainer and strode off quickly. She wondered if she had gone too far. She could feel Ko's very worried frown on her back.

Hinata left the fourth water bottle behind her on a table. She was about to move on when a cackling voice stopped her.

"Hey girl!" called out Junko. "You're leaving your trash behind!"

Hinata froze and clenched her teeth. Then she turned and bowed. "Please excuse me Junko-sama," she said apologetically. "I have a lot on my mind today."

Junko gave her a small smile. "That's all right my dear. I just hate to see things to be so untidy. It really makes my blood boil when things get out of their proper place." She handed Hinata the bottle, smiled and then made a very pointed glance at Naruto. "There's far too much trash littering the meeting house today, wouldn't you say?"

Hinata kept her face blank. She didn't say a word, she just turned to leave. Before she could take a step, Junko grabbed her arm. "I heard the fox boy was out buying jewelry the other day. I don't suppose he tried to show you any precious little trinkets yesterday did he?"

Damn! The evil old woman was spying on her! That could ruin everything! "Junko-sama, I am asking you... nicely... to stop this," said Hinata in a flat voice. "Is it really necessary for you to keep... insulting Naruto this way in my presence?"

Junko frowned at her. "Yes, I believe it is, you foolish little thing. You have been mooning over that little monster since you first laid eyes on him. Your father, damn his judgement, has allowed you to dally with him, and heavens only know what the pair of you have been up to when there weren't any eyes around." She stared at Hinata with disgust. "My idiot son will have to accept used goods just to further the breeding of the Hyuga line." She shook her head. "Young people these days have no respect for honor, for tradition, for good breeding."

"Naruto is a good man," Hinata clenched her teeth. "I will not have you speaking ill of him."

Junko laughed. "The spirited horses are always the most rewarding to tame." She leaned in to whisper to Hinata. Hinata leaned back, away from the sour smell of her breath. "Well, all that will all change today girl. You're mine now. I may not be able to actually place the Caged Bird seal on your forehead, but make no mistake, after Mikio puts a ring on your finger, you'll scarce notice the difference." She grinned a friendly smile at Hinata. "Maybe once you have Mikio's ring you can show that demon fox what a 'real' engagement diamond is supposed to look like. I heard all the Jinchuriki could afford was such a small pathetic thing." Junko gave Hinata a pat on the cheek and looked her up and down. "You are carrying too much weight," she said bluntly. "We'll have to hold off the wedding for at least three months or so to give you a chance to slim down."

Hinata did her best to ignore all that she said. In her imagination, she murdered. She gave Junko a short bow. "Please excuse me Junko-sama. I really must be getting ready for the presentation." Hinata slipped away from her grasp, and darted into the crowd. She stopped by a trash can to squelch her rage and to smother any of her tears. When she was sure no one was looking, she slid the reclaimed bottle of water, upright into the can so it wouldn't tip over. The last bottle she left by the back hallway by the bathrooms and the rear exit.

She walked back to the rear exit and knocked twice on the door. She slowly opened it. Sayuri was standing furtively by the dumpster. She saw Hinata peeking out and gasped. She quickly strode over.

"How are the boys?" she whispered anxiously.

Hinata gave her a reassuring smile. "They are fine. Naruto is watching over them. He's telling them stories."

Sayuri breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Please make sure that they are alright.

Hinata nodded. "Naruto promised me he would protect them with his life if necessary. Don't worry they have one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha watching over them."

Sayuri handed Hinata a large duffel bag. "Here it is," she whispered. "Please be careful." She gave Hinata a quick hug. "Thank you for all that you've done."

Hinata shook her head. "Thank you for helping me. I swear to you that everything will turn out okay." Sayuri turned and quickly walked away. Hinata headed back inside.

She stepped into the ladies room. It was rather crowded so she went over to a sink to freshen up. She took her time and waited for the room to clear. Hinata stared at herself in the mirror and ignored the pointed stares and loud whispers that went on behind her back. Her reflection looked back. A nervous tremor ran through her body. She took a deep breath and held it, wondering if she was making the right decision.

Finally, the restroom began to clear. When the last person left, she took her bag and entered the last stall.

* * *

Hinata waited, cloaked outside the main doors to the meeting hall. Her byakugan was activated so that she could see what was going on inside. The gathering should have formally resumed by now, but it looked as if her delayed appearance was starting to cause a little bit of a stir. Her father sat on a raised platform with a stern frown on his face. Ko was bent over, frantically whispering something in Hiashi's ear. The rest of the Hyuga clan was a mixture of boredom, tittering amusement, or anxiety. Honan knelt near the back looking around with a faint smile. Naruto was shuffled out of the way, off to one side, trying to look formal and serious, but occasionally making a face at Kento and Riku. Mikio was up near the front looking as if he had a bad case of indigestion... and no wonder, for Junko was seated beside him radiating cold fury. Hinata allowed herself a smile. Junko would get much angrier before this day was over.

Once again, Ko bent to update her Father. Hinata smiled and silently thanked Naruto for his advice. 'The best way to defeat the byakugan was to hide where no one would think to look.' Ko and the rest of her Father's men were no doubt searching the Main house and surrounding area for her. No one expected her to be waiting right outside the front door to to the meeting hall… anyone who knew her at all would assume this was the last place she wanted to be.

Hiashi gently waved Ko away with one hand. Hiashi slowly climbed to his feet. Hinata took a step back from the double doors, closer to the window, and waited.

Her father's voice floated outside. "My Hyuga brothers and sisters, I welcome you with a smile on my face and open arms," he said in a tired voice. "I am... overjoyed to see you here today." Hinata jerked her head up in surprise. All her life she had thought of her Father as a stern, stiff, cold, giant of a man. Hearing him speak in this weary manner, made her realize he was also getting old. A brief pang of sympathy ran through her.

"I am here to make two important announcements before we proceed with the normal clan business." He frowned as he stared out over the gathering. He let his gaze linger over Naruto and his look of displeasure deepened. "I wish to officially name my successor and heir to my position of Head of the Hyuga clan. I wish to name my eldest daughter Hinata Hyuga." Hiashi's mouth puckered as if he was swallowing something distasteful. A whisper started to build amongst the gathering. People began to look this way and that.

"Well? Where is the girl?" muttered Junko in a voice carefully gauged to be loud enough to carry. "Shouldn't she be presenting herself to us? What does it say about the Head of the clan if he can't control his own children?"

Hiashi cleared his throat nosily. "She appears to be temporarily delayed for the moment. She has given me assurances she will be here shortly. Once she has arrived we will present her to the clan."

A murmur arose in the gathering at this turn of events. Junko could be heard exclaiming, "Stupid girl, needs to learn punctuality. It's just one more thing you will have to teach her, Mikio."

"In the meantime," Hiashi called out loudly, over the noise. "I wish to announce the joyful union between…"

Hinata slammed both her palms into the main doors. The latch snapped with a gunshot loud crack, and the doors sprang open. There were shrieks of surprise and alarm as Hinata stepped into the hall. Those seated nearest to her flinched back. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Naruto bouncing with excitement and grinning wildly. She kept her own face carefully blank.

"I am here Father," her voice rang out. "I apologize for my lateness, I just needed a moment to change."

She strode up to the dais. Her boots ringing out on the floor. Shuriken rattled in her holster. She carried two equipment pouches beneath the short tanto sword she earned the right to wear when she became a jonin. Her makeup was all washed off. Her hair was no longer elaborately styled, it rustled against her flack jacket in a simple pony tail.

She had entered the meeting hall in her full combat kit. Compared to the other members at the gathering, Hinata looked very plain. She wore no necklace, no earrings, and no jewelry.

Well... almost no jewelry.

She walked between the rows of seated Hyuga, right up to the foot of the dais, where she paused in front of her father. She heard titters of amusement at her appearance as she passed. Hinata gritted her teeth. "They won't be laughing soon," she thought.

She bowed to Hiashi, then turned with military precision and bowed again to the audience. She gave them a look of disdain. "My name is Hinata Hyuga," she said coldly, "and I present myself to you for your approval." She paused and swept her gaze over the crowd. Then she turned, climbed the three steps and knelt next to her father. The whispers in the hall began to take on a different flavor. A few of the faces were now looking worried.

Far in the back, Naruto gave her a surreptitious thumbs up and a wink. "Make a big entrance," he had advised her. "Even if everyone falls over laughing, it will still distract them." She let the faintest of smiles cross her lips.

Junko saw Hinata's smile and frowned. She turned quickly and glared at Naruto who was desperately trying to look innocent. She turned back and gave Hinata a long, slow, suspicious appraisal.

Hiashi leaned his head slightly towards her. "This is what you changed into?" he said out of the corner of his mouth.

Hinata stared straight ahead. "It felt more appropriate Father, given the circumstances."

Hiashi sighed and raised his arms for silence. The frantic whispers died down. "I wish to present to you all, my daughter Hinata, veteran of the Fourth Ninja war, veteran of the campaign against Kabuto Yakushi, valued jonin of Konoha." There was a smattering of polite applause. There were even more calculated looks.

Hiashi nodded and smiled uncomfortably. "As I was saying earlier, I have another announcement to make. I would like to inform you all of the impending nuptials between my daughter and Mikio, son of Junko of the clan Hyuga." The whispers grew. There were a few furtive glances back towards Naruto. Hiashi looked out over the crowd. "Are there any members of the clan in good standing present who would object to such a union?" He paused for a beat. "Well, then…"

"I object Father." Silence filled the hall at Hinata's statement. She forced herself to remain calm and nod towards Mikio. "I mean you no disrespect Mikio-san, but my heart belongs to another… I cannot in good faith marry you." The audience gaped at her for a moment. Then the chaos started.

Junko leapt to her feet. "Hiashi, you worthless excuse for a parent! Can't you control any of your brats?" she roared. "You will come through on this contract we made or so help me I will have blood! Do I make myself clear?"

Hiashi ignored Junko. He stared at Hinata. She could see the betrayal and anger in his eyes. She watched the muscles on the side of his jaw clench. "Do you really wish to do this?" he asked in an icy voice. "This is your choice? To openly betray your family and your clan for that boy? Is it truly your desire to humiliate yourself in this way? You wish to mock all that the Hyuga stand for in such a public manner?"

Hinata looked over at him. Inside she was vibrating with nervous energy. She struggled to keep her face a stone mask. "No Father, this is not my desire. Unlike some, I believe that a good Head of the clan need not sacrifice everything in the name of stability. Especially not love and definitely not honor," her eyes flicked to Junko, "and certainly not, when the good of the clan is being held hostage by the whims of the one."

Hiashi and Hinata stared at each other in cold silence. "What are you waiting for Hiashi?" screeched Junko. "Put the girl in her place! We have an engagement contract! Have your Branches drag her out of here and let's continue with the damn meeting!" She pulled at Mikio's sleeve. "If you won't take it upon yourself to beat some obedience into the foolish girl, maybe my son will take it up as his husbandly prerogative! Someone has to teach his wife how to obey."

Hiashi turned on Junko his eyes flashing. "I would strongly advise against that Junko-sama. My daughter has been a kunoichi since the age of twelve." There was a harsh edge to his voice. He looked quickly over at Mikio, who sat there quivering. "Your son sits in an office all day… tallying up numbers. A necessary profession to be sure, but not one suited for combat. "

Junko slowly got to her feet. "Then you take some action! Or are you forgetting the nature of our bargain? One of your daughters will marry my son Hiashi! The clever one may have been have been able to find a way out, but I'll be damned if the other one weasels away from me!" Junko sliced her hand through the air like a knife. "You will make this happen Hiashi, before all the Hyuga see what a doddering old fool the Head of the clan is!"

Hiashi closed his eyes slowly. He seemed to shrink slightly in front of the old woman's verbal assault, but when he spoke his voice had iron in it. "You do not presume to give me orders Junko, nor will you disparage my character in front of the clan." Hiashi turned to Hinata and narrowed his eyes. "I agree however, that such willful disobedience cannot go unpunished." He gave a small frown and nodded to himself. "There is only one judgment that can be applied here. Hinata Hyuga," he intoned," I hereby pronounce that you are disowned…"

There was a loud thunk and a shocked gasp from the gathered Hyuga. Hiashi looked down. There was a kunai vibrating between his feet. "Hiashi Hyuga," rang out Hinata's voice loud and clear, "I challenge you to single combat for the Head of the Hyuga clan!"

There was a dreadful silence as the clan sucked in a collective breath. Then there was an uproar.


	32. Chapter 14 Hinata's Tale part 2

It took a good five minutes for order to be restored. When it was finally quiet, Hiashi was standing at the top of the platform. As tradition dictated, Hinata stood opposite him in a wide circle on the ground. Everyone else was gathered around the walls. Junko was sitting in the crowd gnashing her teeth. Honan sat on the opposite side near the bar, laughing to himself.

Hinata was nervous, but it was the good kind of nervous. The stomach tightening, daredevil thrill, kind of nervous... the kind that lent you strength and made every second feel slow and crystal clear.

"Hinata Hyuga, you have issued a challenge." Hiashi stopped and looked down at her with a blank gaze. "Are there any who support your claim?"

Neji stepped forward. "I am bound by my word to support Hinata-sama in this matter Hyuga-sama," said Neji very formally. He bowed to Hiashi.

"Really Neji?" Hiashi muttered in a disappointed voice. "After all this time and all I have done for you, I still have your enmity?" Neji kept his head bowed, but Hinata saw him flinch guiltily.

"No Branch family support is allowed!" called out Junko. "The girl is not allowed to call upon those who owe fealty to her own family!"

Neji straightened and faced the old woman. "I am the head of my own household, Junko-sama. I am married and my wife is with child."

"And we will see just how long that child remains yours, you meddling Branch brat," she said in a loud whisper. Neji stiffened.

"The challenger still lacks support," Hiashi called out in a loud voice. "Are there any others who wish to add their voices to her cause?" Junko glared around the meeting hall daring any to defy her. Hinata tried to appear confident and not look around as well. Where was Honan? Why hadn't he said anything yet?

"We support Hinata-One-san!" yelled out a pair of high-pitched voices. Kento and Riku were standing on a table near the back and waving. "We support Hinata Hyuga!"

"Be quiet children," called Hiashi. "This is not a game. You should show more respect at this gathering."

Kento frowned and stamped his foot. "We are showing respect Hyuga-sama. We want to support Hinata-One-chan because she's nice!"

"Yeah!" screeched Riku, in an even higher pitched voice. He pointed at Junko. "That mean old lady said she'd take us away from our Mommy! Plus she smells bad!"

A titter of laughter ran through the crowd. Junko turned purple with rage and embarrassment.

Hiashi looked over at Kento and Riku. "Show me your forehead child." They both obliged. He glanced over at Hinata. "Are you that desperate that you would drag children down into this with you?"

Hinata kept staring straight ahead. Had she miscalculated about Honan? "I wish I could have found another way Father, but they were all I had," she said calmly. "Besides Junko already involved them in this matter when she made it clear she wanted to bind them to her. I am merely trying to rescue them from that fate."

Junko recovered enough from her anger to turn and face the gathered crowds again. "So the girl's support is one cousin from the Branch family and two stripling boys." She spun to the front. "Hiashi, how much longer are you going to let this nonsense continue?"

Hiashi glanced at Junko. "As... unusual as this is, Hinata is technically observing the proper forms. The boys are of the Head family. She is correct about Neji."

"Unusual?" cackled Junko. "I'll say that this is unusual." She looked around smiling. "Well then, who else wishes to support the girl? A babe still suckling at his mother's teats?" A laugh bounced around the crowd. "Maybe we should just bypass the challenge and make the girl the Head of the clan's children and Branch family simpletons." Another laugh echoed and Junko tittered at her own wit. "After all," she joked staring at Neji with a gleam in her eye. "It's a well known fact that the Branch family wants more say in how we guide and shape their sad little lives. Maybe they would be happier if we gave them their own clan gatherings so they could play at politics like the rest of the grown ups?"

Laughter and chaos threatened to overwhelm the meeting. Hiashi raised his hands for order, but to no avail. He was ignored. Hinata felt the first flutter of fear in her chest; so much depended right now on controlling the clan meeting. She could feel that control slipping away. Junko rocked back on her heels and gave Hiashi a smug self-satisfied look.

"Enough!" A booming voice used to commanding over the clash of waves and thundering gales cut through the din. Honan shoved his way to the edge of the circle and glared at Junko. "The Mistress of Hyuga Husbandry makes a very convincing argument." He called out. "The girl needs some seasoned adults to support her or this whole challenge is nothing but a farce." Honan lifted his mug to toast Junko and drank. An evil smile crept up on Junko's lips.

Hinata felt her heart sink, then Honan caught her eye and winked. He lowered his mug and burped hugely. Then to drive the insult home, he spat at Junko's feet. "I reckon the wee lad has the honest truth of it." He grinned savagely in Junko's direction. "You are a smelly old witch." He looked up at Hiashi. "I support Hinata Hyuga."

Junko tried to say something back but it was lost in the rumble of the crowd. Hiashi once again raised his arms for silence, but the pause would not come.

"Silence!" roared Honan. All eyes turned to him. "Quiet! You bunch of bastards! Let Hiashi-sama run the damn meeting!"

Hiashi frowned and gave Honan a reluctant nod. "Well, it appears that the form of the challenge is complete." He looked across the circle at Hinata. "Do you wish the challenge to continue," his cheek twitched, "my daughter?"

Hinata looked back at him. She kept herself still despite her nervousness. "Do you still wish the marriage contract to proceed Father?" Hiashi sighed. His eyes imperceptibly flicked to Junko and then back again. He nodded once. "Then I'm afraid the challenge must continue," said Hinata quietly.

"No it mustn't!" crowed Junko triumphantly. "I've just remembered where I know those two brats from." She raised her finger and pointed at Kento and Riku. "Neither of them is a Hyuga! They are both half-bloods! Their mother isn't even of the clan!" She smiled gleefully. "How can we count the votes of two half-breed babes as full head family members?"

There was a concerned grumble. Hinata spoke over it. "The clan charter clearly states that that all Hyuga who have not been bound into another's service count as Head family members of the clan. They are allowed!"

"But should they be?" asked Junko, raising her voice. "This, after all, is quite the momentous occasion. The first challenge any Hyuga has seen in six generations. Do we really want to be so careless with the formalities?" she said in a soothing voice. "Why shouldn't we take the time to study this and vote on it? Say..." she glanced over at Hinata, "six months or so?"

Hinata felt her stomach grow cold. A large part of her plan hinged on surprising her Father and Junko and not giving them any time to prepare for her challenge. In six months the Gods only knew who Junko would be able to cajole and bribe to support her. "Why wait?" called out Hinata in a clear voice. "Let's hold a simple vote right now. Should only 'full blood' Hyuga be allowed to vote at the clan meeting?"

"You mean vote for the clan challenge! Learn to use your ears, you stupid cow!" snapped Junko.

Hinata smiled toothily at her. "Why should we limit it to this particular challenge? A vote is a vote isn't it? After all only the 'purest of the pure' should be allowed to call themselves Hyuga." Hinata nodded at Junko. "That is what you claim... correct? How far back should we go I wonder? Two generations, perhaps three, seventeen?" She motioned to the crowd "How many of you are so sure about your family tree?"

The whispering continued. There were quite a few worried frowns. Junko opened her arms and appealed to the crowd. "Come now, this slip of a girl wants to lump the noblest of the Hyuga into the same category as the branch family and half breeds? Don't make me laugh." Junko shrugged her shoulders. "If she believes that the highborn families of the Hyuga have anything to fear, then so be it. Let us vote now. Prove her wrong!"

Hiashi called the group to attention. The final vote was surprisingly close. But Hinata lost. She looked down at her feet. Her challenge was over. She had no idea where she could get even one more vote from the Head family, let alone two. Junko grinned gleefully.

Hiashi looked stern and asked the question she was dreading. "Have you any other advocates from the Head family my Daughter? It appears you still need two voices of support."

"Excuse me Hyuga-sama?" called a voice from the back. "May I ask a question?" Naruto stepped forward.

A low mutter passed through the observers. "Silence the brat Hiashi!" called Junko. "Only Hyuga are allowed to express their opinion at the clan meetings!"

"Please Hyuga-sama," said Naruto, with a sweeping bow. "It is only one small point I wish you to clarify."

"Hiashi! I demand that the demon fox be expelled from the gathering!" howled Junko.

"You will demand nothing!" snapped Hiashi. His eyes cut like a knife as he glared at Junko. "Despite this challenge, I am still the Head of the clan here. I interpret the rules. I determine who must be removed from this gathering." He narrowed his eyes. "Am I clear?" Junko snorted and glared back at him for a minute but eventually bowed her head. Hiashi turned back to Naruto. "Ask, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto nodded his thanks. "As you all know by now, I have been named the Fifth Hokage's successor, and so it would help me to learn all the customs of each great family in Konoha." He swept his arms motioning to the crowd. "Many would say that there is no clan in the Hidden Leaf village with more noble bearing and steeped in tradition than that of the Hyuga." The crowd stared at him with stony silence. Naruto cleared his throat and continued. "So I am curious, how many different types of a Hyuga are there?" He motioned to Kento and Riku. "These two boys stated that Junko wished to bind them into her service, because their mother, as a non-Hyuga was unfit to raise two Hyuga boys... which is fine! For the clan charter states than any Head member can become a Branch member by being sealed." He put his hands behind his back and began to walk around the circle. "But earlier in the meeting, these two boys also told me something I found hard to make sense of. Their father was killed in the Fourth Ninja war. They were receiving the clan survivor's benefit, but it was recently cut in half, because they were not full-blooded Hyuga... Not taken away mind you, just cut in half, because they are 'half Hyuga'." Naruto stopped in front of Junko but didn't look at her face. "And just now as I was watching, they were determined not to count as Hyuga in the slightest... All because of the circumstance of their birth." Naruto turned and smiled. "So, as I said, because I will one day be Hokage, and will need to know these things." He turned and looked up at Hiashi. "How does this work? Are these two boys members of the Hyuga clan, but unlike every other member not allowed to vote? Is the Hyuga clan allowed to seal non-Hyuga? " He looked back at Kento and Riku. "Or are they merely half members? Neither here nor there?"

A quiet silence settled over the gathering. Junko's dry chuckle cut through the quiet. "I wouldn't expect an outsider to understand our ways!" she said with great scorn, but Hinata could hear the tension in her words.

"True," said Naruto simply. "I don't understand... and that is why I asked. To the unknowing layman it must appear as if the Hyuga clan charter is being bent this way and that simply to create a personal opportunity." He smiled up at Hiashi. "But I am sure that the most noble and honorable clan in Konoha would never do such a thing. Especially not to children. I am just trying to detect the logic behind your ruling."

"Hiashi!" snapped Junko. "He's said his piece! Just throw the boy out and be done with it! Why are we wasting time with his blathering!"

Naruto nodded at Junko's statement, but kept his eyes focused on Hiashi. "You are well within your rights to ask me to leave. I am only a guest here." He shot a quick glance back at Junko. "However... I am the future sixth Hokage and I do have the ear of the Fifth Hokage. If you cannot... or will not explain these actions to me I'm afraid I may have to report my… concerns back to Tsunade-sama."

"Go ahead and report!" snorted Junko. "The Fifth Hokage wouldn't dare interfere with the running of the Hyuga clan! We have had an agreement with Konoha for over a hundred years!"

Naruto smiled and turned to look at Junko full on. "The Second Shinobi war was a very long time ago Junko-sama." He shrugged. "Times change. People change. Maybe Tsunade-sama will decide it's time for a second look at that antiquated agreement?"

Junko pointed a finger at Naruto. "Do you call this not interfering?" She yelled at Hiashi. "Throw the boy out already!"

"The lad's just pointing out what a conniving, hypocritical wench you are," snapped Honan gleefully. "It ain't interfering if all the boy does is speak the truth. Let him stay says I!"

The assorted Hyuga all began to speak at once. Naruto started walking around the circle and stopped next to Hinata. "What do you think you are doing?" she hissed at him. "What is all this business about 'half Hyuga'?"

He gave a nearly imperceptible shrug. "I saw an opening and I took it." He smiled. "Shikamaru's dad was acting all cool and lawyer-y at the Hokage's small council. I decided I wanted to try it."

"You promised you wouldn't interfere! You said you would trust me!" accused Hinata, very quietly.

"I do trust you. I know you can do this. But please… let me help you just a little right here, okay? I think I've found you a way out of this." Naruto's jacket pocket wriggled. A tiny frog peeked its head out.

"What are you talking about?" asked Hinata.

"I found you one other supporter. She's from the Head family and she's on her way... and if I know your Dad, there's no way he'll be able to overlook her. But you'll still need one more Head family vote… Two halves make a whole! Trust me!"

If there was one person she did trust, it was Naruto. Hinata gave a curt nod and stepped forward. She charged her palms with chakra and clapped them together. The detonation brought a stunned silence. "Hyuga-sama," she called up to her father. "I wish to have this issue resolved before we proceed, as it is integral to my claim. Are the boys Hyuga or are they not? Are they allowed to vote?"

Hiashi stood there for a long time. Then he shrugged slightly. "The only fair solution I can see is compromise. The boys are half Hyuga, so they should count as half. We agreed on this previously with the survivors payments they receive from their late father, so this should not be an issue." Hiashi shifted and stared at Hinata. "What is an issue is your continued foolish defiance of the will of the clan and your Father. Why must you continue in this?"

Hinata ignored him. "So in this case, the two boys together would count as one vote?"

Hiashi nodded. "I suppose there is logic behind that."

Junko snorted. "It still does not matter. You are still lacking support from the Head family. Your challenge cannot proceed." She smiled… a grin completely lacking in humor, and motioned to the crowd. "There is not a single voice in this hall that would support you."

The main door to the hall creaked open. "Not all the Hyuga are here yet Junko-sama!" A young woman's voice called. She wore the ANBU uniform, but no mask, the sign of a trainee. She stood beside Hinata. "I would like to support Hinata Hyuga in her challenge," said Hanabi. She looked over at Hinata and smiled. "Hey Sis. Naruto-nichan said you needed me?" She smirked. "Actually... a talking frog came tearing into the training hall, screaming at the top of it's lungs that it was an emergency and that I had to come at once. My ANBU instructor nearly jumped out of her boots!"

Hiashi's face clouded over. "Hanabi. I was... definitely not expecting you... to be at this clan gathering."

Hanabi bowed. "Father... I wasn't expecting to be here." There was tightness in her voice, but her face remained calm. "I am only here because I heard that my big sister was in trouble."

"And... what is it that you intend to do?" asked Hiashi quietly.

"I intend to offer my support to my older sister for her challenge to Hiashi Hyuga for the head of the clan," Hanabi said in a somber voice.

"I see," said Hiashi quietly. He looked back and forth between Neji, Hanabi, and finally Hinata. "My whole family stands against me." His face went very still. "Then I suppose that honor commands that I must accept." He stood and slowly walked down the steps to the floor.

"Hiashi you fool!" called out Junko, "The girl calls herself an ANBU! She has no claim to the Hyuga name!"

"I have yet to take the oath of service Junko-san!" Hanabi thundered out, a dominating roar that Hinata doubted she would ever be able to match. "I haven't forsworn my clan yet!"

Frantic conversation was spreading all over the meeting hall. The scandal of the Head of the clan's children in open rebellion against him was captivating everyone's attention. Still Junko tried to seize control once again. "You don't have to listen to either of them Hiashi! You are the Head and their Father! Say the word and my men will seize the both of them! Then we can..."

"Enough!" Hiashi held up one hand. "I am still the Head of the Hyuga clan... My honor is the clan's honor. A challenge has been successfully made and I must answer it." He stopped and looked at Hinata. "I never thought I would see a challenge for the Head of the clan in my lifetime." He shrugged. "My own father always told me: 'A good leader must always be prepared for unexpected situations.' I will however offer you this opportunity one last time. Withdraw this challenge, take your place as my heir. I don't know what sort of game you are trying to play here, but you must realize you are now in an impossible situation." He leaned forward. "You do realize what must happen when you fail in this challenge?"

Hinata's lips tightened, but she answered bravely. "I will not fail Father... not while I still breathe."

Hiashi nodded. "So be it." He stepped back to the far side of the circle. "I choose that the challenge happen now. It will end when one us yields or is unable to continue," he said quietly.

"If you wish Father, we can wait. You may get your ninja gear," said Hinata nervously.

Hiashi shook his head. Ko helped him take off his outer robe. "I will not need it for this," he said coldly.

Hinata gave him a short bow and walked to the opposite side of the circle. Naruto was there waiting. "What did you father mean by 'what will happen if you fail.' What will happen?" he whispered.

Hinata didn't meet his gaze. "Anything he wants. Traditionally if the challenger loses, he has to perform one task that the Head asks of him. Typically the loser gets sealed… I think my father means that I will also have to get married to Mikio."

Naruto looked up. Hiashi was confidently warming up. Junko was standing with a small smile on her face. "I see," he said quietly. He turned back to Hinata and touched her cheek. "Well," he said smiling, "They're in for a big surprise. Because you my dear, are going to win."

"Oh yeah," said Hanabi confidently. "Dad's not going to know what hit him." She pulled on Hinata's sleeve. Hinata leaned closer. "Don't bother with any of the air palm jutsu, he's really good at countering it. Stick to juken strikes, get in fast and then get away. Dad's left knee has been bugging him lately, he can't turn on it like he used to," Hanabi whispered.

"Thank you Hanabi," whispered Hinata back.

Hanabi gave her a concerned smile. "It's the least I could do… It's kinda my fault you got into this mess in the first place." She took a step back. "I'm sorry I can't stay to watch. I only got half an hour's leave. I need to get back to ANBU training." She gave Hinata a hug and then gave one to Naruto. "You cheer really loudly for my big sister okay?" Then she turned and was gone.

Hiashi had finished his preparations and was standing in the circle, waiting expectantly. Hinata tried to remain calm, and stepped forward. Naruto grabbed her hand. She turned and looked at him.

He smiled at her. "I love you," he whispered. "You're going to win for sure." Hinata stared into his eyes for a moment and smiled. She stepped forward and kissed him passionately on the lips. There was a gasp and an outraged murmur from the crowd. Her heart danced a little as she turned back to face her father.

Hiashi stood there, his face as cold as stone. Hinata bowed to her father, and Hiashi nodded back. Without another word the challenge began.


	33. Chapter 14 Hinata's Tale part 3

Hinata activated her byakugan and dropped into the first juken attack stance. Hiashi stood calmly, his arms hanging limply at his sides. Hinata felt the tension mount. A drop of sweat ran down her cheek. She forced herself to relax. "I will be fine," she thought to herself. "Everything will be fine. Naruto is here with me. I will be fine because I cannot fail as long as he is watching me. He believes in me." She edged her foot forward an inch. Hiashi didn't move. She slid forward a bit more. He still didn't react. Then she sprang. Hinata charged forward, five quick steps brought her within striking distance of her father.

Hiashi moved quickly. His palm was suddenly right where Hinata's chest would have been, if she hadn't been anticipating his strike. She jumped and flipped backwards, hurling a kunai at him as she did. As she landed, she pulled another handful of kunai out of her pouch and began throwing them one by one at Hiashi.

Hiashi smiled contemptuously and snatched the first kunai out of the air by its hilt. He used it to deflect the others hurtling at him through the air. Hinata pulled shuriken out from her holster and began throwing those as well. Hiashi deflected each one neatly with the kunai. Junko's laugh echoed through the hall. "This is what they give a jonin rank to these days?" she asked incredulously. "In my day, a mere academy student would have found this attack to be simple!" Hinata stopped throwing shuriken and stood there pretending to pant. "Give up girl!" called Junko. "If that is the best you can do, you are hopelessly outclassed!"

Hinata pulled out and threw two shuriken at once. Hiashi easily turned aside both of those as well. Chuckles began to spring up from the crowd. "You really are useless aren't you girl?" laughed Junko.

Hinata grimly brought up one hand and focused her chakra. "Kai!" The explosive tag she had wrapped around the handle of Hiashi's kunai began to sizzle. Hiashi quickly tried to throw it off to one side, but then stared in horror as the kunai stuck to his hand. The glue Hinata had spread on the handle in preparation had dried.

Hiashi's palm flashed with a burst of chakra. The booby trapped knife flew off into the crowd. There were shrieks as it tumbled between legs. The tag detonated with a loud bang and a bright flash but not much explosive force. Still, the watching Hyuga yelled and scrambled away. A woman in a bright red dress had fallen into the fighting circle and was now crying hysterically. Some onlookers helped her back to her feet.

Hiashi warily studied his daughter. "Explosive tags and glue? That is a dangerous combination."

"It was merely a flash-bang Father. You would have suffered a few burns and some superficial damage, nothing more. And besides," said Hinata contemptuously, "I could not risk any of our esteemed onlookers getting hurt."

Hinata leapt forward and struck out at her father blindingly fast. Hiashi blocked and tried to counter strike, but Hinata twisted away to her right and let loose with a series of finger strikes, forcing Hiashi to turn on his bad knee. Again and again Hinata would make an attack and then dive off to Hiashi's left. Finally instead of turning Hiashi began to back up.

"Go Hinata!" called out Naruto. "You've got him on the run!" Instead of countering, Hiashi was blocking and ceding ground. Hinata pressed him harder, forcing him to protect his knee.

"I can't believe that the Head of the Clan is actually running from this pathetic excuse for a girl!" said Junko sourly. "Really Hiashi, must you toy with her so?"

Hiashi frowned at Hinata. He gave her a grudging nod. "Your skills have improved slightly, but not nearly enough." He activated his byakugan and pressed forward. His palm strikes, finger strikes and kicks flew with deadly accuracy. Hinata began to dodge and block. She held her ground for as long as she was able. She countered a series of finger strikes, with a vicious palm strike to his face. When he blocked it, she dove to his right again. As she dove, Hiashi lunged forward with a low sweeping knife hand. Hinata tumbled away but the blow caught her right above the ankle.

Eyeing her father Hinata tested her weight on her ankle. It was sore, but she could still use it. "We should duel on more of an even footing, don't you agree?" Hiashi asked dryly. They stared at each other for a moment.

This time it was Hiashi that attacked. With her speed slowed, Hinata was unable to dodge as much. She had to block more of her Father's strikes, and each block jarred her arms. She began to back away slowly from the fury of his jukken.

"Don't give up Hinata!" cheered Naruto. "You can do it!"

They battled furiously, trading blows. Hinata managed to catch Hiashi on his shoulder, but in return, he struck her twice in chest. The finger strikes hurt, but they missed her tenketsu. Little by little Hinata was forced back.

Hiashi aimed a particularly vicious palm strike at Hinata's face. She bent back to dodge and he swept her feet out from under her. Hinata sprawled next to the circle of onlookers. The crying woman in the bright red dress gaped down at her.

Hiashi slowly approached. "I understand your feelings, but there are some things in life that you must simply accept," Hiashi said quietly. "This attempt was noble but you are nowhere near ready to challenge me just yet." He watched as Hinata climbed slowly back to her feet. "Why do you persist in this? There is no hope of you succeeding. Withdraw your challenge now and be sensible."

Hinata gritted her teeth. "I never go back on my words!" she snarled. She charged forward. Just as Hiashi moved to intercept her attack, the woman in the red dress dove out of the crowd, aiming a palm strike at his back.

Hiashi sensed it and barely turned his lunge into a dodge. Even so, the woman gave him a glancing blow to his kidney. As Hiashi gasped with pain, she fired a series of three, finger strikes into the hamstring of his good leg. Hiashi crumpled to the ground and frantically rolled out of the way.

There was an angry roar from the crowd. "Treachery!" screamed Junko. "There is no outside assistance allowed in a challenge!"

The woman in red turned and stared at her. There was a puff of smoke as she released her transformation jutsu. "Assistance is not allowed, that is true, but ninjutsu is permitted," said Hinata's shadow clone.

Hiashi stared up at his daughter. "Shadow clones? The clan doesn't teach such a jutsu."

Hinata shrugged. "It may behove you to remember father... I was taught very little by the clan. Much of what I know I either had to teach myself, or find someone else to show me." She smiled coldly at her father. "As for who taught me the shadow clone jutsu?" she lifted her left hand. The light sparkled of the small diamond ring on her finger. "Let us just say I have teacher who is very dear to my heart..."

Hiashi glared at the ring. "You…"

"It's time I made my own choices Father!" barked Hinata, she felt the snarl curl her lip. "You cannot cast me away and call me worthless, and then expect me to meekly accept you controlling my life's direction, can you?"

Hiashi got to his feet. "You have been playing me as a fool this whole time." He said angrily. "You told me that you had decided to accept your marriage proposal."

Hinata gave a small smile. "I told the truth Father. I just never said whose proposal. "

Hiashi turned and quickly glared at Naruto. In the crowd Naruto blanched. "I see," said Hiashi coldly. He took a deep breath and charged.

Hinata and her clone struck. One of them was always behind him, striking at his back. Hiashi grew hard-pressed. His blocks were perfect but he was having trouble dodging. One of Hinata's palm strikes grazed his chest. She saw him wince. His chest shuddered as his lungs hitched.

Hiashi quickly placed his hands downward. "Eight trigrams vacuum palm!" he bellowed. A vortex of air exploded from each of his hands. The blast shattered the floor making a huge cloud of dust and debris. As he was performing the jutsu, Hiashi jumped into the air, using the jutsu to propel himself up even higher, so he ended up in the rafters.

Below him Hinata and the clone began to throw shuriken up towards him. Hinata watched as Hiashi ducked behind the roof beams, but he had to keep moving, the missiles coming from two different directions at once was proving to be too much. He was grazed once on the calf and once on the ear. Hinata watched him pause behind a large beam. She caught a glimpse of his face calmly trying to assess the situation, before she hurled a shuriken at it, and he ducked away.

Hiashi sprang from cover and leapt to the floor. Hinata and the clone fired off a score of throwing stars. Hiashi caught as many as he could on the way down to the floor. He caught eight, the cost was one more slice on his left arm. Hiashi landed in a crouch. He hurled the shuriken at Hinata and her clone. Both flipped out of the way to dodge them.

"Eight trigrams twin Vacuum palms!" Hiashi shouted again. The twin blasts caught both Hinata and her clone in mid air. The clone vanished in a puff of smoke. The wind burst pushed Hinata back into the raised platform. The steps smashed apart as she plowed through them. Her back and neck ached but she scrambled to her feet and tried to run. Hiashi let loose with another pair of air bursts. One of them clipped her and spun her to the side. Hinata rolled with it and scrambled away.

Hiashi launched a barrage of the eight trigrams strikes aimed at her feet. She had to jump and twist a lot to dodge. She barely had any chance at all to catch her footing. She leaped particularly high to dodge one blast, and she saw her father make a grim smile.

He twisted a vacuum palm strike so it curved up from her feet and caught her in the air. Hinata was twirled around at a dizzying speed and smashed into the roof. She collapsed on the ground in a heap. The Hinata on the ground vanished in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a roof beam. Naruto let out a whoop. "Nice substitution Hinata!"

Hiashi shook his head. "The substitution jutsu is almost useless against one who has the byakugan," he said in a loud, but calm voice. "And now that you are hiding up in the roof, I do not have to worry about hurting anyone behind you." His hands flew through a series of hand signs. "Eight trigrams vacuum cannon!"

The wave of air tore a huge hole through the roof. Hinata leapt out of the way and grabbed at an adjacent roof beam. The beam cracked under her hands and dumped her on the floor. She sat up and shook her head dazed. She heard Naruto call out her name.

Rough hands grabbed her and something was pulled tight across her neck. She attacked it with finger strikes, but it was not a forearm, it was an iron bar. She dug her fingers at the steel pressing into her windpipe, trying to get enough space to suck in a much needed breath. Hiashi tugged on the bar and pulled her up to her feet.

He twisted one end in his hands as he lowered his head closer to her ear. "You have fought much better than I expected Hinata," he whispered. "I even believe that I now understand precisely why you insisted on this challenge. You did not want to leave Uzumaki-san without trying everything you could. It is noble that you care for the boy. It is noble that you put forth this effort. But... it... will... not... be." Hiashi turned the bar in his hands forcing her head to turn as well. Hinata's vision was getting blurry, but she could pick Naruto out of the crowd with his orange jumpsuit. "Give up now," said Hiashi in her ear. "You cannot win this fight. A good leader must learn when it is time to yield. You have learned something valuable today. You have learned that you are not yet strong enough to challenge me." She struggled against him and he pulled the bar even tighter. "Say goodbye to Naruto. I'm sure he doesn't blame you. He knows that you have fought well and done the best that you could.

Hinata struggled, clawing at the bar, kicking out with her feet. She could hear her pulse pounding in her ears. Spots were flashing in the corners of her eyes. She opened her mouth to suck in air but none would come. For a brief moment, Naruto's face snapped into focus. His blue eyes were filled with love and concern for her.

"See? He understands," whispered Hiashi. "He knew this was a lost cause the moment the pair of you hatched this little plan. The best you could hope for was to not embarrass yourself too much. You never had any chance of success."

Upon hearing his words, a tsunami of white hot outrage filled her. Hinata grabbed at the bar and pulled with all her might. "Fuck you!" she hissed at him. Hiashi froze for a second, stunned at such language from his daughter. It was all the opening Hinata needed. She snapped her head backwards cracking him across the nose.

Hiashi staggered backwards and the bar loosened further. Hinata twisted, the rebar tearing a bright line of pain across her neck, and drove her elbow into her Father's solar plexus. He doubled over and stumbled back, the bar falling from his hand and clattering on the floor.

"Fuck you!" she snarled at him again. She grabbed the sides of his head and slammed his face into her knee. She held him upright by a handful of his hair and stared into his dazed eyes. "You goddamned fucking asshole!" she screamed, again slamming his head into her knee. She felt something in his face go crunch. She spun and drove an elbow alongside his temple, and then cracked another up underneath his chin. He sprawled backwards. She stared down at him, her eyes filling with tears of rage. "All my life you looked down on me as if I was nothing!" Hiashi staggered up to his hands and knees. She kicked him in the ribs and he sprawled down again. "As if I was less than nothing!" Hiashi staggered upright. Hinata wound up her fist with twenty two years of anger and resentment and cracked him across his face again. Blood sprayed from his mouth. "What do I need to do for you to treat me as if I was worthy?" She jumped forward and drove a kick into his midsection knocking Hiashi to his knees. "What do I have to do to get you to acknowledge me?" she bellowed. She wound up and swung her foot to kick him in the face.

Hiashi caught her leg. He countered with a palm strike to her abdomen. Hinata tumbled backward and lay curled up on the ground gasping for air. Hiashi slowly staggered upright. Blood streamed from his nose and one of his eyes was swollen shut. The other eye blazed with anger.

"Has that boy corrupted you to the point where you would speak such words in public and to your own Father? How dare you!" He turned his head and spat blood. "I blame myself for allowing you too much a free reign. You have obviously forgotten how to respect your elders."

Hinata rolled over and pushed herself upward. "Respect… must be earned Father." She got one leg under her, then the other. "That was the last lesson that you ever bothered to teach me. All my life you have either ignored me or belittled me. All I ever wanted was your approval." Hinata throbbed with pain all over. She forced herself to stand up straight. "So tell me Father, which one of you should I respect? The one that constantly told me I was worthless or the one that decided I was nothing but a piece to play in a political game?" Hinata coughed and placed a hand on her stomach. "If you valued a daughter's respect so highly, then maybe you should have acted more like a father!" Hinata fired off a vacuum palm of her own. Hiashi raised both hands in a block. The air palm angled up and away knocking another, smaller hole in the roof.

Hiashi's mouth creased in a sharp line. He reached up and wiped at the blood trickling from his nose and mouth. "I see," he said quietly looking at the blood pooling in his hand. "You are serious about this… I have been kind to you so far because I had no wish to injure my daughter too badly. I had no desire to embarrass you." He took a clumsy step forward and dropped into a low juken stance. "Perhaps I should rethink that strategy."

"Finally!" called out Junko loudly. "I was wondering what was the matter with you Hiashi! Hurry up and finish this, I'm not getting any younger you know!"

Hinata looked up and nodded very slowly "Very well Father. You threaten me with the sixty four palms divinations. Shall we see whose is better?" Hinata dropped into a stance that mirrored Hiashi's. Hiashi hesitated for a moment. His foot edged forward. Then he sprung.

"Two strikes!" they each called out at the same time. Both of their fingers flashed forward and crashed into each other. "Four strikes!" they called. Again Hinata hit each of her Father's strikes with a blow of her own. "Eight Strikes!" They were perfectly mirrored as they struck at each other. "Sixteen strikes!" The bursts of chakra from the collisions exploded like small fireworks in the air. "Thirty two strikes!" The noise clattered like a drum roll. "Sixty four strikes!" There was an oppressive cacophony of light and noise. Many in the crowd had to look away and cover their ears. Then when it was all over silence ruled for a brief moment.

Hinata and Hiashi glared at each other, each remaining in the juken stance. "Bloody hell!" Hinata smiled inwardly as she heard Neji's awed whisper.

Hiashi leaped back out of divination range. Then he stood and nodded at her. "Impressive. I have not heard of anyone countering the sixty four divination attack with one of their own. Was this Neji's idea?"

"No Father, I figured out this myself," said Hinata calmly.

Hiashi nodded again, then he turned to the crowd. "I would appreciate it if you would all leave for a much safer location. I worry that if this challenge continues at its current level then someone may get injured."

"Bah! I Don't see what you are going on about Hiashi!" said Junko scornfully. "Finish your bellyaching and finish the girl off. If I had known that you were this soft, I would have challenged you myself."

Hiashi had no reaction other than a cold smile. He brought one hand to his lips and absentmindedly rubbed them. "Vacuum bullets!" he snapped. He spat out seven high-density spheres of air that raced at Hinata.

Using the sixty four divinations technique, Hinata hit each one with its own strike. Hiashi nodded again. "Not bad. You can effectively use the divinations technique as both an attack and a defense. That is clever. But what do you do for an attack from multiple directions?"

He spat out twenty of the vacuum bullets. Ten flew at her from the front, the other ten arced around at her sides and back. There was another series of bright explosions. When the smoke cleared Hinata remained there in her juken stance.

Hiashi sighed. The same sigh he would use when he pointed out her many flaws… many years ago. "The problem with using this is that the divinations technique is a rather short ranged jutsu. In this situation I can attack you at long range all day and all you can do is defend. How will you break the cycle?"

"Eight trigrams, Sixty four strikes!" called out Hinata.

Hiashi scoffed. "You can't expect to cover..."

"Two strikes!" called out Hinata. Hiashi yelped and jumped back. Two long whip-like strands of chakra flashed out of Hinata's hands and slashed him across the chest. "Four strikes!" she called out. Hiashi blocked one of the whips, but the other three bit into him. "Eight strikes!" called out Hinata.

"Heavenly rotation!" roared Hiashi as he spun, releasing chakra. The eight, sixteen, thirty two and sixty four strikes all ended up being deflected by Hiashi's eight trigrams Heavenly rotation jutsu.

Hiashi stopped spinning and faced Hinata. "Eight trigrams, Vacuum cannon!" he shouted.

The crowd screamed and dove out of the way. The maelstrom of air took out the main doors and a good chunk of wall. A few stray pieces of plaster fell to the floor in crumbling chunks. Hinata stood on the middle of the floor, streaked with dust and dirt and slowly rotating to a stop. Surrounding her was the telltale circle of a successful Heavenly Rotation jutsu. "So... you have mastered the rotation technique as well," said Hiashi.

Hinata gave him an acknowledging nod. "Neji did have to coach me quite a bit with that one."

"And the previous jutsu? The divination sixty four strikes with the... chakra whips?"

"She came up with that one when she was thirteen Hyuga-sama!" Naruto called out proudly. "She saved our lives with it when we were on a mission!"

"Are we having a nice time sitting here talking about our new fancy jutsu?" asked Junko with false cheerfulness. "By the Gods Hiashi, how long do you intend to drag this out? How many times do I have to say it?" said Junko her voice dripping scorn. "Finish the girl."

The smallest twitch flashed across Hiashi's face. "I will ask you one last time Junko-sama to please keep a civil tongue. I am still the head of the Hyuga clan, and this challenge was never in doubt." He made a series of hand signs. "Eight trigrams, twin vacuum palms!"

He shot the two air blasts at Hinata. As she dodged them, his hands flew through another series or hand signs. "Eight trigrams, vacuum morass!" He slammed his hands on the ground. A thick white fog rolled out from him and rolled towards Hinata.

When she landed and there was a thick slurping noise and her feet sank into the mist. She pulled and tugged with all her might and almost managed to extract one foot. She was trapped. The panic started to build within her. She was trapped, no way to dodge, no way to attack… She had almost run out of options… almost.

He father grudgingly smiled at her. "I will admit I am surprised by your progress. You have shown me more promise this day than I would have ever thought possible. But in the end... you must accept your fate. This challenge of yours was hopeless."

"Now!" thought Hinata. "It has to be now!" She closed her eyes and hung her head, focusing her chakra.

Her father looked at her a little sadly as he made the hand signs. "Eight trigrams, Vacuum air…" He flinched.

Something moving very fast blurred by Hiashi's head. It swooped around in a tight arc and dove at him again. He thrust out a palm to block it but it swerved around and beat its wings at his face. Hiashi stumbled back and raised his arms to protect his head. Its beak and claws left deep gouges in his flesh. Hiashi stumbled back and stared.

It was a hawk made of water.

It cupped its wings and headed up to what remained of the roof. Hiashi watched open mouthed as it perched.

It was his byakugan that saved him. Three more hawks swooped in, two high and one low. He dodged the first, hit the second with a palm strike, and tried to jump over the third. The low hawk rolled in its flight and grazed him with a wingtip. The wing drew a fine red line through his pants and skin.

The second hawk, when struck, lost its shape. It turned into a roiling mass of water just hovering in the air. Quickly, wings stretched out of the ball, and a head and tail appeared as well. The newly re-formed hawk flapped hard to gain some height. Naruto, Kento and Riku began cheering. They whistled, yelled and stomped their feet.

Hiashi was holding his own against the four hawks. He had entered a defensive juken stance and was trying to imitate Hinata, using the gentle fist blows as a protective shield. The hawks twisted and spun around him. When there was an opening, they would dive and fly headlong into his body. Hiashi's robe was getting covered with growing red spots from all the small wounds he was receiving.

He was attacked again. One hawk for each of the four cardinal directions. Hiashi was a blur of speed as he lunged out with feet and hands blocking each of the birds around him.

The fifth hawk caught him. It had flown up as high as it could and entered a power dive straight down. Hiashi barely had the time to step back. The hawk spread out its wings and cracked him across the crown of his head.

Hiashi staggered but did not fall. His hands shot out. "Eight trigrams twin vacuum palms!" The dual fountains of air bored towards Hinata.

Three of the hawks broke from harassing Hiashi and darted in front of her. They splashed together and formed an angled ramp of water in front of her. The air vortexes hit the ramp and angled up into the roof causing another smattering of debris to fall down. The remaining two hawks darted in at Hiashi. He spun making a small Heavenly Rotation. Rather than crash into it they back beat their wings and pulled up short. The ramp re-formed into hawks again. Two of them began to fly in a pattern around Hinata while the third went to circle Hiashi.

Hiashi stopped his kaiten and warily looked up. "You have water nature chakra? I never knew that."

"You keep telling me that a good leader must be willing to learn. There are a lot of things about me that you do not know Father," said Hinata quietly.

Hiashi nodded, an expression that Hinata couldn't read rapidly flitted over his face. "I hope someday that you will allow me to rectify that… regardless of how this challenge ends."

Hinata cocked her head and smiled listening to Naruto's cheers. "It's a possibility," she admitted quietly. "But I have made promises to people very important to me…" She looked up at her father. "These are promises that I intend to keep for as long as I live."

Hiashi nodded once. "Noble sentiments. However, I also have made promises." He gestured at the fog surrounding Hinata's feet. "You are aware that you are trapped? I assume that you only have a limited amount of water to work with otherwise you would have made more than five birds." He looked around at the circling hawks. "This would have been much more effective if you had shown the full extent of your abilities earlier, before you were caught."

"I didn't want to hurt you Father, if I could avoid it," said Hinata calmly.

"Nor I you," replied Hiashi softly. He sighed. "It cannot be helped." His hands made the tiger sign. "Burning hands, vacuum palm."

Hiashi exhaled out a thin stream of flames. It wrapped around the vortex of the vacuum palm and made a miniature fiery tornado. The blaze snaked toward Hinata.

The two hawks guarding her splashed together and formed a thin shield of water surrounding her. Hiashi played his makeshift flamethrower over it.

The three hawks circling him dove and struck. He punched out at the first but the second and third raked his back, tearing long bloody strips from his robes.

The hawks wheeled and and swooped in again. Again Hiashi was hit, this time in the left shoulder. He winced but the flames continued to bathe Hinata's water shield.

The burning twister began to break through. Her shield was boiling away. One of the Hawks broke away from her father and added it's water to her shield. Hiashi was now easily able to fend off the remaining two hawks. "You see the problem now don't you?" he said conversationally to her over the roar of the flames. "You must reduce your attack power to defend, but all the while I am eating away at your defences. Soon you will run out of material."

Hinata's shield began to boil away again. She added another hawk to keep the water barrier protecting her whole. Hiashi in response used his other hand to add a second flame jet to his fire technique. Both of the blazing tornadoes began to sizzle away at her shield. With his byakugan, Hiashi was able to dodge the remaining hawk with ease.

Hinata was beginning to sweat. She was surrounded by clouds of superheated steam. Her injuries were beginning to ache as she used all her chakra to push the water against her father's flames.

She added the final hawk to her shield. Moments later, there was a sharp hissing sound as the last of the wall boiled away.

Hinata flinched as the flames flickered towards her. She smelled the stink of singed hair. Mercifully the fires stopped.

She panted and beat out a small fire on her flak jacket. Hiashi stood and smiled at her sadly. "I triumphed," he said quietly, "Because I was willing to sacrifice. I sacrificed my body in order to win this victory. I was willing to take a few wounds in order to destroy your defenses." He studied her carefully. "Sacrifice is another thing that you will have to learn."

"Then why didn't you teach me before?" she asked. She fixed him with her stare. "Why couldn't you have done it when I was younger? Explain to me father… If it is so important for a good leader to learn, and to sacrifice… why did you give up on me?"

Hiashi shifted uncomfortably. "We will discuss this later. Yield now, this challenge is all but over."

Hinata shook her head stubbornly. "This challenge is not over. I will not yield."

Hiashi sighed and took a step closer. "For my whole life, you have insisted on being a disappointment to me. I wish things could have been different." He looked up at Hinata and nodded once. "You are good but not good enough." Slowly and with some pain, he started to form hand signs.

The crowd was muttering with barely concealed excitement. Hinata looked up through the hole in the roof. She felt a flicker of sadness and despair. Her father was right. She was trying her best. She had done everything she could, but it wasn't enough… she still just was not good enough. "And now," she thought sadly. "I won't ever be good enough."

"Don't give up Hinata!" screamed Naruto. "I believe in you!" There was a touch desperation in his voice. "I will always believe in you!"

A smile twitched her lips and it felt like time slowed down as a wave of despair covered her. "My dearest Naruto," she thought, "you are the only one who ever did." She stared up through the gaping hole in the meeting hall roof. It just wasn't fair. It was a beautiful morning outside. The sun was shining, the sky was bright blue with a few clouds floating briskly by. A flock of starlings swooped overhead and flew up to the roof of the adjoining apartment complex. They landed on its water storage tower.

Hinata's eyes widened. There were two other towers on the surrounding buildings.

Hiashi positioned his hands. "Eight trigrams vacuum cann…" There was a series of three, deafening metallic bangs. The Head of the Hyuga clan instinctively ducked and covered himself with his arms. A metal rain of shrapnel sprinkled in through the roof. Hiashi stared at his daughter. There was a glowing nimbus of chakra surrounding her. Her raven black hair was floating around her head like a halo. A drop of water pattered against his cheek and he glanced up.

The sky was dark with a storm cloud of birds. The huge flock wheeled once and dove. "Heavenly rotation!" Hiashi called out in a shrill voice. He started to spin just as the deluge hit.

The water birds tore through the air and crashed directly into his rotation. The onlookers cried out as they were splashed. Thousands of birds flew in through the hole. The floor started to grow wet. The water began to cover people's shoes, then their ankles. Still the birds kept pouring in. They battered Hiashi's kaiten pushing it backwards across the floor. It dug up floor boards and the earth underneath sending detritus and swirls of mud through the growing lake inside the hall.

The birds kept coming. The water grew deeper still. Hiashi kept spinning, desperately trying to drive off the forceful attack with his defensive jutsu. Hinata focused her chakra. Hiashi's rotation stopped suddenly. The water washed in a gushing wave into the area that he had been protecting. His feet were tangled in a long snake of water that wrapped itself around his legs. He teetered off balance and fell over with a splash.

He rose from the calf deep pool, clutched in a giant fist of glistening liquid. The hand traveled through the waves and brought him face to face with Hinata. "Release your air morass jutsu Father," she said calmly.

Hiashi struggled against the grip of the hand. Small lances of chakra burst from his body, and cut away at his prison, but more water simply flowed up the hand's wrist, repairing the damage. "I am not finished yet my daughter," said Hiashi. "I can still…" his voice was cut off into a stream of bubbles as the hand turned over and dunked his head into the water on the floor.

Hinata counted to twenty and pulled him out. "I said, release the jutsu." She made sure to keep herself appear calm. Inwardly she was surging with anger and vindication.

Hiashi sputtered. "I will never lose to a…" The hand spun and slammed him into the raised platform. Wood splintered.

"I told you to release it Father!" Hinata said sharply. "You are in no position to argue with me!" Hiashi cried out as the fist turned sharply through the air and pounded him into the wall. The blow must have caused her father to lose his focus on the jutsu, for the thick air trapping her feet flickered once and faded away.

Hinata stepped up onto the water and walked over to Hiashi. "It is time to yield Father," she said in a quiet voice. "I have won."

Hiashi, still pressed against the wall pried open one eye and looked at her. "I cannot yield," he rasped in a throaty whisper. "I will never be…" The hand plucked him from the wall and held his face under water. Hinata waited until his thrashing was beginning to weaken before she pulled him back up.

Hiashi gasped for air, water running down his face. "Yield Father," Hinata said a little more forcefully. "It is over."

Hiashi coughed and took a deep breath. "I am the head of the Hyuga clan," he sputtered. "I will not give in for as long as I draw breath. I cannot afford to lose to you."

Hinata stared at him for awhile in silence. Finally, her resentment boiled to the surface and burst out of her. "Why Father?" she whispered. The fist clutching Hiashi snapped around and smashed him into the platform again. Then it sprang back holding him upright in front of her again. "Why do you despise me so much?!" she asked, her voice rising in pitch and volume. The hand darted to the side and crushed him up against the wall. "Even now you can't bring yourself to acknowledge my success! What did I ever do to you?" The arm whipped around and dunked him again in the ankle deep water again. Hinata held him under water and waited until the bubbles stopped. The fist popped back out and hung him upside down. Hiashi convulsed and water drained out of his lungs. The hand turned so that he was facing Hinata again.

"What must I do Father?" Hinata asked histrionically. "What do I have to do for you to start acting like a father?"

Hiashi's voice was a thin whisper, so quiet she had to strain to hear. "Nothing… There is nothing you can do." He looked up at her with sadness in his eyes, and Hinata shivered. "I fear that I am beyond that now. I fear that I do not deserve for anyone to call me 'father'." The strength was gone out of him. Hiashi was pale and vulnerable. He shivered as he spoke. "I gave up so much of myself for the good of the clan. I gave up love, I gave up the vengeance for your mother, and I watched my brother sacrifice his life for mine as I stood by in cowardly fear." He shook his head. "I make excuses. I should have been a better parent to you but I had already lost my way."

"I looked at you and all I could see was the price that I had to pay for this life I was living. You had trouble in the lessons I was trying to teach you and all I could think was that you were hopeless. I tried to teach you strength and you grew weaker. I tried to teach you how to stand up for yourself and you cried. I tried to show you how to command and you cowered away. All my life I tried to do what was best for the clan and all it ever caused me was hurt." He blinked and looked up at her sadly. "In my pain, I saw your struggles as a part of that hurt."

He tried to sigh, but coughed instead. He looked away. "All my life I insisted that I was acting in the best interests of the clan… that I was on the side of stability... and now I find… I cannot… not any more. I did what the clan commanded of me and it has eaten away at my soul. I have acted in ways against friends and family that has tarnished my honor. Look at what being the Head of the clan has made me, a tired, broken old man who harmed everyone close to him, an old man whose own family despises him… an old man who can no longer even hold on to his pride." He turned back to Hinata. "I am worthless… Go on and finish me... I no longer want to be on this earth."

Hinata stared at him, moved by his words. She finally felt as if she had something in common with the great Hiashi Hyuga "I am sorry Father," she said, tears trickling down her face.

"Sorry for what?" asked Hiashi flatly.

"I am sorry that it took me this long to understand you."

Hiashi shook his head. "It is far too late to pity me, child. If you wish to be merciful, end it all and quickly," he said, his eye darting around the crowd. "If you do not hurry, I fear there will be more harm caused by my shortfalls."

Hinata looked at her father for a very long time. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I apologize Father," she whispered. "I fear I must disappoint you once again."


	34. Chapter 14 Hinata's Tale part 4

Hinata turned away and rubbed her sleeve across her eyes. Then she straightened and stood to face the crowd. "I stand before you victorious in my challenge for the Hyuga leadership," she called out. "My first act as Head of the clan is to end this challenge now, before a good man has to die."

There was a surprised murmur amongst the crowd. "You should read the rules before you play games stupid girl!" Junko called out in a snide voice. "You're not the Head of the Clan yet! The challenge can only end if one of the participants either yields or dies. That is what the clan charter dictates!" Junko glowered menacingly alternately facing both Hinata and Hiashi. "You want to be Head of the clan so desperately? The man says he won't yield! We can't be changing tradition just to suit your need, now can we?"

"Why not?" asked Hinata.

Again the crowd rumbled. "What?" called out a voice.

"Why not?" asked Hinata louder. "I watched it change not half an hour ago with that vote on what makes someone a Hyuga! Hiashi Hyuga is a good, brave, honorable man. He has served us well for all these years. If he lives he can serve us for many more." She gestured at her father. "His body has been defeated, this is true... but his spirit is unbroken. Should such a man be cast away simply because custom demands it?" Hinata shook her head. "I think not."

"Some traditions can be gotten rid of, but there's a good reason for this one princess." Honan called out in a low rumble. "Far too many people would be tempted to play the game if there wasn't any risk involved. Although..." he said giving her a sly glance. "Perhaps you already have something else in mind? There is a tried and true method to keep the loser in the clan and to keep things stable… the Caged Bird seal." Hinata spun and stared at her father, swaying upside down, looking miserable. "Turn him into a mere branch on your family's tree… I've heard from a reliable source that the man hasn't exactly been a shining example of parenting," Honan said in an insinuating voice. "Wouldn't it be just deserts to turn the tables on him. I don't think there's anyone in this room who would miss that message. It might even be rather cathartic... See how he likes being the worthless one."

Hinata took a step towards Hiashi. She had to admit, she did have the briefest temptation to put the seal on him. It would certainly make things easier. She saw her father take a deep shuddering breath and close his eyes. "No!" she said firmly. "There will be no sealing. If tradition demands that I do something so abhorrent to ensure my role as Head of the Clan," said Hinata coolly, "then perhaps it is time we broke from tradition." The giant water fist opened. Hiashi fell into the pooled water with a splash.

There was a stunned silence as the gathered Hyuga took in the scene. Hinata began to walk around the meeting hall. "How many of you are satisfied with what the Hyuga clan has become? How many of you enjoy the conspiring and the manipulation? How many of you live in fear not knowing when the next attempt to destroy your life will come?" She shook her head sadly. "We are better than this. We tell ourselves that we are the noblest, most honorable clan in the Hidden Leaf Village. We tell ourselves that we are the most dignified clan in the Land of Fire." She looked at all the gathered Hyuga before her. "Why do we not act like it? Is this how we treat each other? We are all part of the same family. The same blood flows in each of our veins whether we are of the Head family or Branch... or whether all of our forebears had the byakugan or not!"

She gestured behind her. "My father opened this gathering by welcoming you. He called you his 'Brothers and Sisters.'" She looked up at the crowd, her mouth twisted in disgust. "We can do better than this," her voice snapped. "We have the potential and the resources to be a driving force for the greater good! We have the opportunity here and now to come together to work together and build ourselves up and prove that we are the noblest family, not just to ourselves but to every last person in the Leaf Village as well." She looked around scornfully. "We sit here with our petty squabbles and our backstabbing each other all trying to carve our way to power and glory. Why should this be? Shouldn't we stick together as a family? Shouldn't we be working to improve the lives of our family and our friends and our village and our nation instead of focusing on this immature squabbling amongst ourselves?"

There was a second splash as Hiashi staggered to his feet. Hinata ignored him. "We scheme so much that we have forgotten that there are other ways to deal with each other. We have lost sight of the paths of honor and duty. We have lost sight of what it means to be a family, and deal with each other with trust and love." Hinata hung her head and took a series of deep breaths. She looked up and stared at the surrounding Hyuga. They were silent.

"We need to change our ways if we are to survive as a clan," she said quietly. "I will help you find this new path if you will let me." Her voice grew louder, stronger. "I can help you change all of this. Together we can make the clan a better place for us and our families. Together we can make the village a better place for our friends and neighbors. All we need to do is stop this selfish infighting and work together. I know it seems like an impossible task, there is an incredible amount of bad blood between us. In order to succeed it will take hard work and patience... forgiveness and hope." She paused and smiled. "A good man taught me that with enough hard work and faith even the most hopeless things can turn out alright. All you need to do is never give up and believe." She raised her arms simply and let them drop. "I'm living proof of that."

The clan gathering watched her in wary silence. Ripples danced through the water as Hiashi shifted his weight. "I thought I told you never to turn your back on an enemy," he said quietly.

Hinata did not even move. "Is that what you are... my enemy? I would much rather you were my Father."

She heard Hiashi sigh... a long despondent exhalation of air. There was a series of loud splashes as he knelt down in the water. "I Hiashi Hyuga…"

"Don't you even think about it Hiashi!" screeched Junko. "Don't forget I can destroy you with a word!"

Hiashi smiled sadly and shook his head. "No. You could destroy the Head of the Hyuga Clan with a word. I am merely a tired old man who wants nothing more than to make amends with his family." He paused and took in a deep breath. "I Hiashi Hyuga hereby yield in this challenge." He looked up and blinked. "Hinata Hyuga is the victor."

There was a low rumble of voices that filled the meeting hall. One by one various Hyuga began to bow to Hinata.

"That man has tarnished the Hyuga name!" bellowed Junko pointing an accusatory finger at Hiashi. "I have evidence that he is keeping a woman for himself in the capital!" There was a collective gasp from the crowd. One of the gasps was Hinata's. Junko smiled a predatory grin. "That is right! The proud and honorable Hiashi Hyuga has been keeping a mongaikan mistress these past twelve years! Maybe even longer! What should we all think of that then, eh?" She folded her arms and glared. "The mighty Head of the Hyuga Clan carrying on with some common whore, all this time!"

The crowd noise began to grow louder. Hinata stared at her father, her fingers twitching. Hiashi didn't deny a word of it, he just knelt there hanging his head. There was disapproval on the surrounding faces. Almost everyone in the gathering was glaring at him. Hinata heard the whispers starting. "I demand that he be punished!" called out Junko in a commanding voice. "I demand that Hiashi Hyuga be censured for dishonoring the clan!" She narrowed her eyes and glanced at Hinata. "And for dishonoring the memory of your dear mother," she said in a quieter, but much more spiteful aside to Hinata. Junko smiled a mean little smile and turned back to the rest of the clan. "Building a mansion in the capital for her… feeding and clothing her from clan funds! Tell me, is this how a proper clan head should act?" There was an angry grumble from the Hyuga. "Was Hiashi Hyuga ever a proper Head of the clan?"

Hinata scanned the faces, marveling at how fast they turned on her father. Some of them were showing ture outrage, some were had sly calculating eyes behind the scowling mouths. Hinata could tell what Junko was trying to accomplish; turn popular opinion against her father, and through that, take away the legitimacy of her victory. She knew she should say something.

She tried, but there was something else that had hijacked her thoughts. A fleeting memory of her mother's smiling face flashed through her mind. Her mother… before Naruto, she was the one bright spot Hinata had in her life… Hishyona Hyuga's kind words and deeds had achieved an almost mythical status among the clan and certainly with her eldest daughter. To think that her father would simply cast aside her mother like that…

Hinata turned to look at her father. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she had to ask him… she had to know the truth. There was a boulder of ice in her belly.

She took one step towards him. Then she took another. She looked at him crouched on his knees, the filthy water staining his robes, dirt and debris tangled in his hair. She did not know what to make of him right then. The larger than life figure that had dominated her life for so long seemed to have crumbled away. "Is this true Father?" she asked quietly. "Is there another woman in your life?"

Still on his knees Hiashi nodded once. "It is true." He looked up at Hinata. Hinata had never seen her father looking so sad and vulnerable. "I have dishonored my clan and your mother's memory. I accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate." He glanced sideways at Junko. "Knowledge of this... inappropriate relationship has been held over my head for quite some time." He looked back at Hinata. "It is due to my own weakness that I have been unable to stop it."

"Weakness?" asked Hinata.

Hiashi's lips twitched in a smile. "A weakness of the heart. I could only give up so much for the good of the clan. I could not bear to surrender her as well."

Hinata placed one hand on Hiashi's shoulder. She looked down at him. "Do you love this woman Father?"

Hiashi closed his eyes. "The Gods help me, yes," he whispered. "She makes me happy."

That admission hurt… it hurt, but she understood. She glanced up at Naruto and then back at her father. Hinata slowly reached out her hand. Hiashi took it and she helped him to his feet. "Well then," she said forcing a smile. "I hope that one day you will introduce us."

"You're just going to look the other way girl? How can you expect anyone in the clan to respect tradition you if you don't enforce it?" yelled Junko.

Hinata whirled and glared at her. "Love is something that should never be punished or ignored." She frowned. "Besides, there has been enough meddling in other people's lives in this clan. One of the first things I will do as Head of the Clan will be to put a stop to that practice." Hinata turned away and searched the crowd. She ignored the unhappy mutterings that spread. "Ko!" she called. There was a splash and he faithfully appeared. "Contact the proper people please. We need to get the meeting hall repaired by tomorrow."

Ko made a short bow. "What happens tomorrow Hinata-sama?"

"We reconvene the clan gathering of course." She turned to the crowd. "Fellow members of the Hyuga clan, neither I, nor this meeting hall are in any shape to continue today. We will begin the proceedings afresh tomorrow."

There was a dull angry murmur that ran through the crowd. She did a quick scan of faces. She probably went too far with all of her declarations about how things were going to change. Far too many important people were upset. There were calculating looks being shot at both her and Hiashi.

But there was very little she'd be able to do about it right now. Tomorrow. Tomorrow she would have to what it would take for the various people to work with her. Hinata tried to do her best to ignore them and walk calmly towards the door. Naruto appeared suddenly at her side "Need any help?" he asked glancing around worriedly.

Hinata touched his arm reassuringly. "Yes, but I need to be seen leaving under my own power." She quickly looked around in the hall. "Find Kento and Riku. Keep them with you." She looked about. "Neji as well. Once you've found them, get them out of here. This crowd is getting ugly." Naruto nodded and pushed his way through the throngs of people.

Hinata, trying to mask her injuries and her exhaustion, stepped over the broken remains of the main door and stepped out into the sunlight. There was a thin waterfall of water splashing down the steps. She looked up at the sky and wondered what she should do now.

The street cracked in front of her. A stone lance burst from the ground and shot towards her face. She fell to dodge it, and splashing, rolled back into the meeting hall. She stood to find herself surrounded by about twenty Hyuga shinobi all in a ready juken stance. There were scuffles occurring all through the crowd. People were shouting in panic as the shinobi were forcing certain Hyuga down and binding them with ropes. Hinata started to climb to her feet. A particularly large knot of shinobi burst apart as a burning yellow figure knocked them all off their feet. There was a yellow flash and a clap of displaced air and suddenly Naruto was beside her helping her up. "Hi honey!" he said with false cheerfulness. "I think there's a little bit of a problem."

Hinata took a step forward. "What is the meaning of this?" she said imperiously. "I am the Head of the Hyuga clan and I demand to know whose orders you think you are carrying out!"

"There is no head of the Hyuga clan, you stupid girl!" snapped Junko, shuffling forward. "There won't be any Head until tomorrow, after your appointment ceremony." She leaned forward and smiled. "and as you've been so kind to point out... there is no leadership right now! There are no rules!" She glanced slyly over to the bar, where a violently struggling Honan was being trussed up by three shinobi. "The stupid fool thought that he could pull one over on me. Destroy the leadership and then he could take poor little unsuspecting me in the following power vacuum," she laughed. "I prepare for everything girl. I always make sure that in a free-for-all the only one left standing would be me." She gestured to the large group of ninja surrounding them. "The branches of my family are large and plentiful. I make sure that a majority are trained well in the ways of ninjutsu."

Naruto looked about the circle. "This is a joke right? You can't be serious about trying to threaten us."

Junko smiled mirthlessly. "Oh but I am serious. There is no Head of the Clan to stop me."

"Look," said Naruto raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Can I just suggest that you calm down and then we can talk about all this rationally."

Junko sneered. "In my day shinobi responded to any challenge no matter how badly they were outnumbered. They never stopped to 'talk rationally'. It was a matter of pride and honor." She grinned. "Now why don't you just give up, I have you outnumbered ten to one. Does that scare you demon fox?"

Naruto scoffed. "No! The only thing that's going to happen is your men are going to get hurt." He cracked his knuckles. "I really think that you should be leaving now."

"My men getting hurt?" said Junko, raising an eyebrow. "They aren't men. These are merely members of the branch family. They rely on me to feed them and care for them. They count on me to give them some order and meaning in their little lives." She turned and smiled at a shinobi on her left. "Is that not correct Aito?"

"Yes mistress," he replied in a nervous voice.

"Go and remove the Jinchuriki from the meeting hall please. He is an outsider and should not be here," she said in a cold voice.

Aito looked at Naruto and swallowed. "But Junko-sama he is…" Aito collapsed to the floor writhing in pain, grabbing at his skull.

Junko studied him carefully as she held the hand sign to activate his caged bird seal. "I arranged a perfectly good marriage for the man and he had the nerve to refuse. Instead, he continued to meet with some other girl, some commoner." She sighed and shook her head. "Aito thought he was being clever, carrying on behind my back. What would this clan come to if it wasn't for me trying to maintain its purity." She released the seal and Aito stopped twitching "Did you think you knew better than I did boy?" Aito rolled over and mumbled something. "Speak up! I couldn't hear you!"

"Yes mistress. I apologize for my error in judgment," croaked Aito.

"And what happens to those who reject my guidance?" Junko asked glancing at Hinata.

"They get punished mistress."

Junko shrugged. "You see? They are all like this. They have no spunk, no drive. If it wasn't for me, heaven knows what they would be doing." She gestured at Hinata. "Take Hiashi's family for example! No wonder his brats are all sullying themselves with outsiders! They don't see anything wrong with it!"

Naruto was vibrating with rage. "I won't let you treat people this way! Old lady or not, I am going to take you apart!"

"Oh I really think not," Junko said with a gleam in her eye. She made a gesture with one hand. Two shinobi dragged a struggling Kento and Riku next to her. "I noticed these two young boys all by themselves in the meeting hall. I thought to myself that what they really needed after such displays of rudeness and disrespect was a kind, loving family to take them in." Kento yelled at this and tried to kick out at his captor. Riku was just sobbing. Junko grinned. "I've got such a large and loving heart... perhaps I should make a few other additions as well."

There was a frantic commotion off to one side. Neji made a break for the hole in the roof, and found his way blocked by seven shinobi. He traded a few blows with them and then jumped down into the circle next to Hinata. "Hinata-sama," he said calmly. "It appears that they are capturing whomever they can."

"We can take them," growled Naruto. "We can take all of them and more."

Hinata gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. "This is still a Hyuga matter. It needs to be solved by Hyuga alone!" She nodded at Kento and Riku. "Besides, you promised! The boys are your responsibility."

Naruto nodded once. "Right… Fine... I'll make sure the boys are safe." He gave her a quick smile. "But then I'm coming back to be with you." There was a burning yellow trail left hanging in the air. The two shinobi holding Kento and Riku were flung into the wall. Naruto was visible for a brief moment as he used his chakra arms to pick up the two boys, then he blurred with speed again. One of the few remaining windows in the meeting hall exploded outward as he jumped through.

"Now!" yelled Junko. Four of her shinobi crouched in the corners of the hall. They each went through a series of identical hand signs. The sun went dark. Hinata looked up, through the hole in the roof she saw a black barrier shimmer around the building. Junko smiled at her. "I once met a former shinobi from the Hidden Sound village that taught me the four violet flames barrier jutsu. I must thank you for making sure the Kyubi brat was outside before we sealed off the building." She smiled in a feral way at Hinata. "Don't look so shocked. It's called strategy my dear. I would gladly sacrifice two pawns to capture the gold and silver generals."

Neji took a step behind Hinata, covering her back. "End this folly now Junko," said Hinata in a cold voice. There is no way for this to end well. Stop now and you may keep some of your honor."

"Honor?" laughed Junko. "What is honor worth compared to the purity of the Hyuga clan? It has become increasingly clear to me that the Head family has become very derelict in its duty of maintaining the sanctity of the Hyuga clan." She gave a great heaving sigh. "Once again the only one who cares is me. I can't really have all of you working against the best interests of the clan this way, but once I have you all bound into my service, there will be no Head family left... Except me." She smiled a small knowing smile. "Perhaps then I will finally be able to maintain some order here."

"You will have to defeat me first!" said Neji bravely. "I will protect Hinata-sama with my life!"

"Ooh! I'm so very concerned!" said Junko sarcastically. "Fifteen to one is so very good odds."

One of the shinobi surrounding Hinata and Neji fell sprawling into the water. Hiashi barreled in behind him and stood next to Hinata and Neji. "Ten to one now." He muttered glaring at Junko.

"Father, you are still injured," said Hinata quietly.

Hiashi shrugged. "It is every Hyuga's duty to defend the Head of the clan." His lips twitched in a smile. "Just as it is every father's duty to defend his children."

Junko smiled. "Well, well, well... here you all are. All in the same place." She glared at her shinobi. "What are you waiting for? Go and capture them! I want to seal the three of them personally! Make sure you take them alive."

The shinobi edged closer. "Well?" asked Neji quietly, "What should our plan of attack be?" He eyed the shimmering purple barrier. "We are effectively trapped are we not?"

"They have us penned in too close for us to use the rotation," said Hiashi quietly. "They have effectively taken away our defensive options."

"I will need the pair of you to focus on offence here. We will need to get to and neutralize Junko," said Hinata in a confident voice. "I am able to protect us all."

"What if we cannot neutralize her?" asked Hiashi quietly. "What can we do about the barrier?"

Hinata smiled. "Father, the love of my life is on the other side of that barrier. If you were in his shoes, would you let something like that stop you?"

Hinata focused her chakra. Once again, it flared around her in a bright blue aura as she made the appropriate hand signs. The huge lake on the floor shimmered once and then sprang into the air. An enourmous glistening hawk sprang up around them. There was a flurry of flung kunai that were blocked by the hawk's massive wings. The wings flapped and as the space cleared, both Neji and Hiashi launched an eight trigrams vacuum palm at the advancing shinobi, several of whom were blown backwards. One of the shinobi launched a wind jutsu back at Neji, but the wings just snapped back down again deflecting it.

Hiashi shot a quick glance over his shoulder. "I am very impressed Hinata. This is quite the technique you have developed."

Despite all of her exhaustion, pain and effort, Hinata felt a warm surge flow through her. "Thank you Father," she grinned. Slowly they pressed forward. The few shinobi who tried to charge and attack directly were carelessly slapped away by the hawk's wings. Hiashi and Neji fired longer-range ninjutsu attacks at those who were outside Hinata's reach. It looked like they were going to succeed.

"Hinata-sama!" yelled Neji, shoving her out of the way. Hinata was using all of her focus maneuvering the hawk against the surrounding shinobi. She did not see the chakra pulsing through the earth underneath her feet. A huge hand made of stone burst through the muddy earth was now hurtling towards Neji instead. He flinched anticipating the impact.

Neji face showed surprise as he was shoved as well. The hand grabbed Hiashi around the chest and squeezed. He screamed in pain. "Father!" called out Hinata.

"Stop your bellyaching, I'll hurt him far less than you did girl!" snapped Junko, concentrating to maintain her earth fist. "All you need to do is drop the water jutsu. You and your father and cousin can live long productive lives." She smiled pleasantly at them. "Who know? You may actually enjoy letting someone else make all the important decisions for you… Gods know you've made plenty of mistakes on your own… Like getting a child on a peasant!"

"Neji wait!" Hinata cried out as he sprinted out from the protection of the Hawk's wings. Neji lunged toward Junko, but she was ready for him. A hailstorm of sharp stone shards rose from the floor and fired them selves at Neji. He skidded to a halt and began deflecting them with his juken. He danced around a series of smaller stone hands that burst from the ground and grabbed at his feet.

There was a great hollow boom and the whole meeting hall jumped on its foundation. The shock wave caused Neji to stumble just enough that one of the hands snagged his foot. He was quickly pulled down flat to the ground.

The quake caused Junko to stumble as well. "What was that?" she snapped at her shinobi.

One of the Ninja's maintaining the barrier glanced back at her. "There was an attack on the barrier jutsu Junko-sama. Someone is trying to break through." There was another explosion and again the building rocked.

Junko grinned. "There isn't a thing alive that can pass through or even touch this barrier without being immolated." She looked at Hinata. "I think your little boyfriend just got barbecued."

"Naruto will break through! You have no idea how strong he is!"

"Well, I had better hurry up then shouldn't I?" The huge hand squeezing Hiashi dragged him forward, and lay him at Junko's feet. "Then it won't make a damn bit of difference if he breaks through, if you all belong to me will it?"

Hinata screamed fury and frustration at Junko, and charged. Shinobi jumped in her path and were swept aside. Stone hands and spikes stabbed up at her, and were crushed by the clawed feet of the hawk. The hawk drew back its head and viciously stabbed its hooked beak straight at Junko's head.

It suddenly stopped. The stone hand had jerked Hinata's father right up into the path of the beak. Hinata brought the hawk to a halt just in time. A wingtip flashed forward and again stopped as a second giant hand brought Neji into its path." Junko laughed her sweet little old lady laugh. "You have your shields. I have mine."

Hinata glared at Junko. Suddenly the hawk's left wing snapped out and extended into a long ropy tentacle. It squirmed into the crowd and came back clutching a struggling figure in its grasp. Mikio screamed as the tentacle flipped him into the air, and he was caught in the huge hawk's beak. He cried and begged as the scissoring pressure was applied. "I will trade you," said Hinata coldly, "my father and my cousin for your son."

A third detonation shook the building. A section of the roof, already weakened from the earlier duel, collapsed. Junko looked up and frowned. "Go ahead."

"What?" screeched Mikio. "Mother! How could you?"

Junko stared at Hinata. "You're bluffing girl. You don't have the nerve to kill in cold blood." Junko took a step towards Hiashi and stretched out one hand.

Mikio screamed as the hawk's beak twitched. "I warned you!" yelled Hinata. "Touch my father and he dies!"

Junko smiled a slow, cruel smile. "Even if you weren't bluffing, do you think I would trade my victory here for that sniveling, whiny brat of mine?" She looked up at Mikio. "Sorry Son. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a piece or two to win the war. You are just unlucky enough to be one of them." She placed her hand on Hiashi's forehead. Hiashi cried out in pain.

The building rocked again. There was a high pitched shriek, like fingernails on a blackboard. A dull red light filtered in through the hole in the roof. The walls and floor shuddered. Everyone staggered as the foundation shifted six inches to the left. "Junko-sama!' called out one of the barrier ninjas, "The jutsu is collapsing! It's under attack from all sides!"

"All sides?" asked Junko incredulously.

"We have at least nine points of extreme stress on the barrier! We cannot hold it for much longer!"

There was hair-raising snapping noise. It sounded like something between the ominous crackle of ice on a frozen pond and the music of a squeezed wine glass shattering. A burning red spear bashed its way through the barrier. It was followed by a second and a third and then a multiple of them. By the time the seventh one tore through, the barrier jutsu collapsed into a shower of purple shards that evaporated in the air. The four shinobi trying to maintain the jutsu collapsed from exhaustion.

Hinata and Junko stared in shock through the hole in the roof. Nine tails of burning red chakra twisted through the sky. The building shook as two enormous, clawed paws punched through the walls, seized what was left of the roof, and casually tore it away.

A huge head blocked out the sky. Above slavering fangs, two baleful red eyes gleamed. The enormous head lowered into the building. Junko made a series of hand signs. A giant stone spear lanced from the ground headed straight for Kurama's face. He blinked as the point of the stalagmite shattered on his chin. He tilted his head and looked down with a snarl.

"Protect me!" Junko shouted. Several of her shinobi leaped at the Nine tails. He scattered them contemptuously with a flick of one tail.

Junko fell down and started to scramble away staring at the Kyubi's maw. She stopped and whimpered as a claw speared the ground centimeters away from her. The Fox leaned closer and gave her a snort. Junko flinched away.

"Wait!" Junko screamed out, shielding herself with her hands. "I have money! I have power! I can give to you a hundred others. I will let you feed on anyone and everyone else here! Just spare me!" The crowd of Hyuga, already stunned by the assault by Junko's shinobi, and horrified by the appearance of the Kyubi, stared mutely at her.

Kurama paused and tilted his head slightly. "Hinata-san," he rumbled. There was another crash as part of the remaining wall collapsed. "I am quite pleased to see that you are safe. I heard from Naruto that here was..." he turned and fixed Junko with a vicious stare, "a spot of difficulty."

Hinata looked up and made a small nod. "Kurama-sama," she acknowledged. She swallowed nervously. "I am honored that you would come to my aid."

The Nine tails chuckled. "Our mutual friend was worried you might require some assistance. I was more than happy to lend a hand." He leaned his head closer to Junko and leered. "Is this the one who has been causing so much pain and misery?" He studied her closely. "She looks so old and frail." He inhaled deeply through his nose. "But I can smell her twisted sense of self importance and cruelty leaking from every pore." He ran his tongue over his teeth and Junko shrank back. "I find such people to be completely untrustworthy. It is best that they be dealt with… quickly." He dipped his head slightly and opened his jaws.

Kurama paused as five platoons of masked ANBU appeared in what was left of the meeting hall. "What the devil is going on here in my village!" roared a tall blonde woman. "You will stop this fighting at once!" Tsunade glared at the Kyubi.

Ko delicately cleared his throat and wriggled forward. "Hokage-sama," he said demurely, somehow still looking quite refined despite his mussed hair, rope burns and the dirt all over his kimono. "We are honored by your presence. We are currently undertaking some... private clan business that we would appreciate being able to bring to some sort of a resolution." His eyes flicked to Junko. A thin smile flashed on his lips. "If you would be so good, as to perhaps excuse us for another moment or two?" There was a murmur of approval from more than a few voices

Tsunade gave the whole gathering an imperious stare. "When there is chaos rampant in the streets and wanton destruction of property, whatever 'clan matter' you are trying to 'resolve' is no longer private." She whirled and pointed at the Nine tails. "Naruto! What in the seven hells do you think you are doing? You stop that this instant!"

Kurama looked over at Hinata and gave a shrug. Then he made a sheepish grin and shrank back into Naruto. He stood there with his head bowed. Tsunade stormed up to him. "Idiot!" she exclaimed cuffing him across the ear. "Do you have any idea how much trouble this little stunt of yours caused right now? I have half of the Leaf village fleeing for the hills because the Nine tails is on the warpath!"

"Sorry Tsunade-Oba-chan," mumbled Naruto. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Tsunade turned and glared at the surrounding Hyuga. "Okay, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask all of you to disperse and go about your business." The crowd stared at her and did not move. Tsunade made a little shooing motion with her hands. "Go on! I know you all heard me! Go home!"

"Hokage-sama," said Junko in a quavery little voice, staggering to her feet. "I request protection from the village. Those two," she said pointing at Hinata and Naruto, "are trying to execute a coup d'etat and take over the Hyuga clan!" She pulled herself up. "Then that monster over there tried to devour me whole!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "I always thought that the Hyuga clan prided itself on its independence from the Leaf village infrastructure and bylaws." She turned and looked at Hiashi, still trapped within the giant stone hand. Tsunade gave it a light tap with her fist and the stone shattered. "Hiashi? Is the clan formally requesting my assistance?"

Hiashi twisted a little back and forth to stretch. "I cannot answer that question Hokage-sama. As I find that I am no longer the Head of the Hyuga clan." He gestured to Hinata. "I believe you already know my eldest daughter?"

Tsunade turned to Hinata. She gave her a calculating once over. "So... Hyuga-sama... does the clan require any assistance from the Leaf village?"

"Assistance?" said Naruto incredulously. "Granny Tsunade, that creepy old lady just tried to…" He grunted as Hiashi stepped on his toes.

"Quiet you fool!" Hiashi hissed at him. "This is political! She can't openly violate the treaty! She has to make it a formal request."

Tsunade smiled and pretended she didn't hear the exchange. She looked up at the hawk still hovering over Hinata's head. "Nice water jutsu by the way, my grand-uncle would have been impressed."

Hinata gave a small bow. "The Hyuga will continue to manage the affairs of the Hyuga, Tsunade-sama.

Tsunade nodded in return. "Very well then... may I respectfully suggest that the clan meeting be suspended for now? This building does not appear to be structurally sound."

"Indeed, I had just called an end to today's clan gathering for the exact same reason, a little while ago," said Hinata. "I believe that we shall make some repairs to the meeting hall and reconvene on the morrow."

"And fix the water towers. And remove the debris from the street," said Tsunade pointedly.

Hinata bowed. "Of course."

There was a muffled cry of panic. Hinata and Tsunade turned to see a pair of Junko's shinobi pulling a bound Honan to his feet. "What is the meaning of this?" asked Tsunade icily.

"My family and I are leaving," replied Junko. "We are simply taking a few lost members with us."

"Whether or not they chose to go with you of their own free will is their business. I fully respect that each clan in the Leaf village has its own... traditions. But I draw the line at tying people up and abducting them." Tsunade waved a hand. The two shinobi were surrounded by the ANBU. "There has been enough trouble today. It will all end right now."

"No," said Junko firmly.

"No?" Tsunade arched her eyebrow.

"I remember you when you were still wearing diapers, Tsunade Senju. You have no authority in this matter." Junko looked down her nose. "We reached an agreement with the second Hokage long ago. The business of the Hyuga is the Hyuga's business alone." She grinned at Tsunade. "And this man is certainly my business."

Tsunade stared at Junko for a moment. Then she waved a hand at the ANBU. "Cut him loose." There was a snick as the ropes fell from Honan's wrists. He grinned at Tsunade and massaged his wrists.

"How dare you?" said Junko in a cold whisper. "How dare you throw away the agreements, the traditions!" Junko stepped forward and pointed an angry finger. "I am Junko Hyuga, undisputed matron and patron to hundreds of Hyuga. I am going to take what is mine, and you dear girl are going to keep out of my way. Who are you to throw away the traditions of a hundred years? Who are you to slight my honor in front of my family?" She jabbed with her finger and tapped Tsunade sharply on the chest.

Junko froze. She was surrounded by a ring of swords held my masked ANBU. One ANBU with a cat mask leaned towards Tsunade. "What do you wish us to do Hokage-sama? We all witnessed her assault on your person."

Tsunade gave Junko a cold smile. "I am the Fifth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I am ultimately responsible for everyone who is a member of the Leaf Village, including those from the Hyuga clan." She leaned forward and stared Junko in the face. "Including your own." Tsunade turned and looked at the cat masked ANBU. "Captain Neko! Junko Hyuga here requested that she be protected because she fears for her safety did she not?"

The cat masked ANBU nodded once. "I did hear that Hokage-sama."

Tsunade nodded. "I believe we shall take her up on that request." She glanced at Junko and smiled. "We will generously grant you our hospitality for the space of a week. You will have one of the most secure rooms in the whole of Konoha." Tsunade nodded to the ANBU. "Take her to the Maximum security correctional facility."

"What?!" screamed Junko.

Tsunade leaned closer. "A moment ago, all these people were about to happily watch you get eaten by a giant fox. Do you really want to stay here?" Tsunade gave Junko a friendly grin. "It will only be for seven days, enough time to let everyone calm down. I do so want to make sure that you remain safe as well."

Junko, very reluctantly, was lead away. Tsunade shook her head watching her go. "I never liked that woman," she muttered under her breath. Tsunade stomped over and glared at Naruto. "Really," she said flatly, smacking him upside the head. "What was going through your head you idiot?! The Nine tails… Back in Konoha? You really don't think about things before you do them do you?" Tsunade turned to Hinata. "I hope you have better luck trying to control him than I did." Tsunade smiled. "Congratulations by the way."

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I will try my best to be a good Head of the clan," said Hinata bowing.

Tsunade gave her a wry smile. "Yes… Congratulations for that as well, but actually I was initially referring to something else." She delicately tapped the ring finger on her left hand. "So your father agreed to the marriage did he?"

Hinata blushed nervously. "Actually... I didn't give him much of an opportunity to say anything about it one way or the other."

"Really?" asked Tsunade, raising an eyebrow and glancing back at Hiashi. Hiashi stood proudly, but in obvious discomfort from both his physical injuries and his injured pride. "Not that I'm criticizing your actions, but your father is so very… traditional." She leaned forward a little and whispered. "May I offer you some advice?" Hinata nodded. "Mend your fences with him. He's been a good leader, he would make a good ally." Tsunade smiled slightly. "He's also your father... Showing him that he is important to you… to both of you," she said prodding Naruto, "would be a good way to start fixing things."


	35. Chapter 14 Hinata's Tale part 5

Apparently destroying a building in the center of Konoha makes village rumor travel even faster than usual.

Despite her ending the clan gathering early, and her retreat to the Hyuga compound, Hinata was busy for the rest of the day dealing with well wishers, meetings with the heads of other clans, dignitaries, and a whole flock of ambitious Hyuga with delusions of self importance. It made her want to tear her hair out. The only thing that made it even slightly bearable, was that Naruto refused to leave her side. He was never introduced, he just sat quietly in the background. Several people gave him quiet nods, a few greeted him outright, but most just gave him a shifty eyed stare trying to figure out how his presence changed the rules of the game.

Hinata sat there with a frozen smile and a stiff back wishing that they would all go away. The adrenaline had all worn off. Those parts of her that weren't actively in pain ached from exhaustion. She wondered how her father could put up with this day after day, year after year.

Finally, the last one left. All she wanted to do was lie down, but there were still instructions to give to Ko and repairs to direct. When everything seemed to finally be under control, Naruto whisked her away, back to his apartment.

She took the world's hottest shower for twenty minutes. She dried herself as best she could and then wrapped herself in a large fluffy towel. Then she staggered into his bedroom and collapsed face down on his bed.

Naruto came in and sat down next to her. He smiled and played with her hair. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered. "You were absolutely amazing."

"I can't move," Hinata groaned back.

Naruto chuckled. "That doesn't matter. You were still amazing." He crawled up on the bed next to her and slowly began to pull her towel away.

Hinata sighed. "Naruto... I love you very much, but I have just had the most trying day. Can we not… do anything strenuous? I'm very… very tired."

Naruto put his head next to hers and silenced her with a kiss. "That's fine. I was actually just wondering if you might want a back rub?" he asked. He slowly began to rub her shoulders and neck. Hinata grunted with pleasure. "I'll take that as a yes then," he said smiling.

He used his fingers to work at the tight spots in her shoulders. He made little circles with his palms rubbing up and down the length of her spine. Hinata sighed. "That feels amazing," she muttered.

Naruto undid the towel, and ran his hands up and down on her bare skin. Walking his fingers, he went from her waist to her neck and then back again. Slowly he rubbed down her back. Then he caressed her hips, moved down her thighs and rubbed the soles of her feet. He massaged each of her toes.

At some point Hinata started to consider that maybe… maybe she wasn't too tired after all. She rolled over and looked up at Naruto smiling down at her. "Was this some sort of plan to seduce me?"

"Maybe," said Naruto grinning. Hinata reached up and pulled him down on top of her.

* * *

There was a most inopportune knock at the door. Naruto looked up and gave her a quick kiss. "I'll chase whoever it is away. You just stay here and relax." He jumped up from the bed pulled on his pants and quietly opened and shut the door.

Hinata waited. He was gone so long that she began to drift in and out of that fuzzy edge of sleep. She could tell because she kept having a recurring dream. It was a nice dream. She was showing a young Hyuga girl how to press flowers. In the dream, the girl looked up as Naruto entered the garden. She lifted up her arms and yelled 'Daddy!'

Hinata awoke when she heard the door quietly close again. "Naruto?" she asked sleepily. "Who was it?"

"Everyone," he said quietly. He climbed into bed with her and gave her a kiss.

"Everyone? Who do you mean?"

"Well, apparently, Neji went home and told Tenten you were the new head of the Hyuga clan. Tenten told Sakura, Sakura told Ino, and Ino told… everyone."

"Oh... what did they all want?" said Hinata drowsily snuggling up against Naruto. He buried his face in her hair and kissed her neck.

"To say congratulations of course! Everyone is really happy for you! Well everyone except maybe Shino... He seemed kind of put out that he had to hear about it from Ino and not you."

"Hmm… Poor Shino," whispered Hinata.

"I'm sure he will get over it," said Naruto. He thought about it for a moment and a worried look crossed his face. "Someday, maybe at least. It took him a year to stop pouting about that one time I forgot his name." Naruto gave Hinata another kiss. "Oh, and Sai brought you a present that he whipped when he heard that we were getting engaged. He said he hopes that it will cement the bond of friendship between you and the rest of Team Seven. Do you want to see it?" he asked eagerly. "All the girls said it was really pretty. Should I show it to you? Hinata?" Naruto gave her a gentle nudge, but Hinata was fast asleep.

* * *

Hinata awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. She stretched and smiled. She always liked waking up in Naruto's bed. She felt the ring around her finger and her smile grew wider. "Naruto?" she called out.

He stuck his head around the kitchen entrance. "Don't get up!" he said eagerly. "I'm making you breakfast in bed!"

Hinata stirred. "Let me help."

"No! No no." I've got it. Besides it's only breakfast. I can't mess that up too bad."

It was the best breakfast in bed she had ever had. Naruto tried his best to make it western style. The toast was hard, the eggs were runny, and the bacon was burnt. The strawberries were a little mushy as well. Naruto propped her up on pillows, and fed her every bite. She felt like a princess.

They took a long, eventful shower together. Afterwards she gave him a heartfelt kiss. "I really have to get going home. I have to change for the appointment ceremony."

"Only if you want to," said Naruto with an impish smile, "we could stay here for a bit longer and you could wear Sai's present."

"Present?" asked Hinata confused.

Naruto leaned forward and gave her another kiss. "I was trying to tell you about it last night right before you fell asleep." He grinned sheepishly. "I guess you were already out." He picked up a square flat box resting by the door and handed it to her. "Take a look! Ino said it was absolutely gorgeous and she was really jealous." Hinata opened the box.

* * *

Hinata knew she looked radiant. The kimono was silvery silk. When the sunlight caught it, the folds reflected a slight purple sheen, just like her eyes. The pattern was an orange fox dancing among a swirl of autumn leaves. Naruto walked her down to the dais and helped her up the stairs. Then he turned and stood and the base of the stairs, facing the crowd.

Hinata looked up. The gathered Hyuga were much more subdued today. The chaos of yesterday had almost certainly seen to that. There was a nervous edge to the whole group as if everyone was wondering what new terror would strike when they least expected it.

From her vantage point on the raised platform, Hinata scanned the faces of the crowd. The older ones tended to be giving her sour looks, while a few directed at Naruto looked positively mortified. The younger faces tended to look slightly more happy. Some, who were glancing between her kimono and Naruto, were looking positively amused. To no one's surprise, Junko was absent.

Hinata lifted her arms. "Brothers and Sisters, I welcome you today to the Hyuga clan meeting. We have much to discuss after the… unpleasantness of yesterday."

"It has come to my attention that the continued use of the caged bird seal has caused much strife and ill will amongst our family. It separates mothers and fathers from children. It marks members of our clan forever as second class citizens and chaineds them to a set destiny of forced servitude."

A whisper passed through the crowd. Hinata looked up. The faces were a mixture of elation and calculation. Every so often there was one of disapproval, but far fewer than she was expecting.

Hinata took a deep breath and continued. "I am hereby declaring an end to the distinction between the Head families and the Branches. We are all simply Hyuga and we will all be stronger together if we started acting like it." She scanned the crowd. "Likewise, there will be no further use for the caged bird seal. I am declaring a clan wide ban on it's application and activation. Those who have it may as of this moment have it removed if they so wish." There was a murmur of disaproval that passed through the crowd." She gave them a cold smile. "If the rest of the Hidden Leaf village can make arrangements and contracts without using the caged bird seal, I'm positive that the honorable Hyuga can manage."

She looked up and her eyes caught Honan's. He was standing near the bar frowning into his beer. "I realize that some of you who serve as shinobi or fear that others may try to take your byakugan from you through violence do sometimes appreciate the safety the seal offers. We shall work on a version that does not have the punishment jutsu worked into the seal. Until then, anyone who activates a caged bird seal faces any punishment up to disownment depending on the severity of the infarction." Hinata paused and let that sink in.

The crowd started to talk amongst themselves. The faces looked mixed. Those who had a seal or who had ever been threatened with a seal looked elated. The majority looked calculating, trying to figure out some way to turn this latest development to their advantage. A small number of faces glared at her with open disgust, but far fewer than she was expecting. Inwardly she smiled and continued. "A wise man once told me that 'a good leader must be willing to learn.' I am very new to this position. I know that unlike my sister, I have not been groomed for this role... I realize that I will make mistakes and I will require much guidance on a great many topics." She turned. Her father's left knee was heavily bandaged. Instead of kneeling on the traditional tatami mat he was seated in a chair. "Hiashi Hyuga..." Her father looked up with one eyebrow raised. "You have been one of the wisest Heads of the Hyuga clan we have had in generations. Under your leadership the Hyuga clan has become richer in respect and generosity than ever before." She bowed towards him. "I can think of no better mentor than you... I would be honored if you would remain in your previous role and served as acting head of the Hyuga clan for the next five years. I would be honored if during that time you would provide me with the tutelage and guidance a proper clan head needs."

A small smile played across her father's lips. "I will serve you with all of my abilities Hyuga-sama," he said with a small bow.

Hinata bowed back and turned to the audience. "And now I wish to yield the floor to Hiashi-sama so that I may better witness his skill."

Ko helped Hiashi up to his feet. Hiashi looked out over the gathering with practiced skill. "Are there any other open announcements or petitions to take care of in the great hall before Hyuga-sama and I return to the private chamber?"

Then there was a general rustling in the hall but no one spoke out for a beat. "I have a request Hyuga-sama, if I have permission speak at your gathering." Naruto turned and bowed to Hiashi. "I realize that I am not a Hyuga, but the issue I have is of such a great import, I feel I must ask it in front of the gathering anyway." He stayed there, head bowed waiting for Hiashi's response.

Hiashi's face was still. "Speak," he said quietly.

Naruto stood straight. "Hyuga-sama," he bowed to Hinata, "Hyuga-sama," he bowed to Hiashi, "Honored members of the Hyuga clan," he bowed to the crowd. "My name is Naruto of the clan Uzumaki. I thank you all for inviting me to speak at your clam meeting." He turned back to Hiashi and bowed again. "Hyuga-sama, your eldest daughter and I have been in love for many years now. We would like your permission to begin a new life together." Naruto looked up, glancing shyly at Hinata before turning back to Hiashi. "I believe we would be a good match. I would bring much honor to the Hyuga name. I am called a hero for defending the Hidden Leaf Village. I vanquished the group of rogue-nin known as Akatsuki. It has been said I fought valiantly in the Fourth Ninja war. I personally led the assault on Kabuto Yakusha's stronghold." He looked up and his voice quavered. "The Fifth Hokage has named me her successor. I am also the... keeper of the Nine Tailed fox spirit." He stopped and looked down.

Hiashi coughed delicately. "I am not sure what more you hope to achieve with this... public request Uzumaki-san. I believe by this point my daughter has made her choice of husband abundantly clear."

"She has made her opinions known. But there is another person very important to her who has yet to have an honest say in the matter." Naruto glanced up. "We would like to honor tradition and ask your permission."

Hiashi stood there frozen for a dozen heartbeats. Finally, he stirred. "Since you ask for my honest say... Hinata is a Hyuga. And as the Head of the Hyuga clan, she must remain so," he said in a quiet voice. "The clan's honor demands that no outsiders shall ever hold sway over us." He glanced over at Hinata. "Although, I know it is considered... old fashioned. I know that many in the clan would find it... aberrant for a woman not to officially join her husband's house." He frowned. "I fear that in turn might lead to a situation where offspring from such a union might have... issues being acknowledged by the clan."

Naruto bowed again. "I am quite modern in my views Hyuga-sama. If we each took each other's last name, would that be acceptable to the Hyuga clan honor?"

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "Uzumaki-Hyuga?" he asked, tasting the surname.

A quick smile played across Naruto's lips. "The Uzumaki clan name has history, even if it is not as glorious as it once was. I believe that I am the only one here in Konoha. I would be more than honored if the Hyuga clan would consider me a member, even in name only." Naruto bowed low. "I believe it might bring some small added respect to your much revered clan. After all... the Sixth Hokage would be known as Uzumaki-Hyuga as well."

There was a soft wave of whispering that echoed through the crowd. Hinata smiled down at Naruto as he gave her a quick upward glance. Hiashi turned and looked Hinata up and down. He stared at her smile. Then he looked over at Naruto. He sighed. "I find this proposal acceptable as the He..." he caught himself, and covered his slip with a small cough, "the acting Head of the Hyuga clan." He flashed a quick smile at Hinata, "and also as a father."

* * *

Their father-daughter relationship got better. It was never absolutely perfect, but it rarely ever is between parents and children. Hiashi tried, he really tried to his best to have the most positive relationship with Hinata that he could. It was miles better now than how it used to be... But there were times when Hinata still found the intimate personal connection to be lacking.

Hiashi was still a very private man, he still didn't approve of Naruto as much as Hinata would have liked, and he was still a hard teacher. But they were able to bond together over the governance of the clan. It made Hinata smile to feel that she finally had accomplished something that he was proud of.

Hiashi brought a guest to her and Naruto's wedding. She was an older woman with brown hair, and bright blue eyes that were always smiling. Her name was Izumi. It was very awkward at first to meet this woman who was so important to her father, whom he had kept hidden from them for so long. It was strange to see her father, smiling and laughing. It was almost as if with her, he had another life... he was a different man.

Hinata soon discovered that it was hard not to to be cheerful in Izumi's company. She was quick witted and had a contagious grin. She was a little nervous when she gave Hinata her wedding gift. "I wasn't really sure if this was appropriate," she said bowing, "But your father mentioned that when you were a young girl, this was your favorite pastime." She handed Hinata a specially made album specifically for pressed flowers. "He keeps telling me how, some day, he wants to take the time to go with you."

* * *

**Author's note:**

... and so ends Hinata's flashback. What did you all think?

Next chapter, we are back to the 'Present' present... twenty years after the Four war, and everyone's children running about. For those of you who are reading this piecemeal, you may want to take a quick peak back at Chapter 8 (That's Chapter 15 using Fanfiction's reckoning) to remind yourself where we left off.

Thanks for reading.

-Cas


	36. Chapter 15: In the Misty Morning part 1

**Chapter Fifteen: In the Misty Morning**

* * *

"I'm not quite sure I understand," Kusumina said with a frown. "How could Aunt Hanabi support your challenge openly and without any issue, while Uncle Neji had to start his own family before he was allowed to support you?"

Hinata neatly fitted a small stack of casual slacks into one corner of the suitcase. "That... is one of the advantages of being a young Hyuga," she told her daughter with a small smile. "You've never learned to identify the members of your clan as 'Head' or 'Branch' you see us all as just Hyuga… Anyway… back then… in the early days of the clan, it was decided that at the very least, two Head members and two Branch members needed to support the challenger. The two Branch members could not be from the challenger's family in order to prevent a single Head family from making a single push for the leadership of the Hyuga."

"But even though he was married to Aunt Tenten… Uncle Neji is your cousin!"

Hinata's smile faltered a little. "True... Very true… Technically, while the form of my challenge was correct… it was extremely shaky. I was relying on the very broadest interpretation of the form of the challenge" She thought for a moment and shrugged. "Your father was concerned that there was considerable risk that your grandfather wouldn't even accept my challenge." The head of the Hyuga clan struggled to close her suitcase."But I knew better… To see his entire family united against him like that, Father was personally honor bound to squash any defiance to his authority."

"But weren't you scared?"

"Terrified," Hinata admitted, trying to close her suitcase and failing. "But you see Kusumina…" She stopped struggling with the valise and straightened. "The Hyuga are firm believers in tradition and destiny. Tradition can be very helpful when it comes to helping people live their lives in a way that is harmonious with others… but when wielded by unscrupulous people, it can also bind you with chains, and blind you to other options you might have… Here," she said, patting the top of the suitcase. "Sit on this for me please? Maybe that will help close it." As Kusumina climbed up, Hinata gently touched her daughter's cheek to get her attention. "The lesson I want you to remember Kusumina, it one about destiny… People would like you to think that destiny is set in stone… but personally… I believe that the future built out of the things you put your effort into in the present… Destiny can evolve." She smiled. "So yes… I was scared… But I knew that what I wanted was for my destiny to be entwined with your father's… and I was willing to do whatever it took to make that come about."

"So what happened next, Mother?" asked Kusumina. She bounced a few times on the suitcase to force it closed just a little bit more.

Hinata strained and forced the zipper around. "Well, your father and I were really busy after the clan accepted our marriage proposal, but we still made time for each other." She moved to the second suitcase. "Could you sit on this one as well please?" Grinning, Kusumina obliged. "A year later we were married. A year after that Naruto became the Sixth Hokage and when we found out that we were going to have Hishyota, we moved into this house." Hinata managed to close the second suitcase as well. "Two years later, I became the head of the Hyuga clan officially, and then you and Jiraiya were born." Hinata smiled grimly. "That was a very busy set of years for us… Sometimes… I'm amazed we survived."

Hinata picked up the first suitcase and motioned to the other. "Could you help me bring them both?"

"I know what happened to Honan-san, I remember meeting him from the past clan meetings, but I don't remember hearing about Junko-san before." Kusumina grabbed the suitcase and pulled it off the bed. It hit the floor with a loud thump. "How come nobody ever talks about her?"

Hinata pursed her lips. "She never came to another clan meeting. Rumor had it that after she lost face like that, she became a complete recluse, refusing to see anyone except for her son and her own personal physician. Mikio began to handle all of the family business and representing all their interests. It was for the best. Many in the Head families held a grudge against her for her attempted power grab." Hinata dragged the suitcase out into the hallway and pulled it down the stairs one at a time, thump thump thump.

"None of her former 'Branch' families wanted anything to do with her either. It was a hard time for her house, but Mikio was a fair if not uninspiring businessman and eventually he built their business back up." Hinata watched as Kusumina pulled the other suitcase down. "A year after you and your brother were born, Mikio announced at the clan gathering that his mother had passed away after a long illness. We all made a public show of mourning her, but to be perfectly honest, I think that many were glad to see her go."

"Hey!" called Naruto from the kitchen, "I'm glad you finally made it downstairs! What took you so long?"

Hinata and Kusumina pulled the cases into the front hallway and then headed into the kitchen. Hinata walked over to Naruto and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I was just telling stories while Kusumina was helping me pack."

Naruto seated her. Sasuko padded over holding a plate piled high with blueberry pancakes. "Mommy! Daddy said Jiraiya and me couldn't eat these because he wanted to save them for you!"

"Thank you Sasuko! You did such a good job carrying those," said Hinata proudly.

"I helped make them!" chirped Sasuko, grinning from ear to ear and picking at a suspicious purple stain that dribbled from one nostril. "Eat up Mommy!"

Hinata took a bite, "Mmm! Delicious!" She smiled at Sasuko and ruffled his hair.

Hishyota clomped down from upstairs and headed straight towards the door. "Bye Mom! Bye Dad! I'm heading out!"

"Hey Hey Hey!" called Naruto," Get back here and eat breakfast with your family! Your mother is leaving today, remember?"

Hishyota hesitated and sighed. She turned and sat down at the table. "Do I have to? I wanted to get a little training in before I left for the mission today." Her eyes never rose to meet anyone else's. "I'm not that hungry. Plus, it's hard to train on a full stomach."

"Please Onee-san! Please just try some of them?" begged Sasuko. "Dad and me made them especially for everyone! You can't let Jiraiya eat them all!"

"Yesh she can," said Jiraiya around a mouthful of pancakes. He swallowed. "They're pretty good this time."

Hishyota rolled her eyes at Jiraiya, but grudgingly nodded to Sasuko. "Okay, you can get me a couple."

"Yay!" cheered Sasuko. He jumped up and grabbed a plate. Naruto slapped a small stack of pancakes on the the plate, and Sasuko turned and ran back to Hishyota. With a clumsy flourish he slid the plate in front of her.

Sasuko stared at her bouncing as she tried a bite. "Well? Are they good?"

"Delicious," said Hishyota, genuinely surprised at how good they were. Sasuko did a little happy dance.

"So what kind of stories were you talking about?" asked Naruto, flipping the next batch of pancakes on the stove.

Kusumina giggled. "Stories about you, Father!"

Naruto sighed. "Please… just tell me it wasn't the one about the Konoha Sports Festival again... I will never live that down," he grumbled.

"No! Mother was telling me about how she confessed her love to you, and your first date, and how she had to challenge Grandfather in order for the pair of you to get married. She even told me about that time that you serenaded her at her bedroom window," Kusumina sighed dreamily, "that was so romantic!"

Naruto fumbled the pancake he was flipping. It landed with a splat on the floor "Really? She told you that one did she?" He shot a worried glance at his wife who was staring innocently into her tea. "She told you... everything about when we were dating? I hope that she didn't bore you too much with all the... little romantic details?"

"Well she did tell me a little about your first kiss on the canal bridge and how it..."

"Hey-Hey! Woah there!" said Jiraiya, holding up his hands for silence. "I'm trying to eat. No pervy talk involving Mom and Dad allowed at the breakfast table unless you want me to be sick."

"Pervy?!" exclaimed Kusumina affronted. "I'll have you know that Mother and Father had one of the purest, most noble romances that the village of Konoha has ever known!"

"Really?" asked Hishyota through a mouthful of pancakes.

"Really?" asked Jiraiya, his voice dripping with suspicion.

"Really?" asked Naruto with genuine surprise.

"What's a 'romance'?" asked Sasuko.

"Really! Mother loved loved Father for so long. Always from afar and in secret, until she finally risked her life to try to save him." Kusumina sniffed a little. "And how Father finally returned her vow of true love when he serenaded her at her bedroom window after he went out to bring back Uncle Sasuke and everyone thought that he was dead."

Jiraiya grinned at Naruto's obvious discomfort. "And pray tell, what happened next?"

"Well, after he sang the most beautiful song that mother ever heard, he climbed up to Mother at her bedroom window to leave her with a kiss and a single red rose before vanishing into the night..." Kusumina wiped away a single tear and sighed. "Oh that just melts my heart."

"A single red rose and a kiss?" asked Jiraiya his voice full of doubt.

"Yes! That is exactly how it happened!" said Naruto shaking his spatula emphatically and with great relief.

"A single red rose and a kiss? Are you sure there wasn't ramen involved?" asked Hishyota. Hinata giggled.

"I find it very hard to believe that the inventor of the sexy jutsu would leave things with just a flower and a kiss," muttered Jiraiya.

"Believe it or not, that is the honest to goodness truth," said Naruto waving the spatula around. "I want all of you to remember that relationships can be just as fun and meaningful when you avoid the physical side of things."

"And I suppose that's what you and Mom were doing in the shower yesterday morning? Avoiding the physical side of things?" asked Jiraiya sarcastically.

"Nope!" said Naruto putting a hand on Hinata's shoulder and grinning proudly. "Once you are married, anything goes!" He waved a hand at Jiraiya and Kusumina. "As a matter of fact, we're pretty sure that the pair of you were a result of one such encounter in the shower!"

An uncomfortable silence settled over the table. "Naruto!" admonished Hinata.

Jiraiya pushed himself away from the table. "Okay... I have officially lost my appetite… and I'm never using the shower again."

"Can I have your pancakes then?" asked Hishyota with her mouth full. Jiraiya nudged his plate over.

"It looks like you were hungry after all," said Hinata smiling.

"I'm never going to kiss my wife. I think girls are icky," said Sasuko.

"Sasuko!" admonished Naruto. "Why would you say that?"

"Well Aki says that boys shouldn't play with girls because they are all mean and have cooties and make you play dumb games like house all the time." Sasuko frowned grouchily. "I don't want to play house."

"Really?" asked Kusumina. "I'm a girl. Does that make me icky?"

Sasuko shook his head. "Nuh-uh. You and Mommy are nice. And so is Hishyota."

"You like the Uchihas. Don't you Sasuko?" asked Hinata.

Sasuko screwed up his face in thought. "Well, Aunt Sakura is nice, and Hana is nice sometimes... although most of the time she tries to be scary. Chyrio always comes up with fun games to play with her chipmunks." He tilted his head for a second and nodded once. "Actually, Kichiko says that not all girls are icky. He says that some girls are nice and some are mean just like some boys are nice and some are mean."

Hinata smiled at Sasuko. "Kichiko-kun sounds like he is very smart. Where did you meet him?"

"Oh, He's always been around Mommy! It's just that I never noticed him until now!"

"Kichiko is Sasuko's new friend. They were playing with blocks this morning," said Naruto leaning forward and lowering his voice. "Kichiko is invisible so no one can see him." He winked at Hinata.

Hinata ruffled Sasuko's hair. "So, what sort of games do you and Kichiko play?"

Sasuko grinned. "Dad's going to help us build a fort!" he said excitedly. "Kichiko says we need a secret hiding place to escape from the bad guys!"

Hinata's smile slipped a little. "Which bad guys are these?"

"You remember Mommy! The ones from my dream last night!"

"Hey, Sasuko could you get me some more of the pancakes?" asked Hishyota coming up for air.

Happily, Sasko bounded up from the table and ran over to his Father. Naruto glanced back at Hishyota. "You are just like your old man, a bottomless pit with legs." Hishyota stuck out her tongue at him and gave a half smile. He piled a small stack of pancakes on a plate and handed them off to Sasuko.

"Waiter Sasuko has your order Miss!" He said holding the plate high. He pranced back to the kitchen table. In his excitement he stumbled and tripped over his own feet. The dish went tumbling to the floor, so did Sasuko.

Hinata scooped him up as he wailed. "What's the matter little one? Did you hurt yourself?"

"I dropped Hishyota's pancakes!" he sobbed.

"It's okay buddy!" called Naruto. "I can always make her more. See?" He poured batter in the skillet and watched it sizzle.

Hinata kissed Sasuko's forehead to calm him down. "Sweetheart you'll have to be more careful today. You are really tired after being up in the night."

"Sasuko was awake in the night?" asked Kusumina. "What happened?"

"What's the matter? Did the little baby have a bad dream?" teased Jiraiya.

Hinata frowned at him. "Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga! You've already lost one day's allowance this morning. Would you like to lose another?"

Jiraiya looked down at the table. "No Mother," he said meekly.

"Do you want to talk about your bad dream Sasuko?" asked Naruto. "Sometimes talking about them makes a scary dream seem not so scary anymore."

"Naruto, I don't think that..." started Hinata.

"It was super scary Daddy!" said Sasuko animatedly. "I dreamed that the whole village was on fire, and people were yelling and screaming."

Kusumina made a small, sympathetic noise. "That sounds like it was really frightening."

Sasuko nodded "Uh-huh, and then there were these bad guy ninjas looking in the window. They were trying to get me. So I had to go hide."

"Where did you hide?" prompted Hishyota. "Under the bed?"

Sasuko gave her a skeptical look. "You don't hide under the bed. Everyone looks under the bed. I didn't have anywhere to hide. That's why Daddy's going to make me a big fort to hide in!" He said proudly. "And Kichiko and me are going to help!"

"Okay Hishyota's pancakes are done," called Naruto flipping them onto a plate one by one. "Remember to take it to your sister nice and easy now."

"Okay Daddy!" Sasuko took the plate and walked very carefully over to Hishyota. "Here you are Onee-san!"

"Thank you Sasuko, I think you're doing a great job being a waiter today." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and began to cut up her breakfast.

"Do you want to hear the really weird part about my dream?" Sasuko looked around at his family conspiratorially.

"Weirder than hiding in a big box built by an invisible friend to escape detection from enemy shinobi?" asked Jiraiya picking his teeth. "This ought to be good."

Sasuko frowned grouchily at him. "The really weird part was that the bad guys weren't wearing any headbands at all!" He leaned forward. "It's like they didn't come from any village!"

Hishyota shrugged and kept on eating. "That's not unheard of. There are rogue-nin, missing-nin, bandit clans... Lots of bad guys don't have a designated village."

"Oh," said Sasuko quietly, "are there any bad guys that wrap their head with black scarves?" There was a sharp ringing sound as Hishyota's fork slipped from her fingers.

"Sasuko where did you hear about those ninjas?" asked Kusumina. She turned and glared at Jiraiya. "Has your brother been trying to scare you again?"

Jiraiya held up his hands. "Dude, it was totally not me."

Sasuko stood there with a worried look on his face, suddenly shy to be the focus of attention from his whole family. "Nobody told me about them. I don't even know who they are. They were just the bad guys in my dream," he said simply. He looked over at Hishyota. "Onee-san? Are those pancakes yucky? You stopped eating."

Hishyota stared, glassy eyed at her plate. Hinata reached across the table and shook her shoulder. "Hishyota?" she asked quietly. "Are you well?"

Hishyota had a small start and looked up. She gave a tiny shake of her head. "I'll be fine mom. I'll be fine." She picked up her fork and began to eat mechanically.

"So you still like the pancakes then Onee-san?" asked Sasuko worriedly.

Hishyota swallowed dryly. Breakfast now tasted like ashes. She forced herself to smile. "Oh yeah," she said, "It's all... delicious."


	37. Chapter 15: In the Misty Morning part 2

"Oh, come on Dad... grounded? Me? Grounded? For a week? I get grounded because Karua's boyfriend gets mysteriously tied to a store awning with some wire?" asked Shikasu incredulously. "All your evidence is circumstantial! A conviction like that would never hold up in court!"

"Okay, first of all… Ichisui is not my 'boyfriend'," said Karua coldly. "And second, you admitted to his face that you were the one who tied him up!"

Shikasu scoffed. "Okay first of all, everyone saw the pair of you walking around the emporium holding hands, giggling and giving each other goo-goo eyes. I dare you to find a more blatant definition of boyfriend. Secondly, he's a chunin! Me trapping a chunin? I'm pleased you think so highly of me, but I haven't even graduated the academy yet! No dear sister... In the heat of the moment I confess, I may have taken credit for such an elaborate ruse, but whoever laid that intricate snare is clearly some kind of cunning shinobi mastermind… a genius beyond compare..." He turned to Shikamaru and flashed a quick smile. "You have to admit though, it was pretty funny... wasn't it Dad?"

Shikamaru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's beside the point. The real issue here is that you need to be punished for your actions." He looked up. "Now you can either take the grounding that I want to give you and it will be all over and done with, or... we can wait for your mother to wake up and let her decide what would be an appropriate punishment for you."

Shikasu stared grumpily at the table. "Dad, you can be such a drag sometimes." He sat thinking for a moment. Suddenly he narrowed his eyes. "I think… I think I'm going to let Mom decide."

"Really?" asked Karua surprised.

"Really?" asked Shikamaru flatly.

"Really," stated Shikasu nodding with finality, "she is bound to be more reasonable this morning than you."

"Now Son," started Shikamaru, "are you... sure about this? Your mother's punishments are known to be somewhat… unusual."

Karua coughed. "Thumbscrews," she said under her breath.

Shikasu shot a quick glare at his sister and then turned back to Shikamaru. "I'm sure Dad. I'll take my chances."

Shikamaru sighed. "Have it your way, just don't come screaming to me for mercy. In the meantime," he looked around the room for something to occupy Shikasu, "why don't you clear the table."

Shikasu grinned and nodded. "Nothing could give me greater pleasure." He bounced up, gathered all the dishes, and headed into the kitchen whistling.

Shikamaru turned to Karua. "So, how about we finish last night's game of shogi before your mother wakes up and the bloodshed starts?" he said in a low voice.

"Dad," said Karua in an exasperated voice, "there is no point. You have victory in ten moves."

Shikamaru stood up and retrieved the shogi board, carefully balancing it so the pieces didn't slide. "Really? You think so?" he asked smiling. "Because I think a really good shogi player might disagree with your assessment there."

Karua looked at Shikamaru and narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying I'm not that good a player?"

Shikamaru gave her a wry grin and slowly placed the game board down on the table. "One of the wonderful things about shogi is that there are almost an infinite combination of moves and countermoves to make. It's almost impossible to predict exactly how a particular game is going to turn out."

"Come on Dad, like any of us have ever beaten you at a game before unless you've let us. There is really no point in playing."

Shikamaru looked up at the ceiling. "Tell you what, if you can figure out how to keep me from winning in ten moves, I'll concede the game."

Karua tilted her head. "So there is a way for me to stop you?"

Shikamaru smiled enigmatically. "There is always a way... with a good enough plan. What do you say?"

Karua looked down at the board and then looked back up at her father. "All I have to do is hold you off for ten moves? It's a deal. Whose turn was it?"

Shikamaru stared at the shogi board. He reached out and picked up his rook. "Mine." He placed it down on the board with a click.

Karua looked down at the board. If she moved her knight she could do more damage to her Dad's defense, but there was also her bishop backed up by a lance on the left side that could threaten his back rows within a few moves. Her hand hovered over the knight and then quickly picked up the bishop and moved it.

Shikamaru rubbed his chin and grinned. "Interesting strategy you are developing there." He casually picked up a silver general and set it down with a click. He watched as Karua studied the board. "I wonder what sort of strategy your brother is coming up with?"

Karua paused, holding her hand over her lance. "Excuse me?"

"Your brother," said Shikamaru acting bored, "he obviously thinks he's got a better chance of escaping punishment with your mom than with me. I wonder... why? He's obviously got something in mind… what could he be planning?"

Karua shrugged. "Maybe he's just planning on saying he's sorry?"

"Sorry?" smiled Shikamaru. "Someone throwing themselves on your mother's mercy? Now that's an unusual tactic that smacks of desperation."

Karua stared up at her father. She picked up her knight and moved it deftly into the middle of his pawns breaking apart his defences. "It's not like Mom can't be reasonable sometimes." She thought for a second. "Every once in awhile at least… in theory." She shrugged. "Maybe he thinks it will surprise her."

Shikamaru smiled. He stared down at the shogi board. "Attack and defend at the same time huh? You think like your mother." One of his bishops captured her knight.

"It has its merits," said Karua, taking his bishop with her other lance. "It's an easy plan to remember, and it never gets too complex."

"True," agreed Shikamaru. There was a flurry of clicks as various pieces captured each other back and forth. "At first it is very formidable, but I find that when a plan lacks complexity it is very easy to figure out and to counter." His silver general mopped up her attack.

Her attack left his pawn fence in ruins. Karua picked up her bishop and slid it to the back of the board. "It makes a great diversion though, and it's a great tactic to add improvisations too." She smiled up at him. "Promote me. Oh and it's check I believe."

Shikamaru grinned with glee. "Very nice!" he said proudly. He studied the board carefully and moved his king away a space. "That was move number eight, you just have to keep me on the run for three more moves and then I have to concede." He smiled. "Nice one!"

Karua grinned proudly. She positioned her promoted bishop with one finger. Her father's king was now getting hemmed in between her bishop and lance. "Oh," said Shikamaru quietly. "Well now you're just getting greedy."

"What? I see the opportunity to take your king! That's checkmate in two moves!"

Shikamaru sighed. "Yes, but in order to set up this position, you are giving me a little bit of breathing room. You have my king completely trapped that is true, but he's not in check. I don't have to move him. And then I can do this." He slid his rook all the way down the board. "Promote me please. Oh, and check."

Shikamaru kept up the pressure on her king, in two moves he had the checkmate. Karua sighed. "I really thought I had you that time."

"You almost did," said Shikamaru proudly. "If you had forced me to keep my king moving you would have won easily. But you decided to gamble on getting the big victory rather than taking the small sure one." Shikamaru sighed. "That's the thing about big gambles... They have a high pay off because they aren't likely to happen." He drummed his fingers on the table. "But that's what makes the risk understandable… It's when I don't understand the action being taken that I get… well…" Shikamaru slouched back in his chair. "Shall we say: 'filled with fatherly concern'?"

Karua knew full well what he was referring to... her afternoon with Ichisui. She also decided it might be worth it to play dumb. "What? You're concerned that I lost to you in shogi yet again?"

Her father gave her a mildly irritated look. "I was referring to you walking around the Hidden Leaf holding hands with the eldest son of Sasuke Uchiha."

"What? I'm not allowed to hold hands with an Uchiha in public?" Karua snapped, going for the 'affronted teenage girl' tactic.

Shikamaru shook his head slightly. "No… You can hold hands with whomever you want to, wherever you want to… I'm just trying to…" Her father sighed deeply. "You and Ichisui have been friends for a while now, right?"

Karua nodded once. "Three years."

Shikamaru lowered his voice and leaned forward. "I can understand the... appeal… He's a known quantity, he's nice, he's polite… just… if it doesn't look like it's going to work out… try to end things peacefully and on good terms, okay? The last thing I need is a feud between your mother and Sasuke Uchiha."

Karua felt herself blushing. "Dad! It's not like that! Ichisui and I are friends! Only friends! Okay? I'm just… helping him out… with... something."

"The amount of avoidance in that last statement of yours is not exactly filling me with reassurances," her father said with a small smirk.

"What's not filling you with reassurances?" asked Shikasu, sticking his head around the wall to the kitchen.

"Nothing!" barked Karua.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Shikasu… don't you have dishes you should be doing?"

"Yup!" he said cheerfully.

"Why don't you get back to them… now," commanded his father.

"Yessir!" Shikasu sketched the parody of a salute in the air, before ducking back around the corner.

Shikamaru shook his head before turning his gaze back to his daughter. "Look, your mother and I trust your judgement… But even in modern day Konoha, dating can be a tricky thing. The Uchiha clan may not be as… steeped in tradition as it was in the past but…"

"Aw… how sweet, Shikamaru!" Both Shikamaru and Karua flinched as the voice floated down the stairs. "You're finally taking the time to have 'the 'talk with our darling baby girl." the amusement was plain in Temari's voice. "I knew you could do it if you put your mind to it."

Shikamaru turned in his seat to greet his wife as she padded silently down the stairs. "Good morning my dear, did you enjoy sleeping in?"

Temari smiled, leaned over and kissed him for almost a full minute. "Mmm... it was wonderful, thank you," she purred She touched his nose with one finger. "I needed it after last night." She kissed his ear and whispered, "That was wonderful as well."

Temari straightened and smiled at Karua, who was rolling her eyes at her parents. "So Karua, how are you feeling on this fine morning? Is Shikasu behaving himself?"

Just as Karua opened her mouth to answer, Shikasu came bustling out of the kitchen. He bowed to Temari. "Good morning Mother. I was just cleaning up the dishes. Would you like me to bring you some breakfast?"

Temari raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why... yes please!"

Shikasu picked up the few remaining dishes and hurried off into the kitchen. He came back a moment later with a steaming plate that he placed in front of his mother. Temari smiled. "Well someone is being helpful today."

Shikasu bowed again. "Mother... I would like to apologize and ask forgiveness for the trick I played on Ichisui-san yesterday. It was immature and rude of me. I should have behaved much better."

"I thought you said that it wasn't you, that it must have been some cunning shinobi mastermind who wired Ichisui to the store awning?" asked Karua sarcastically.

Shikasu made a quick bow to Karua. "I am sorry dear sister. Overwhelmed by my shame I told a falsehood. I hope someday that you will find it in your heart to forgive me."

Temari gave her son a small nod. "Well I appreciate that you have come clean and decided to be honest. It's a good start to the new day."

"He was insisting it wasn't him twenty minutes ago, Mom," said Karua flatly.

"Please Mother," pleaded Shikasu, still bowing. "I wish to confess to my sins in the hopes that I may regain some of my lost honor."

Temari raised a finger. "I appreciate the sentiment, however it is not me that you should be apologizing to. It was Karua that you have wronged."

Shikasu turned with military precision and bowed to Karua. "I want to give you my most heartfelt apologies Onee-san. I would like to right the wrongs I have done to you yesterday."

Karua's mouth twitched in a smile. "Okay, you can give me your allowance."

Shikasu hesitated just the tiniest of moments. "If that is what you want... then so be it, but money can never replace lost face Sister," he said quickly. "I would like to have the opportunity to apologize to Ichisui-san, and afterwards... I would like to spend the whole day with you."

"What?" asked Shikamaru, surprised.

"What?" asked Karua, annoyed.

"What?" asked Temari, pleased.

"I would like to spend the whole day with you Karua. It is the only way for me to have the opportunity to right the great wrongs I have done you. Only by being by your side and rendering assistance in every way I possibly can, will I be able to redeem myself."

"Why the heck would I want you to…" started Karua.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," said Temari proudly. She sighed. "My two children spending a whole day working together." She nudged Shikamaru. "I was planning on giving Karua a list of things I wanted her to take care of today before I left to go back home. This is perfect. Shikasu can go with her and help."

Shikamaru shifted and made a small cough. "Dearest, don't you think that his... actions yesterday deserve some sort of… further punishment? I was thinking maybe he should be grounded... for a week?"

Shikasu bowed even lower. "Mother, if you decide that grounding is an adequate punishment for me then I will happily accept it," he begged. "Please though, just let me earn back Karua's sisterly love by performing these tasks this day... I need to atone."

Temari shot a quick glance at her husband, reading his concern, and then turned to frown at her son. "Is this some sort of ploy?" she asked Shikasu suspiciously.

"Why Mother, whatever do you mean?" Shikasu's face was a mask of wide-eyed innocence.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you aren't trying to get out of one form of punishment in exchange for another," said Temari leaning back and studying him. "It's so unlike you to be this eager for anything... other than playing video games of course." Shikasu shifted uncomfortably. Temari suddenly grinned at his discomfort. "I believe that we will do exactly as you suggest."

"Really?" asked Shikamaru.

"Really?" asked Karua disgusted.

"Really?" asked Shikasu in a flat voice.

"Really," answered Temari firmly. "Today you will help Karua with all of her chores. You will be a perfect gentleman. And then starting tomorrow you will be grounded for one week." She turned to her daughter. "Karua, do tell me if he misbehaves today will you? For each transgression I will add... one full day to the grounding." She leaned back and smiled at Shikamaru. "What do you think of that?"

"Well, that sounds like it might be reasonable," started Shikamaru. "But…"

Shikasu dove into his mother, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks Mom!" he said happily, "You are the best!" The rest of the family stared after him, as he headed into the kitchen whistling a jaunty tune.

Temari spun around and glared at her husband. "Alright Shikamaru, just what the hell is your devious little brat up to?"

Shikamaru sighed and shook his head slowly. "Why does everyone expect me to know what's going on if I don't have any data on the situation? I'm not a magician! Karua, do you have a clue?"

Karua shrugged. "I don't know for certain Dad... but it sure looks to me that he took a really big gamble and it paid off... doesn't it?"


	38. Chapter 15: In the Misty Morning part 3

**Author's note:**

Again, we have some mild flashbacks in this section... As before, flashbacks are in _italics. _

Also as before, let me know if this is insane.

-C

* * *

"Hey Tsudemi! Wait up!" The Inuzuka girl stopped in the street and turned when she heard Mako's voice. Akakaru looped in front of her and bolted back to greet him. Mako gave her a quick, hesitant pat on the head, and then a gentle shove when she tried to jump up and lick his face.

Akakaru was not to be denied however and soon Mako had to shield himself with his hands to protect himself from the bounding puppy. "Help!" he called out.

Tsudemi took pity on him. "Down girl!" she shouted out, laughing, "Come!" Akakaru galloped back to Tsudemi and spun in a circle barking.

Mako warily strolled over and glared at the dog. "Why does she always have to do that? Can't she just give me a simple hello?"

"Aww, she likes you that's all. It's not my fault you're so stuck up," Tsudemi giggled.

"I'm not stuck up. I just don't like wandering around all day with dog drool crusting over on my face." He turned and glared darkly at Akakaru. "You know, one day I'm going to ask the Hokage to enact some leash laws in this village. We'll see what happens to you then!" Mako said darkly. Akakaru barked a response and Tsudemi chuckled again. "What did she say?"

"She said, she'd like to see you put tiny leashes on all of your bugs, because if dogs need to be leashed then bugs can't be too far behind." They walked for a block in silence, Akakaru trotting along beside them.

"So… You're up early this morning… Are you getting an early start?" asked Mako casually.

Tsudemi nodded nonchalantly. "Yep. I figured that I'd get my training out of the way. Hopefully, Dad will be back by the time I finish, and then we can get some stuff done."

Mako stared up at the sky for a bit. "So he didn't come home last night?" Tsudemi turned her head and pretended not to hear. Mako cleared his throat. "My Dad had to leave before dawn this morning. Something about checking up on long range scout patrols…" Again, Tsudemi didn't bother to respond. Mako got the message and decided to change the subject. "Were you going to go train at the training grounds?"

"Yep," said Tsudemi curtly.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

Tsudemi shrugged. "I don't see why not. Do you have any new moves since last time?"

"One or two, nothing great though… I'm practicing on shaping a bug swarm. I'm trying to work my way up to an insect clone or a shield or something." He shrugged. "It's harder than it looks. My mom's clan used to focus on just creating larger swarms for attack purposes, not shaping them. I think I'm more like her. I'm good at getting different bugs to do bug-like things."

They took a shortcut through the emporium. Some of the food vendors were up early. The smell of cooking food wafted through the air. Akakaru began to drag her feet at each stall and whine. "We'll get something to eat later. It's tough to train on a full stomach." Tsudemi said to her dog. She noticed Mako stop and stare at a food pushcart that specialized in cuisine from the Land of Stone. "Have you heard anything from your Mom?" Tsudemi asked him quietly. She knew his parents divorce was mostly a touchy subject, but sometimes the Aburame boy wanted to talk about it.

"Not since last time," said Mako flatly, indicating now was not one of those times. They started walking again. Akakaru kept looking back at the food. When they cleared the Emporium, Mako turned to Tsudemi. "How about you? Are you working on any new jutsu?"

Tsudemi sucked in a breath. "Well... I've been working on the man beast clone jutsu."

"That's one of the big ones in the Inuzuka clan isn't it?"

Tsudemi nodded. "Yeah, but it hasn't been going so well."

"What do you mean?" asked Mako

Tsudemi looked down. "I'll show you some other time." She turned around. "Akakaru!" she yelled, "Get over here. We'll get breakfast after we're done training, I said." She shook her head.

"I told you that dog was trouble."

Tsudemi scoffed. "Yeah, and I suppose none of the flies buzzing the food stalls are yours?"

They made it to the training fields. There was an older girl, a chunin, already using the field. She was throwing a mixture of kunai, shuriken and other small weapons that she would summon from a scroll. There was a rapid-fire series of thumps as they hit the target logs in front of her.

"Oh, the targets are being used," said Mako uncomfortably.

Tsudemi shrugged. "There's plenty of room here, we'll just spar against each other until she's finished… she can't be that much longer."

But the older girl was just warming up. She turned her back to the targets and continued to pepper them with thrown objects. Tsudemi and Mako made some half hearted attempt to train, but they kept staring at the chunin. She started to turn cartwheels and flips, her hands continuing to summon and throw weapons. Eventually she began to make multiple throws. Instead of hitting the front of the targets, her kunai began to hit the tops and backs of the logs as well, each knife bouncing off several of its fellows to strike each log in its blind spot. Her final toss was a scythe-like kama that was bounced around by five different weapons before arcing in the air and sinking into the top of the target log with a loud thunk.

The chunin stood there breathing a little heavy, but admiring her work. She walked up to the logs and unrolled a large scroll on the ground. She began pulling out her weapons out of the targets one by one and stacking them up on the scroll. Tsudemi, overcome with curiosity, started to walk calmly towards her.

The older girl shot her a cold look and made hand signs over the scroll. There was a puff of smoke and all the weapons vanished. She unrolled a second scroll and began to pile weapons up on that one as well. "Hey!" Tsudemi called out loudly. "That was pretty cool." The older girl didn't say anything, but she did nod in acknowledgement. "Do you think you could show me how to do any of that?"

The chunin turned and gave Tsudemi a cursory look. "No," she said flatly. She made her hand signs over the second scroll and the pile on that one vanished as well. She picked up the scroll and stepped back to her throwing line. Tsudemi glared after her.

Mako crept up behind her. "Come on Tsudemi," he said placing a hand on her shoulder, "Let's get back to training okay?" Tsudemi ignored him and started walking towards the older girl. "Tsudemi!" called out Mako. Next to him, Akakaru gave a worried whine.

The chunin turned and looked at her. "What do you want?" she asked coldly as Tsudemi approached.

"Why not?" asked Tsudemi. The older girl raised an eyebrow. "That's not some sort of secret clan technique. You're just throwing kunai around. But I've never seen anyone doing it like that before. Why can't you just show me how to do it?"

The older girl stared for a second and then shook her head she turned back to the target logs, scrolls at the ready. "Because I can't," the chunin said without expression. "Now will you leave me alone?" The first few kunai appeared in her hands and streaked out towards the target.

"Hey!" protested Tsudemi. "I'm just asking you very nicely here to give me some pointers on throwing kunai. That's all. Why do you keep on saying no?"

"I don't have to tell you why. Now will you please leave?" More knives began to stick in the logs.

"Come on Tsudemi, let's just get going!" hissed Mako at her side. But Tsudemi refused to budge.

"How much longer are you going to be hogging all the targets like that?" the Inuzuka girl asked bluntly.

"I'll be done when I'm done," said the older girl matter of factly. "Why don't you and your little puppy go back to playing ninja, and leave me alone."

"I'm not playing ninja! I'm in the Academy! And I'll leave you alone when you agree to show me how you do that trick with hitting the kunai with another kunai," Tsudemi said folding her arms stubbornly. "You don't have to be such a jerk about it!"

The older girl stopped her throwing and spun around to face Tsudemi. "I'm not going to teach you because I can't waste my training time teaching you the basics. You're too young and you obviously don't have any skill with weapons."

"What do you mean I obviously don't have any skill with weapons?" growled Tsudemi.

Mako tugged at her arm. "Just forget about it Tsudemi, okay? We'll come back later to train."

"You're from the Inuzuka clan little girl... teeth, claws and dogs is all you'll ever be good with," said the chunin, smirking. She turned back and threw another kunai at the target logs.

"Oh yeah?" snapped Tsudemi. "If I had my katanas with me, I'd show you what I could do."

The older girl looked over her shoulder and stared with humorless grey eyes. "And just what would you show me, little dog-girl?"

Mako pulled on her arm again. "Just let it go Tsudemi. Trust me, we do not want to pick a fight here. She's a chunin! There is no way you'll be able to beat her."

* * *

Hishyoni smiled. She half admired, and half detested the little girl's spunk. "I'll tell you what," she said to the Inuzuka girl. "I'm in no mood to train snotty little brats today, but I am in the mood for a good fight." She pulled out her heavy weapons scroll from her side pouch and unrolled it on the ground. "I'll make you a deal… If you can impress me here, I'll take the time to give you some pointers on the finer art of throwing weapons, how about that?" Hishyoni looked up at the younger girl and gave her a wry smile. "You said you were good with a katana?" She put one hand on the scroll. There was a puff of smoke and she tossed the long blade to the girl. "Don't expect me to go easy on you," she called.

The girl frowned angrily. "I won't," she said, swinging the sword to test its balance. "In fact... I prefer it that way, it will be that much more satisfying when I beat you." The young girl stopped swinging and glared up at Hishyoni. "Gimmie another katana." Hishyoni blinked in surprise.

"_Hey Hishyoni, gimmie another katana." Hideo held out his hand._

"_No way... Use the one you've got."_

"_Come on! You've got like, a hundred of them rolled up in the scroll there, and this one's getting dull. Just let me use one of yours until the mission is over... Please?"_

_Hishyoni shook her head. "I'm tired of lending out my tools to you and never getting them back. Why can't you ever return my stuff? Besides if your sword is dull it just means you have to take care of your equipment better. Masaki never asks to borrow my tools." Hideo blushed under her tir__ade._

"_True," said Masaki with just a hint of a gloat in his voice, "He does seem to have an organizational issue, does he not?"_

_Hideo glared at Masaki. "__He__ never borrows your tools 'cause all he ever uses are bugs! He's not man enough to use a real weapon!"_

_Masaki glared back. "Maybe I just respect Hishyoni-chan's personal effects more than you do!" They stood there nose to nose snarling at each other._

_Both of them flinched back as a kunai sizzled through the air between them and sank into a tree. "Do either of you think this bickering is going to impress me?" snapped Hishyoni. "Stop acting like children, and start acting like shinobi." Both Hideo and Masaki looked down and mumbled an apology. Hishyoni turned angrily away. __When she was safely out of their sight, it__ took a few __minutes to get all the__ blushing and __giggling __out of her system__._

"Hey... So will you give me another one?" asked the young girl.

Hishyoni shook her head quickly. "Excuse me?"

"Another katana... Please."

Hishyoni raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I always fight with two. Give me another one."

Two swords? Did the girl think this was some sort of ninjutsu movie? Hishyoni wondered to herself. She chuckled as she summoned a second blade and handed it over. The girl was barely big enough to handle one sword effectively, let alone two.

She turned to the other child. "And what would you like, little boy? Three nunchucks? Four spears? Seventeen Tekko-kagi perhaps?"

The boy swallowed and took a step forward, but the girl nudged him back. "This is just between the two of us Mako. You wait until I'm done."

Hishyoni shook her head. "It wouldn't be fair having you fight me all by your lonesome now would it? Come on, let's try to make this challenge a little more interesting."

"You'll find me plenty interesting," the younger girl snarled. She charged forward.

Hishyoni made a tight lipped smile and watched the Inuzuka girl come. Her footwork was okay for an academy student, but she was holding the swords all wrong. Instead of using a combined high and low stance, she was holding one in the guard position and the other with a reverse grip. Hishyoni grinned to herself. That would really cut back on her reach. She shrugged as she pulled out her heavy weapons scroll. "If the girl wants to fight with a handicap, I'm more than happy to oblige her."

There was a burst of smoke from the chunin's scroll, and a bo staff appeared in her hand. "She wants to keep me at long distance," thought Tsudemi, "let's see if I can ruin her plan."

The end of the staff saw thrust out at her, and Tsudemi threw herself into a sideways roll. The chunin blinked in surprise, clearly expecting her to parry the attack. The staff thrust quickly changed into a sideways sweep, that Tsudemi dodged by kicking up into the air in a spinning leap.

When she landed, Tsudemi had closed inside the range on the older girls bo and grinned. "I've got you now!" she thought savagely. The chunin's staff spun and struck at her. She caught the end of the staff on her guard blade and let it slide down to the hilt. She spun the sword, snapping the bo off to one side and swung the reverse katana forward in a quick strike.

The older girl smiled and brushed the attack away with a double section of her staff linked together. Her bo was apparently a chain staff.

There was a clanking sound. The older girl twisted and snapped two sections of her chain staff around Tsudemi's guard katana. The chunin smiled as she tugged Tsudemi off balance and towards her and made a quick downward strike towards her head with the other end of the staff. Tsudemi swung the reverse blade up in a tight arc and spun her wrist to deflect the attack.

Hishyoni smiled, reversed her head strike using the chain and snapped the staff section under the girl's block to tap her against the ribs. The younger girl staggered back but refused to let go of the caught sword. Hishyoni tapped her again and she heard the girl grunt. "You're not too bad," she said grudgingly, "but you do realize I've got your sword trapped here, don't you? You should really let go and get out of my range."

The girl glared up at her with a wild look in her eyes. "Or I could just do this!" she snapped. She gave the trapped sword a sharp downward cut. For the briefest of moments there was a flash of blue chakra surrounding the blade. The metal links of the chain-staff parted like clay.

The girl checked the downward swing of the katana and made a diagonal slicing cut towards Hishyoni's knee. Hishyoni leapt back to gain some distance but the girl kept right on pressing the attack. She parried with the chain staff but there was another flicker of blue on the sword and another section of the staff spun away. Hishyoni did a back handspring to get out of the way, but as she was jumping something grabbed her ankle and threw her off balance. The reverse katana flashed out toward her eyes, so she dropped into a quick split and let the blade pass over her head. In her split she was eye to eye with the young girl's puppy dancing in front of her. She swore that the ugly mutt was grinning.

* * *

"Good girl Akakaru!" yelled Tsudemi. Akakaru barked and dove at the chunin again. The older girl popped up into a handstand and spun, kicking her feet out. Akakaru danced away making a taunting bark.

Tsudemi smiled as the chunin popped up to her feet. She saw the way the muscles in her jaw were clenching; she could smell the frustration in her sweat. "Good," she thought to herself, "an angry opponent is an off balance opponent."

She grinned up at the older girl. "What is the matter? Don't tell me that a little girl and her dog are too much for you?"

The chunin took a deep breath and pulled out her scroll again. She eyed Tsudemi warily before she unrolled it. "You don't fight like a Konoha shinobi. Your sword technique is an awful lot like the one from the Hidden Cloud village." There was a pop from the scroll, and when the smoke cleared the older girl was holding a pair of kusarigama. She smiled over at Tsudemi. "So, you're Leaf village, but you fight like the Cloud village. You're one of those Fourth War brats aren't you?" She spun the chain attached to her sickle in a slow lazy arc. "I think I remember hearing stories about some kunoichi who married into the Inuzuka clan… What's the matter? Couldn't your mother cut it as a shinobi in her own village?"

"Don't you ever talk about my mother that way!" snarled Tsudemi. She charged at the older girl.

* * *

Hishyoni snorted. Enraged, the young girl could barely keep her footing. Her sword technique dissolved into a mess. She parried the wild katana blows with ease, and then spun the scythe on a tight circle to keep the dog from charging her feet. "Your mother must not be a very good teacher," she said calmly. "You technique has holes in it all over the place."

The Inuzuka girl made a wild lunge with the guard blade. Hishyoni caught the katana on the chain, sidestepped the thrust and rapped the girl's wrist with the flat side of the kama. The sword clattered to the ground. The reversed blade sliced at her face. Hishyoni snared it with the second kusarigama, and kicked the girl in the elbow. The second katana spun off into the weeds. The girl scrambled back and Hishyoni watched her go. The girl stopped and turned a few meters away, watching her cautiously and panting.

Hishyoni raised an eyebrow. "Now what will you do? You are out of weapons." She glanced down and swung the kama at her little dog who was charging at her feet. "Well, almost out of weapons." The dog started circling her looking for an opening. Hishyoni gave the girl a cold smile, and nodded towards the boy watching off to the side. "Are you going to let your little dog fight all by her lonesome? Maybe you'd like to ask your boyfriend here to help?"

The Inuzuka girl barred her teeth. "I don't need any help from a boy!" she snapped. She gestured and the puppy charged at her feet again. Hishyoni had to concentrate on the counter attack because her mind was far away.

_The bandits surrounded them, laughing. "So... Three little genin, all alone... Whatever shall we do with them?" The leader leaned casually on his axe and gestured at her squad._

_The largest one licked his lips and stared at her. "That kunoichi looks pretty, really pretty." He twisted his club in his hands. "Do you think we could keep her alive for a while boss?"_

_Hideo and Masaki shuffled a little closer to her. Hideo brandished his sword and tried to look at threatening as a twelve year old could. "Don't worry Hishyoni," he said calmly. "I won't ever let anything bad happen to you."_

_A cloud of insects formed in Masaki's hands. "Indeed, whatever else may happen, I will make sure you are safe," he said, his head turning from side to side, trying to keep all the bandits in view._

_The bandit chieftain chuckled, and his gang followed suit. "You must feel so fortunate little girl. Having both of your boyfriends here to protect you."_

_Hishyoni bared her teeth and activated her byakugan. "I don't need any help from a boy!" she snarled. She leaped into the air, trailing two scrolls beside her. She spun called out "Rising Twin dragons!" The bandits screamed in pain and terror as the air filled with steel._

* * *

Akakaru dodged the blow and sprinted back to Tsudemi. She leaped up to her shoulder and began to bark excitedly. "Do it now!" the dog pleaded with Tsudemi, "Don't you see? The chunin is slowing down! It will work this time, I promise! We have to try now if we want to win!"

Tsudemi felt nervous. The older girl was good, really good, but she never backed down from a fight, not ever. She promised herself that she would never be helpless again. True she wasn't the best at this jutsu, but it was like Aunt Hinata said, "Make an impression. Even if all they do is laugh, at least you've distracted them." Tsudemi gritted her teeth and clumsily made the hand signs. Akakaru growled excitedly. "Man-beast clone!" she called out.

She and Akakaru were surrounded in smoke. She and Akakaru stood there snarling. She had fangs, and claws... and big floppy ears, and a tail.

She blushed as the chunin stared and raised an eyebrow. Behind her she heard Mako start to laugh. "Shut up!" she yelled at him. "It's the best I can do okay?"

"Oh man," snickered Mako. "I never thought I'd say this but you look… cute."

"And just what is this little transformation supposed to accomplish?" asked the older girl icily.

Tsudemi spun back to face her, ears flapping around her head. "This!" she yelled, "Fang over fang!"

* * *

The young girl and her dog, now a clone of her, spun through the air towards Hishyoni. One of them deliberately over shot her and curved around to try to flank her. She spun the chains attached to her kama and tried to tangle one of them in the chain. She felt the metal links catch, twist and then snap as the rotating attacks strained the metal.

The girl and her dog made one pass, and then had to stop before they could turn and make another attack. Hishyoni held on the kama even though the chain was broken. She ducked and dodged as the spinning attacks cut by again. Hishyoni needed to find and advantage. She reached into her equipment pouch and threw a handful of smoke bombs down.

She activated her byakugan, expecting to have a few moments to formulate a plan. Instead she jerked down, narrowly avoiding a rotating attack at her face. She immediately spun and twisted in the air as the clone struck at her feet. Using her byakugan she watched both the girl and the dog use their gatsuga through the smoke screen. They stopped turned back and launched another pair of attacks directly at her.

"This can't be a visual based attack," Hishyoni thought to herself. "How is she finding me? Hearing? Smell? I need to get some distance on them otherwise she may just land a lucky hit." The two strikes flew by her. One of them was close enough to blow apart her braid. "Knowing the Inuzuka clan, I bet it's smell. Let's try that."

* * *

Tsudemi grinned with exhilaration as she tore through the smoke. She had never been able to do the fang over fang jutsu so many times, or so well before. If only her Dad could see her now. Once again the chunin managed to avoid both her and Akakaru. They spun through the cloud and stopped to make another pass. Both Tsudemi and Akakaru stopped, confused. The smell of the Chunin had suddenly split in two.

Tsudemi and Akakaru stopped and held a muted conversation. Akakaru thought it was a trap. She was all for holding back and waiting for the smoke to disperse, but Tsudemi wanted to press ahead with the attack. Eventually they decided to split their attack. Tsudemi would hit one chunin-smell and Akakaru would go for the other.

Akakaru barreled into the closer one first and yelped in surprise. Tsudemi flinched and twisted away from the other smell, just in time to avoid a steel net, flashing out in front of her. As she spun through the air she stuck out one leg and kicked hard against the ground. The jarring twisted her ankle, but she spun out of the pathway of the net.

Tsudemi collapsed on the ground in a heap. She quickly glanced up. The spoke bombs were beginning to peter out, and she could see the older girl outlined in the haze. She stood, and listening to Akakaru's whining, limped over to where her dog was.

Akakaru was tangled up in a second steel net. Tangled up in it with her was a broken spear and shredded remains of the older girls shirt.

"So… You tracked me by scent huh? I didn't think the famed Inuzuka nose would be so easily fooled by some discarded clothing." The chunin stepped forward and wiped her fingers on the tank top she was wearing under her shirt. She smiled down at Tsudemi. "Oh! That's right! You're only half Inuzuka."

A quaver passed over Tsudemi's face. "You... stop talking. Right now. Or else."

The older girl tilted her head. "Or else what? I have to tell you, so far, I'm not impressed."

* * *

Actually, Hishyoni was a little impressed. For an academy student the girl had amassed quite a few jutsu. That fang over fang attack, while obviously not completely mastered, would be tricky for a weaker opponent. Chakra activation of a weapon was a really advanced move, and yet the girl could keep it on her blade for a fraction of a second. She wasn't about to let the Inuzuka girl know that though. She shook her head. "This whole contest is not very impressive at all."

The young girl clenched her fists and took a step towards Hishyoni, but the trapped puppy stopped her with a whine. The girl shot Hishyoni a look of pure venom, turned and took a step towards the dog.

"Oh no you don't," Hishyoni called out in an amused voice, she threw a trio of kunai right so they would pin the net shut just below the dog's feet. The young girl's face went white with shock and fear as the knives flew through the air. She spun and started running.

"Why is she so scared?" Hishyoni wondered, "I'm only aiming for the…" The girl dove and threw herself on top of the dog, and then the answer hit Hishyoni. She was only a kid. She couldn't tell yet that Hishyoni wasn't aiming at the dog. The girl had dove in trying to take a blow for her dog that wasn't going to land. Only now, with the girl lying on top of the puppy, the target was much larger. She'd take two kunai in the lower back and one in the leg.

Hishyoni took three more kunai from her equipment pouch and hurled them as hard as she could.

She could tell that they were not going to make it in time.

* * *

Tsudemi covered Akakaru and tensed waiting for the kunai to hit. They seemed to be taking an awful long time. There was a strange buzzing noise in the air. Finally she got the courage to look up. There was huge swarm of insects in the air in front of her. Six kunai fell to the ground in a jangling heap.

Mako stood slightly off to one side, his face lined with fury. "No one hurts my friends," he said coldly. The massive swarm broke apart into six smaller clouds. Four headed for the chunin. The other two stayed in front of Tsudemi.

Tsudemi caught sight of another emotion that flashed across the chunin's face, but it was quickly replaced with one of wry amusement. "I was wondering what it would take to get you involved," she called over to Mako. She smirked up at all the swarms closing in on her. "You are Aburame clan?" She raised one eyebrow. "This is not your lucky day." She stood her ground and let the insects close in on her. When they were a few feet away, she jumped back. A wave of explosions ripped the air in front of her scattering the insect swarms. The chunin charged right through, straight for Mako.

One of the two remaining swarms darted towards the older girl but again her hands flashed along the scroll. This time two large metal fans, each about a meter across appeared in her hands.

Hishyoni waited until the bugs dove at her and did a leaping spin with both arms outstretched. The swarm hit the air from the fans and broke apart. She went into a roll half expecting the swarm to re-form and come swooping back at her again, like Masaki used to always do when they were training, but the boy apparently didn't have the same level of control yet. The final small swarm hovered in the air between her and the boy. His anger had quickly been replaced by nervousness when he realized just how outclassed he was. "Too bad for him," Hishyoni thought, "bugs don't respond as well when you are nervous."

She spun into a butterfly kick. The swarm blocked it, but it was soft, far softer than it should be to use in a real fight. She continued her spin and snapped open the fan in her left hand. Back handed, she swept the swarm away. The fan in Hishyoni's right hand snapped shut, and she rapped the boy smartly on his head. "Have a nice nap," she quipped as the boy fell over.

She stood there pretending to look down at the boy. Using her Byakugan, she could tell the Inuzuka girl had freed her pup and the pair of them were now planning a surprise attack on her from behind.

* * *

Tsudemi and Akakaru snarled and leaped. The chunin dodged Akakaru's pounce but as the older girl sidestepped, Tsudemi spun and hooked out an arm. The chunin weaved back, but one of Tsudemi's claws nicked her shoulder and scratched its way down her arm. "I got you! You bitch!That's for trying to hurt my dog!" She called out triumphantly. She landed and looked back grinning. The chunin looked at Tsudemi, looked down at the scratch on her arm, and then looked back . The older girl's face was white with rage and her eyes were cold.

Both of her fans snapped open in a full circle. The chunin hurled both disks straight at Tsudemi with a frustrated scream. She tried to swipe at the attacks with her claws and luckily managed to deflect the first, but the second dug into her arm. She had no time to react to the pain for the chunin was on her with nunchucks spinning.

The blows rained over her, so strong that all she felt was a burst of cold numbness when each one landed. The numbing shock quickly bloomed into hot agony.

She tried to dodge but the chunin was too fast. She tried to hit her back, but the nunchucks were everywhere. Finally she just shielded her face with her bruised arms. The older girl swept her feet out from underneath her. Tsudemi lost her breath as she hit the ground. The chunin knelt down on top of her.

Akakaru came barreling in barking madly, trying to throw her off of Tsudemi. The older girl gave her a contemptuous glare and swept her away with one hand. Akakaru yelped as she tumbled away in the grass.

The chunin stared down at Tsudemi. There was madness in her eyes. "You think you're better than me?" she said in a cold voice. "You dare to think that giving me that one little scratch make you my equal? You think that maybe you even begin to be a challenge for me? I am a thousand times stronger than you will ever be!" Her lips curled back from her teeth and dark emotions seeped into her voice.

The chunin pulled out a kunai and held it menacingly over Tsudemi's head. "I'm better than all of you! I have to be better than all of you!" she growled. "But no one can ever see it! What makes you think that you can fight me? Huh? Do I look weak to you?"

Tsudemi's hand reached out and grabbed the older girls kunai, forcing it away. She frothed at the mouth with the effort. "I'll fight you and anybody else I have to," she snarled. "I'll fight, and I'll learn from anyone who can make me stronger. And one day when I'm strong enough I'll hunt each and every last one of them down and wipe them from the face of the earth!" Tsudemi spat, her eyes wild. "I'll make every last one of them pay!"

* * *

Hishyoni was taken aback by the girl's vehemence. "Who?" she asked. The Inuzuka girl clamped her mouth shut and turned her head away. Hishyoni gave her a quick shake. "Who?" she asked again.

The young girl opened her eyes and stared through her. Hishyoni sat back. She knew those eyes. They were the eyes of someone who was so heartbroken and so guilty about it that they would never be able to cry again. Hishyoni had had that same look many times herself. "The Kurokaze," said the Inuzuka girl through gritted teeth. "They took away everything that was important to me. They killed my mother." For a second Hishyoni's world spun.

_Hishyoni looked down at her hands. They were shaking. Her eyes were tearing up and her throat burned from the smoke of burning houses. She tried not to look at the broken body that had once been Hibachi-sensei's. She'd thrown every kunai and shuriken that she had, but the invaders had just kept coming. They were fast. Her squad's orders were to hold a small side street and a few alleyways. Farther down there was group of chunin and jonin that were posted at an intersection. The enemy had pulled back for a second. Hishyoni was sure that the quiet would not last._

_A pile of kunai dropped at her feet in a ringing clatter. She looked up. Masaki smiled back at her. The left side of his face was all swollen and there was a gap in his smile where two teeth had been knocked out. "I found these for you," he lisped proudly._

"_Where did you get them?" Hishyoni reached out to gather them up, but then halted as she couldn't stop the tremors in her fingers. Masaki glanced down and then pretended he didn't notice._

"_Some of them are yours," he shrugged. "Some belonged to... other people. I'm sure they won't mind if you used them."_

"_Hishyoni-chan!" called a second voice. "I brought you a present!" Hideo was grinning ear to ear and waving at her with one arm, his other hung limply by his side. From his good hand dangled seven shuriken holsters. He tossed them down on top of Masaki's pile of kunai. "There," he said, giving Masaki a gloating look. "I got you a lot more ammo than he did."_

_Masaki stiffened. "Kunai are much more versatile than shuriken, I'll have you know," he said haughtily. "I'm sure Hishyoni-can appreciates the quality of my weaponry over the quantity of yours."_

"_Shut up the both of you!" Hishyoni snapped. "This is not the time to be arguing. She shot a quick look at Hideo's left arm hanging by his side. "What happened to your arm?"_

_Hideo smiled. She could tell that he was gritting his teeth with the pain. "I took an arrow. Silly me. I zigged when I should have zagged." He glanced at his teammates and tried to reassure them. "It's not too bad, see?" He used his good arm to point to his left hand. "I can still wiggle my fingers." He did so. Blood dripped off them._

"_Masaki, bandage him up. Hideo, when he's done, head back to the intersection and tell the jonin that we're too hard pressed here. We are going to need to fall back or get reinforcements." She quickly scanned the alleys in front of her with her byakugan. The Black wind soldiers were beginning to gather again. "Nine… Ten… Eleven. Tell the jonin that there are eleven of them coming. Tell them we need help."_

"_Uh Hishyoni," said Hideo in a very timid voice, "Everyone back at the intersection is… gone." He nodded to the pile of weapons at his feet. "That's where I got all the shuriken from."_

_Masaki looked over at him. "Shit," he said in a great hissing voice._

_Hideo tried to smack him with his good arm. "Don't swear in front of Hishyoni-chan."_

_There was a scuffed footstep from one end of the street. Masaki and Hideo spun about as they heard rubble scatter down the other end. "Masaki, get that bandage on Hideo. We might have to leave quickly." She scooped the pile of kunai and all of the shuriken holsters but one onto her summoning scroll. There was a puff of smoke as she bound the weapons into the scroll. Then she tore off her empty shuriken holster and tied on a fresh one._

_Hishyoni fanned out the shuriken between her fingers. She saw two of the Black Wind soldiers creep around the corner of an alleyway. The soldiers were carrying bows and each had an arrow nocked. She fired off a quartet of shuriken and buried one in each soldier's thigh. The two soldiers paused, looked briefly down at their wounds, and then continued moving forward. She threw again and this time aimed for the bowstrings. The arrows clattered to the street. Each soldier paused and drew a long, wicked looking knife. Behind them, another three crept forward with clubs and spears. They spread out and began a search of the alleyways._

_Hishyoni focused behind her quickly. Masaki and Hideo where holding a whispered conversation. "Are you finished bandaging yet? We need to go!"_

"_We're good," said Hideo smiling. "You've got the eyes, you lead."_

_They managed to walk for half a block. Hishyoni suddenly stiffened and pulled her companions into the darkness of an alleyway. "What..." started Hideo before she covered his mouth with her hand. She pointed._

_One of the Black Wind clan with a black scarf wrapped around the bottom of his face stalked through the smoke. He tilted his head this way and that, hunting. He paused at the mouth of the alleyway and seemed to peer inside. Hishyoni shivered. She had never seen someone writhing with so much malevolent energy. The Black Wind Shinobi tilted his head and took a tentative step inside the alleyway. Hishyoni slowly reached back for her scroll. She looked up startled as Masaki and Hideo each put a hand on her shoulders and stood up._

_Hideo folded his hands in a triangle "Now!" he yelled out sharply. The shinobi staggered back from Hideo's psychic attack, but managed to shake it off. But that second was all Masaki needed to swarm him with insects._

_The shinobi looked down for a moment at the insects binding him, then he blurred. He moved faster than any jonin. He sprinted right at Hishyoni. Hishyoni opened the scroll and started to summon her nunchucks, but she could see that she would never get them in time. The shinobi didn't even produce a weapon, he simply drew back his hand._

_There was a crack, but the blow never hit her. Masaki somehow put himself in the path of the blow. He spun and fell to the ground, but kept control of the swarms. The shinobi again brushed them off and swung at Hishyoni again._

_Hideo's katana flashed and caught the blow, the cheap steel snapped leaving only six centimeters of the blade above the hilt. The Black Wind shinobi stared at him and snagged him in one fist. Slowly he lifted Hideo off the ground._

_Hishyoni's nunchucks smashed across the shinobi's face. She spun them around both shoulders and struck again. She aimed high and low. The first nunchuck caught the shinobi in the knee and shattered his kneecap. He didn't even flinch. The second blow was aiming for the arm that held Hideo. The shinobi used his free hand to catch the blow. He tore the nunchaku from Hishyoni's grasp, reversed it and swung for her head._

_A cloud of bugs checked the blow. The insects swarmed to either side and dove straight into the shinobi's eyes. Hishyoni leaped and spun. First her remaining nunchaku caught her opponent across the jaw, followed up by a spinning kick to the face. The shinobi staggered. It was all the opening Hideo needed to thrust what was left of his katana into the Black Wind shinobi's throat._

_Hishyoni pulled Masaki and Hideo to their feet. "What the hell do the pair of you think you are doing? Are you trying to get yourselves killed?"_

_Masaki tested his leg and winced. "He had already sensed us Hishyoni-chan. He was coming for us anyway. We decided to try surprising him."_

_HIdeo tried to pull what was left of his sword out of the shinobi's neck, but it was stuck. "We were trying to protect you Hishyoni-chan."_

_Hishyoni stepped back. "I don't need protecting!"_

_Hideo looked down. "Hishyoni... Masaki and I were talking it over," he looked up at Masaki, "we think that there's a good chance that we're not going to make it out of this one alive." He swallowed. "And well... We kind of decided that if anyone __could__ make it out of here that... we'd both really like it to be you." He looked up at Hishyoni and blushed. "Because... well..."_

"_We both really like you. A lot," said Masaki calmly._

"_Hey! I was just getting to that!" snapped Hideo._

"_Then you should talk faster, we don't have much time." Masaki coolly studied their surroundings. "We are in agreement in this Hishyoni-chan." He glanced at her and blushed a little. "You are of such great importance to each of us that we are willing to sacrifice ourselves to ensure your safety."_

_Hishyoni closed her eyes and said nothing. She took a deep breath and rolled her scroll open a little further. There was a puff of smoke. She handed Hideo her best katana. "Here," she said lamely. "You can keep it."_

_Hideo grinned. "Thanks."_

_She turned to Masaki. "Do you want anything?"_

_Masaki smiled and shook his head. "My insects are all I need."_

_Hishyoni nodded and paused. "Come here," she said sternly, motioning for both of them to come closer._

_Masaki and Hideo exchanged a nervous glance. "Um, we really should get going..."_

"_Come here!" she hissed forcefully. They both swallowed and took a step._

_She put her arms around both of them and squeezed. Her cheeks were wet. "Masaki," she said giving him a kiss on the cheek, "Hideo," she said giving him a peck as well, "I... Really like you both as well." She sniffled and took a step back, rubbing her nose. She smiled at them. Masaki and Hideo stared at her dumbfounded._

"_Don't look at me stupidly like that!" she snapped. They both flinched. "I'm going to do everything I can to protect the both of you. So no more stupid stunts like that! Do you understand?" she said forcefully. Mutely they both nodded. "Good," she said taking each of them by the hand, "now follow me and let's see if we can't get the hell out of here."_

Hishyoni let go of her kunai. It fell to the ground with a clatter. Slowly she released the girl and stood up. She held out one hand. "Alright," she said quietly. "I'll see what I can do to train you."

The girl reached up and pulled herself to her feet. Then she stared at her for a moment. Suddenly she bent forward and spat at Hishyoni's feet. Hishyoni jerked back in surprise. "Do you think I would want you to train me after all that shit you put us through?" she yelled. "You tried to kill my dog! You knocked my friend out cold!" The young girl turned her back and stomped over to the Aburame boy and yanked him, groaning, to his feet. "We don't need to be taught by anyone like you, you crazy bitch."

The girl whistled loudly. There was a rustling in the weeds, and her pup reappeared. The dog sniffed at the boy, and then turned to face Hishyoni. The dog bared her teeth and made a low growl deep in the back of her throat. Hishyoni had the feeling that if she could, the Inuzuka girl would make the same noise. "Don't follow us," said the girl coldly. She helped her friend away from the training field. The dog followed them.

Hishyoni stared down at the grass. She carefully picked up the kunai that she had just dropped and turned it over and over between her fingers. Then she spun and threw it as hard as she could at one of the training targets.


	39. Chapter 16 Preparations and Goodbyes Pt1

**Chapter 16: Preparations and Goodbyes**

"Are you sure that I can't convince you to change your mind?" asked Sasuke in his 'I want to say that you're being annoying, but I'm trying not to escalate things' voice. He counted the bags piled high by the door once again and frowned. "There will be plenty of room in the cart."

"Yes! I'm sure!" said Sakura in a snappish tone, desperate to avoid this discussion again. "I don't need a trauma kit, I don't need a full set of assault gear, and I don't need the kitchen sink! I'm not going on an expedition! I'm only going to spend a few days with my Master in a retirement community!" She knew her husband had very good reasons to be cautious. She could completely understand why Sasuke insisted on the contingency plans, and the stored supplies in hidden caches scattered around their home… She herself agreed that the added training in combat and evasion for their children was absolutely necessary… but there were definitely times he took it to extremes. "We'll be walking on the beach, going out to eat at overpriced restaurants and trying to enjoy myself as she drags me to her favorite gambling parlors. The worst thing that could happen is I'll fall asleep on the sand and get a sunburn!"

Sasuke carefully walked around behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I know. I just… I want… I need to make sure that you're prepared for every eventuality." He placed his chin on the top of her head and gently patted a hand on her stomach. "It's not just you who's going away you know."

Sakura took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. He also knew how to calm her down when the mood swings hit. She smiled and gave him a quick kiss. "I appreciate your concern for me and little Uchiha number six here, but we'll be fine Sasuke… this is a holiday… I'm not going to be attacked by a horde of elderly shinobi in wheelchairs."

He snorted in amusement, but then was all seriousness again. "What happens if the baby decides to come early?"

Sakura snuggled a little bit closer in his arms. "In case you've forgotten, I gave birth to Mibuki and Chyrio, all by myself in our little exile house."

"Hey! I was there!" Sasuke protested.

"Yes, you were there, but let's be honest, being a midwife is not your forte." Sakura smiled. "At least you didn't faint like when Ichisui was born." She gave Sasuke a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "If I do need help, I'll be staying with Tsunade-sama. She's forgotten more medical ninjutsu than I'll ever know." She looked casually at her baggage. "While you were going through all of that, did you check it for stowaways again?"

Sasuke grunted an affirmative. "I only found three of the chipmunks this time, two sailors and one pirate."

"And Fugawari?" asked Sakura quietly.

"Well, he stopped bawling about twenty minutes ago, after I took him out of your suitcase. He's been in his room doing something."

Sakura sighed. "Should I be suspicious?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Probably… But whatever it is, I can handle it." He stared into her eyes. His lips curled up into a smile. "I'll miss you."

Sakura leaned forward and kissed him again. "I'll miss you too, but it will only be for a little while."

There was a jingling bell outside the main gate to the house. Both Sasuke and Sakura turned and watched the wheelhouse pull up short. The driver waved to them and Sakura waved back. Then she slipped her arm around Sasuke's waist.

Sasuke grinned and stole one more kiss, and then he turned. "Everyone!" he bellowed, "You mother is leaving! Come and say good bye!"

Thunderous footsteps shook the house as the rest of the Uchiha clan ran down from upstairs. "I really wish he wouldn't do that," muttered Sakura.

Her grumble changed to a smile as her children gathered in the hallway. First came Ichisui, looking stiffly formal as always. Then Chyrio arrived, vibrating with barely contained glee, clutching a chipmunk in each fist. Next was Mibuki glancing worriedly behind him, closely followed by Hana. Hana had the hood of her cloak pulled up over her head and was giving her brother an evil glare. Mibuki stood in line and tried to look innocent, but Hana gave him a surreptitious shove.

Sakura sighed and forced herself to ignore it. "I have to let Sasuke handle that, or I'll be late," she thought to herself. Lastly coming down from upstairs was Fugawari. He was hauling a bucket behind him.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Fugawari cried out happily. "Look! I am sick! Really sick! I threw up in this bucket! You have to stay home and be with me!" He proudly held out the bucket for her. All the other children in the line gave him a horrified look and took a step away.

Sakura sighed and stepped forward. "Oh dear honey, I'd better take a look." She reached out and inspected the plastic pail. "Hmmm," she said thoughtfully, "Fugawari, this really came out of your tummy?" Fugawari nodded, grinning. Sakura inspected the bucket once more. "Are you sure now, Fugawari?"

Fugawari's grin slipped a little. "I'm... pretty sure Mommy."

"I don't think you are sick Fugawari."

"But I am sick Mommy. My tummy hurts!" Fugawari whined. "I think I'm going to throw up again!"

Sakura nodded and tipped the bucket over. Everyone took a step back to avoid whatever was going to spill out. "Well, it is my professional medical opinion that there is no vomit in this pail. Someone just colored it in with green and brown magic marker."

Fugawari's lip trembled. "I feel like I'm going to be sick… Really! I do!"

Sakura knelt down and have him a hug while he cried. "It's okay to be sad. I'll miss you too. But I'll be back soon okay?" She gave him a kiss on his forehead, and rocked him back and forth. "I need you to be brave little one," Sakura said calmly, "You are an Uchiha, and the Uchiha are always brave." She smiled down at him. "Can you do that for me?" Fugawari sniffled, but he nodded.

"Now I want everyone to say proper goodbyes to your mother," said Sasuke sternly. "She's only going to be gone for a few days, but I'm sure you'll miss her very much, and she will miss you." He cleared his throat and glared at Mibuki who was trying to elbow Hana. "Mibuki?" he said in a warning tone.

"Dad! She keeps stomping on my foot! Make her stop!" he whined.

"Hana?" asked Sasuke, his voice getting dangerously quiet.

"He started it!" grumped Hana. "I found three of his stupid 'fart tags' hidden in my bed."

Mibuki's lip curled in a sneer. "I did not start it Dad! That was my revenge for her putting Chyrio's stupid chipmunks in the box where I keep my blank sealing tags!" snapped Mibuki, his voice getting louder.

"Hmph… Well maybe next time you'll remember that if you don't use your tags to put spiders in my room, you won't find stupid chipmunks where you keep your sealing tags, " said Hana calmly.

"MISTER WHISKERS IS NOT STUPID!" screamed Chyrio at ear splitting volume. Everyone flinched and covered their ears. "He is simply adorable," she continued in a normal voice. "Look Mommy!" she proudly held him up for her inspection. Mister Whiskers had on a blue naval coat with gold tassels, and an enormous tricorner hat. He looked absolutely miserable. "Doesn't he look just dashing?" gushed Chyrio.

There was a squeak that almost sounded like a laugh that came from her other hand. "Here Mommy! I want to show you the nefarious Pirate Fluffy as well!" She held out her other hand for inspection. Fluffy was larger than Mister whiskers. His snout was more stretched out and his hair was bushier, giving him a more feral appearance. He was wearing fancy white dress shirt with puffy sleeves covered by a little black vest. At his waist he wore a purple sash with a wicked looking cutlass. To top it all off was a wide brimmed straw hat. Fluffy puffed out his chest upon inspection.

"Squeak," he said proudly.

"Why Chyrio, these are wonderful!" said Sakura proudly. "Were you working on these costumes all morning?"

Chyrio gave her mother an exasperated look. "Mommy don't you recognize the costumes? I used them six months ago in my princess wedding! See! this is the coat that the handsome prince was wearing, and the shirt and vest were part of the ensemble of the jealous duke who tried to ruin everything!"

Sakura looked closer and squinted. "Oh, yes... now I see it," she said placatingly. "So if you weren't working on the costumes what were you doing?"

"I was making the pirate treasure Mommy!" said Chyrio beaming with pride. She held up a small wooden chest and popped open the lid. Tiny gold coins and jewels sparkled.

Sakura peered down into the box. "That's amazing Chyrio, it almost looks real!"

"That's because it is! I made them myself!"

Sakura giggled and kissed her on the forehead. "Of course you did sweetie. I'm so very proud of you and I can't wait to see your pirate battle when I get home." She gave Chyrio a gentle pat and moved to Ichisui.

"It took me forever to set up the little forge," grumbled Chyrio.

As she approached him, Ichisui bowed and held it. She smiled and nudged him. "Please Ichi, enough with the formality, I'm your mother." She gave him a hug once he straightened up. "I know I don't have to say this, but help your father if he needs it?" she whispered in his ear. As if he had just received an order from the Hokage himself, Ichisui nodded and again went into his formal bow. Again she pulled him up and gave him another hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Mother," he admonished, blushing.

Sakura smiled again. "Take care of yourself." She walked back to the other side of the line. Mibuki was fidgeting and looking over nervously at his older sister. "Mibuki, I need you to leave your sister alone while I'm gone. Do you think you can do that for me, please?"

"But Mom! She started it when..."

"I don't care who started it. But I want it to end now." Sakura glared at the pair of them. "Do you both understand me?"

Mibuki looked down. "I understand Mom," he muttered.

Sakura smiled. "Thank you Mibuki." She leaned forward and hugged him. "I want you to be a big help as well. Keep an eye on Chyrio and Fugawari."

She turned to Hana and eyed her daughter critically. "Hana please try to be patient with everyone while I'm gone, and no fighting with your brother. Okay?"

Hana sighed and folded her cloak around herself tighter. "Whatever."

"I mean it," said Sakura sternly. "When I get back, I do not want to hear about any trouble in this house from your father. Am I clear?" Hana shrugged. Sakura stared at her daughter and then hugged her.

Hana squirmed, but Sakura pulled back the hood on Hana's cloak and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Ugh! Mom! Was that necessary?"

Sakura smiled. "Absolutely! Oh, one more thing, please try to dress appropriately while I'm away."

Hana rolled her eyes. "Jeez Mom, you are so old fashioned."

Sakura went back to Fugawari and gave him another hug. "You know that I'll be back very soon right?" she asked quietly. "There is nothing in the world that could keep me from coming back to you." Fugawari bit his lip and looked down. Sakura squeezed him tighter. "You are being so brave right now... exactly the was an Uchiha should be. I am so very very proud of you." She picked him up and wiped his cheeks with her sleeve. She kissed him once and then handed him off to Sasuke. She stepped closer and gave Sasuke one last lingering kiss, then she stepped back and smiled. "So which of my strong children want to help me load the wheelhouse?"

There was a brief scramble as Ichisui and Chyrio leapt forward and seized a suitcase. Mibuki walked up and tugged one from the pile, while Hana stood there and sighed. Finally she took a smallish shoulder bag and shuffled off to the wheelhouse. Sasuke put a hand on Fugawari. "Do you think that you could carry this one?" he asked brightly, handing him a very small sack. "It's very important. This has Mommy's lunch."

"Does it have cookies in it? Can I have one Mommy?" Fugawari asked eyes wide.

Sasuke smiled at him. "If you do a good job putting the lunch in the cart, I'll let you have a cookie after Mommy leaves, how about that?" Fugawari nodded and scampered off.

Sasuke stepped forward and gave her another kiss. They turned and watched the children swarm the wheelhouse. Sakura smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I never get bored of watching them," she murmured happily.

"Oh? Not even that time when Hana tried to stuff Mibuki in the trash?"

Sakura chuckled. "I never said it was always enjoyable, just that I never get bored." She watched as Ichisui strained to lift one of her cases on the cart. "Why is that bag so heavy?" she asked suspiciously. "In fact… I'm not sure I remember packing it." She glanced sideways at her husband. "Sasuke?"

He coughed and looked down nervously. "I may have put in a few extra things... just in case something came up."

Sakura sighed. "What is it?" she groaned.

Sasuke put an arm around her. "I tried to be reasonable. You've only got two standard sets of ninja tools, plus your combat medic kit."

Sakura smiled and shook her head. "Well thank you for not going completely overboard this time. That won't be too hard to pull out of my luggage." She started for the wheelhouse.

Sasuke stepped in front of her. "Please Blossom… just leave it? It never hurts to be prepared." Sakura looked at the pleading expression on his face and laughed. Sasuke relaxed slightly and smiled at her. "Look, just humor me dearest, okay? Life has taught me that the world is an untrustworthy place where the unexpected happens all the time. I'll sleep better at night knowing that you and little number six here, had some of your gear along with you." There was a pause as he looked at her, his dark eyes wide and imploring. "Please… just take it. It's only one more bag for the cart."

Sakura relented and kissed his cheek. "We thank you for looking out for our well being." She tugged on his hand. "Come on, I have to get going."

They walked down the path and out the gate to the waiting wheelhouse. Sasuke helped Sakura up the steps into the interior. She leaned out the window and gave him one last kiss. Sasuke and the rest of the clan all stood there and waved as the wheelhouse drove off and turned the corner. When it was out of sight most of the Uchiha clan headed back to the house. Sasuke and Fugawari stood there for a moment and watched.

"I miss Mommy already," sniffled Fugawari, "I hope she comes back soon."

Sasuke scooped up his son and headed back to the house. "Me too kid. Me too." He put his youngest down in the entranceway to their home and slid the door closed behind them. "Alright everyone!" He announced in a commanding voice. "I want everyone ready to head out to the Emporium in half an hour! That means get dressed, brush teeth, and use the bathroom! We need to take care of the weekly run to the Akimichi market."

"Can I bring all of my furry little babies?" Chyrio asked excitedly.

"You may bring one… count them… one chipmunk," Sasuke announced magnanimously.

As the rest of the clan was rushing around trying to get ready and fighting for the bathroom, he reached out and grabbed his eldest son and daughter. "Ichisui, Hana… You keep an eye on the younger ones… remember the rules… and remind the others if they forget."

"You're not coming with us Dad?" Hana asked, a flicker of disappointment in her voice.

Sasuke shook his head and gave them a wry grin. "I've had my fill of the good citizens of Konoha for a while… I've got some weeding I have to do in the garden… and then... I think I'll pay a little visit to the shrine."

Both Ichisui and Hana knew better than to pry about what his father did at his little visits to the hidden Uchiha shrine… It was futile to ask. "What time will you be home Father?" Ichisui asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "I'll be back in time to help you all make lunch… how about that?"

* * *

"Sasuko, you've got to let go of Mommy's leg. Aunt Sakura is going to be here any minute with the wheelhouse," Naruto gave Sasuko a little tug, but he held on fast.

"No! I changed my mind! I'm going to miss you too much," said Sasuko burying his face in Hinata's knee.

Naruto sighed. "You do want to make this fort, don't you? I promised that we could do it after Mommy left."

"I can still help right?" asked Sasuko in a muffled voice.

"Mmm-Hmm," Naruto nodded. "I'm going to need your help for this, especially if we are going to make this a proper hideout."

Sasuko looked up. "Proper how?"

Naruto looked thoughtful. "Well... we have to decide what kind of fort we are going to make don't we?"

"What do you mean what kind?" Sasuko asked, starting to get excited.

The Hokage counted off on his fingers. "We can make a traditional castle, or a hidden mountain base, or we could even paint it so it looks exactly like a part of your room!" Excitement started to creep into Naruto's voice as well.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" said Naruto enthusiastically, "Think how cool that would be! It would be a perfectly disguised little hiding spot!"

"Wow!" whispered Sasuko with awe, letting go of Hinata's leg. "Can we start making it right now?"

"Not quite yet." Naruto smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "We have to say goodbye to Mommy first, remember?"

Sasuko spun around and re-attached himself to Hinata's leg. "Mommy! I'll miss you Mommy!" he wailed.

Naruto sighed and dropped his head. He looked up at Hinata and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

Hinata reached down and picked up Sasuko. "I'm sorry Sasuko," she said firmly, "but I have to go to the clan meeting."

"I want to come too!" he said wiping his eyes.

Hinata smiled at him. "Dearest… the clan meeting is not really that much fun. The last time we took you, you kept telling Daddy how bored you were. Wouldn't you rather stay here and play with your cousins?" Sasuko shook his head.

"The Uchiha's are coming by tonight as well," Naruto spoke up, "you can play with Fugawari and Chyrio." Sasuko looked thoughtful for a moment. "If you are good, maybe we can all have some ice cream?"

Sasuko nodded with a serious look on his face. "Okay Daddy. I'll try." Grumbling like Sisyphus at his eternal labors, Jiraiya entered the house to get another suitcase.

"Good," said Naruto, swinging him down from Hinata's arms to the floor, "Why don't you help your sisters and brother with Mommy's luggage."

"Oh yes," said Jiraiya, cracking his back, "I was just thinking that the exact thing I needed right now was help from a three year old."

"Jiraiya!" said Hinata in a warning tone.

"I can carry stuff! I'm strong!" insisted Sasuko. Both Naruto and Hinata gave Jiraiya a stern look.

Jiraiya sighed. "Here," he said holding up a medium sized suitcase. "If you want to help that bad you can give me a hand with this one I guess."

"Okay!" chirped Sasuko. He ran over and staggered around holding one end.

"Thanks Sasuko. I really needed your help." Jiraiya said dryly, casually lifting the other side with one hand. "I don't think I could have lifted this extremely heavy suitcase without you."

Naruto leaned against Hinata and put an arm around her. Together they watched Jiraiya and Sasuko head out to the front of the house where Kusumina and Hishyota were waiting for the wheelhouse with a small pile of suitcases. "I'm going to miss you," Naruto sighed. He leaned over to kiss her, but Hinata was staring off into space. "Hey," he said giving her a little squeeze. "What's wrong?"

Hinata slowly leaned her head against him. "You are going to think I'm crazy, but…" she hesitated.

"Popular opinion already says you're crazy for wanting to marry me," Naruto said grinning. "You can tell me."

"I'm half tempted to make up some excuse and skip the clan gathering. I have the feeling that you might need me more here." Hinata looked up at Naruto. "Sasuko's dream has me feeling… a little nervous."

Naruto frowned. "He really dreamed about the Kurokaze?"

Hinata sighed. "It sounded like it." She looked up at him. "It was more than a little nerve wracking, last night. Sasuko waking up from his nightmare crying and screaming, right after you tell me that they might not be destroyed after all."

Naruto pulled her a little closer. "Hey it's alright," he said quietly. "It's going to be alright… I'll admit it's a little... weird... that Sasuko has this bad dream right after we hear that the Black wind may not be destroyed after all." Naruto looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Then he looked back down at Hinata. "Sasuko's a very smart kid, and he was with me all day yesterday. He probably... just overheard us talking about it and it all came out as a nightmare that's all." Hinata kept looking down. Naruto smiled and lifted her chin. "I know it's scary," he said trying to comfort her. "But look at it this way. We already know that there is something weird going on. We've heard the rumours. This time we know what to expect from them. We know that they can be beaten, and if they dare to try anything while you're off at the clan gathering, this time we'll have both me and Sasuke ready and waiting to take the down. I'll have nothing to distract me this time." Hinata closed her eyes and jerked her head away. Naruto sighed and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm... saying stupid things again, aren't I? I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," whispered Hinata. "I just... feel like I let you down. I still feel like I was such a failure."

"Failure?" said Naruto raising his eyebrows. "Hinata, you stood your own against some of the fiercest foes I have ever seen. You led a ragtag group of shinobi against a vastly superior foe. You were outnumbered and outclassed, and you still managed to hold them off until help arrived." He held her tighter. "You were willing to die to protect our children and those genin. No one has any right to expect anything more from you!"

Hinata looked up at Naruto. "I want you to promise me something," she asked quietly.

"Anything," said Naruto smiling.

"I want you to promise that if you ever have to choose again between me and the village... that you will do your duty and defend the village."

Naruto's face froze. "No." he said simply.

"Naruto you have to realize how large an issue your actions were during the Kurokaze attack. That decision of yours severely damaged your position as Hokage. "

Naruto brushed a strand of hair back from her face. "Hinata, I'm not going to stand by and watch you get hurt. I don't care what the price is."

"Even if you were forced to choose between me and the safety of everyone in the village?" asked Hinata quietly.

"Even then," said Naruto with finality. "I refuse to believe that there wouldn't be some way to save you both." He smiled, leaned in and kissed her. "Besides, wasn't it you who keeps trying so hard to convince me that I don't have to handle everything on my own?" He smiled. "I'd delegate the village saving to everyone else."

Hinata smiled and shook her head. "Unfortunately, politics isn't always logical. What if your actions cost you your job as the Hokage?"

Naruto smiled mischievously and shrugged. "Well, being the Hokage isn't all the fun and games that I used to think it was. Nobody told me about all the paperwork and meetings, and more paperwork and making polite chit-chat with annoying people." He sighed. "Some days I dream of just walking up to Konohamaru and saying 'Here you go kid!' and dumping it all in his lap." Naruto grinned. "You being my damsel in distress might be all the excuse I need." He waggled his eyebrows and started to kiss her neck. "Especially if I get the hero's reward," he said slyly.

Hinata giggled, but gave his head a shove. "Stop it, Naruto. I'm serious."

Naruto stood back a little and looked at her. "So am I. When was the last time we had a vacation, just you and me?" He shrugged. "Heck, even you, me and the kids? There is always something going on, demanding my attention or your attention." He smiled and pulled Hinata closer. "Maybe it's time we spent some time together?"

Hinata looked up at him and smiled. "Naruto, I know you hate the political side of things, but you need to listen to me. Your position as Hokage is…"

"I know," said Naruto. "It's tenuous. People don't like me. They give funny looks when I walk around. So what? I spent my whole youth like that. I'd much rather do what I feel is the right thing than try to do what is politically expedient." He leaned in and touched his forehead to hers. "I didn't get to be Hokage by bowing and scraping." Naruto sighed. "The last time I gave in to the pressure of the job, Sasuke, Sakura, and their family were banished to the outskirts of the Village. I really regret that."

"Naruto, that banishment was as much for their protection as it was to placate the council. Even after they were gone, you were still able to do so much for them because you were the Hokage."

Naruto looked away. "They resented me for it."

Hinata reached out and grasped his hand. "And they forgave you for it. On some level, I think they are even thankful for your help."

Naruto looked back and grinned. "Yeah? Well, never again! I say that I'm going to do this my way. I refuse to bow to politics when my friends and family are on the line."

Hinata touched his cheek. "I love that you are so noble, so confident. But I do worry sometimes. I have heard... things. Please, do you think you could promise me that you will try to put more effort into maintaining your position?"

There was a jangling bell outside, followed by the squeaking of wheels. "I think your ride is here," Naruto said.

Hinata shook her head, dismissing it. "Promise me?" she asked.

Naruto sighed and smiled faintly. "I promise to do a better job at being the Hokage. I promise to shake more hands and kiss more babies and flatter the council and rub elbows with the political types." He brought in his face closer to Hinata's. "But I have things in my life that are much… much more important to me now. I want to be the Hokage. I want to be a great Hokage. But I want to be a husband and a father more." He brought his lips down to hers.

"Hey Mom! What's taking so long? The wheelhouse is..." Jiraiya barged into the house, and froze. "Oh Gods, not again!" he exclaimed. "Can't I leave the pair of you alone for five minutes?!"

Naruto turned. "Hey, I'm trying to say goodbye to my wife here! Do I get to kiss her or don't I?"

Jiraiya sighed. "If you must, but at least wait long enough for me to get outside before you start sucking her face." Jiraiya shot his parents a look of contempt and haughtily headed outside.

Naruto groaned. "Some days, I just want to smack that kid."

Hinata giggled. "He's a lot like you were, when you were younger."

"I was never that obnoxious." declared the Hokage.

"You were twice as obnoxious!" said Hinata smiling. "I remember all the pranks you pulled." She gently pulled Naruto's face downward. "Now hurry up and kiss me some more, I have to leave."


	40. Chapter 16 Preparations and Goodbyes Pt2

"Jiraiya, where's Mom?" Hishyota called back to the house, "Couldn't you find her?"

Jiraiya walked back to the wheelhouse, scowling. "Mom and Dad are smooching... again!" he said disgustedly. "Who knows how long this will take."

Kusumina smiled sheepishly and looked into the window of the carriage. "Sorry Aunt Sakura, I hope they're not making you late."

Sakura smiled good-naturedly and shook her head. "I completely understand. Your Mother and Father can say goodbye to each other for as long as they need to. We have plenty of time to get there."

"Don't let them hear you say that," muttered Jiraiya. "We'll be waiting out here for hours."

"Hi Aunt Sakura!" said Sasuko excitedly. "Is Fugawari going to come over later?

Sakura smiled and nodded. "I talked to Uncle Sasuke before I left and it seemed like he was planning on bringing everyone over."

"Yay!" cheered Sasuko. "Can Chyrio bring her chipmunks? Please? They are so funny!"

The smile on Sakura's face grew forced. "Well... that's... really up to your Father."

The coach rocked as Jiraiya tossed one of Hinata's suitcases in the luggage compartment in the back. "You could ask him right now," Jiraiya called out, picking up another suitcase. "Mom and Dad are finally coming... Thank the Gods they decided we didn't need another little brother… Ow! What gives?" he yelled at his sister Kusumina who smacked him upside the head.

"I want a little brother!" protested Sasuko.

Naruto walked Hinata to the coach and held the door open for her. She gave him one last kiss and murmured something in his ear before she stepped inside. Jiraiya made a disgusted noise. "Hey Sakura!" Naruto called out cheerfully, "Say hi to Granny Tsunade for me will you?"

Sakura gave him a grin. "She really hates to be called that these days Naruto. But I'll tell her that the Hokage sends his best wishes."

There was a jolt and the wheelhouse began to roll away. Hinata leaned out the window and blew kisses to her children. They waved back until the carriage turned a corner and they disappeared from view. Hinata sat down with a sad look on her face. "It's never easy to say goodbye to them is it?" asked Sakura knowingly.

Hinata shook her head. "It never is." She sighed. "I am so glad I gave up on missions when I had Hishyota. I can't imagine how hard it must be to say goodbye to your children knowing you might not be coming back."

Sakura chuckled. "Not many of us still go out on official missions these days. We've all moved past that pretty much."

Hinata shrugged. "Tenten still does. Of course her missions are mostly transport. I don't think she ever has any trouble except for a few bandits now and then. Shino is still in charge of the long range detection and communication, so he still goes into the field every now and then." Hinata looked down. "And then there's Kiba…"

Sakura winced. "I feel so bad for him."

Hinata gave her a brave smile. "Oh, he's doing much better these days. He's definitely trying to get his life back on track again. Giving him long range patrol duty really seemed to help."

"How is his daughter? What was her name again?" Sakura asked quietly.

"Tsudemi," Hinata said with a sigh. "The poor girl has no mother and a broken father. She's got quite a bit of natural talent but she has no one to guide her. I try to do what I can, bringing her meals and giving her advice but… She is just so angry at the world."

Sakura looked at Hinata. She was quiet for a long time. "If you think it would help… I do have some experience dealing with people who are angry at the world. If you think it would be okay, I could… talk to her?"

Hinata nodded slowly. "That might be nice. At the very least she could use more mother figures in her life."

Sakura nodded and looked out the window. They rode in silence for a bit. "Oh," Sakura exclaimed with forces brightness, pointing out the window, "do you mind if we stop at the Emporium for a bit? I have some things I'd like to pick up for Tsunade-sama"

Hinata shrugged. "I don't mind, as long as the driver says we have time."

Sakura leaned her head out of the window. "Excuse me!" she called. "Could we make a quick stop at the Konoha Emporium before we depart? Would that ruin our schedule?" The driver shook his head. "Thank you!" called Sakura, climbing back inside the wheelhouse.

* * *

The driver clicked his tongue and gave a slight tug on the reins. The carriage turned a corner and passed under a stand of tall trees. A shadow appeared in one of the lower branches. The driver looked up, shook his head and made three sharp chopping motions with his left hand. The shadow in the tree nodded once, and vanished.

* * *

The older woman sniffed the bottle dubiously, and worked her mouth into a very fussy frown. "It smells of... Hay."

"Of course," said Karin forcing the cheerful smile to stay on the face. "Your chakra naturally has a rich, earthy undertone to it. This would be a perfect compliment to it! Just picture it." She closed her eyes and waved her hand as if painting a canvas. "A vast field during the fall harvest, the sun shining down warming the rich earth as the crop is brought in." She opened her eyes and smiled widely at the customer.

The woman squinted at the bottle again. "Yes, I understand... but hay? That doesn't seem to be very... feminine."

Karin kept her smile while in her head she screamed. "Trust me lady," she wanted to say. "Your chakra stinks like a farm at high noon. If we cover it up with the hay smell, at least people will think 'growing things' rather than 'manure'."

Instead she just bowed. "Trust me honored customer," she said humbly. "This will compliment your chakra perfectly."

The woman transformed her mouth from 'fussy frown' into a sour pucker. "Aren't there other things that grow in fields as well? Things that might smell more... flowery?"

Karin sighed inwardly. "Of course there are!" she said brightly. "What did you have in mind?"

The customer put the vial of hay scent down on the counter with a click. "Oh, I would never presume to tell you how to do your job."

Karin squeezed her nails into her palms to keep control. "I have just the thing." She ducked behind the counter and grabbed a bottle of what she liked to call 'Picky lady #1' She brought it out before the customer and smiled graciously. "Why don't you give this a one try?" Karin took in a deep breath and held it before she uncorked the bottle.

The former Uzumaki kunoichi could see the powerful riot of floral stink billowing up into the air. She had to be very careful, experience had taught her that one whiff of that and she was out for the rest of the day with a pounding headache.

The customer leaned over, sniffed delicately, and broke into a wide grin. "Ooh yes, now that is more like it!"

Karin quickly popped the cork back in and backed away from the counter. "Lovely!" she exclaimed hurriedly. "I'll just get you a box!" She bent beneath the counter and pretended to search while she breathed in the clean air.

"But… will this scent match my chakra?"

Karin sighed, took one last breath and came up with a box. "Excuse me?"

"This particular scent, will it match my chakra?" asked the customer, holding up the bottle to peer through it.

Karin's hands hesitated opening the box. "No you stupid cow! That's why I recommended the one that smells like hay!" was what she wanted to yell. What came out of her mouth was, "Well it's my professional opinion that the first one would suit you much better. However, if you prefer the floral scent, I believe it will do just fine."

The older woman stared at the bottle and drummed her fingers on the counter. "Maybe... Maybe, I'll take both. That way I can give them both a try."

"Yes!" thought the redhead, adjusting her glasses. Her smile was genuine as she rang up the cash register, wrapped up both bottles and handed the package to the customer. She gave a short bow. "I hope that you will enjoy both of them!" she called out cheerfully.

The older woman nodded. "You my dear have been very kind and helpful I shall definitely recommend you to all of my friends." The door rang as she left.

Karin pumped her fist in the air, and then ran to the back room to check on Kiyo. Thankfully her son had managed to sleep through the whole exchange. There was nothing more embarrassing than having to excuse yourself in a perfume shop to change a dirty diaper.

Karin loved her job. For her, it was dream come true. The problem she had with it was the people. With her nose, she knew in seconds the best pairing for anyone who walked in the door. Heck, with her nose, she could tell what scent to match with anyone who entered the village gates. The problem was that very rarely did anyone want to listen to her. How do you say to someone 'Oh, your chakra smells like old fish. It would blend perfectly with this rotting seaweed scent.' Nobody wants to hear that.

Not many people in the Hidden Leaf Village still remembered that she had once been one of Orochimaru's lieutenants. If there were three things that being associated with the Hidden Sound Village had taught her, it was how to figure out what the boss wanted to hear, how keep your head down, and that you never tell people in charge the bad news.

The problem is, when you're a shopkeeper, the customer is in charge. Everyone who walked in her door knew that. There is a little known saying amongst shopkeepers: The customer is an idiot. Karin sighed. The only good thing about working for Orochimaru was she didn't have to keep smiling at the idiots and trying to keep them happy the whole time. If anyone annoyed her, she could have them dipped in acid or eaten by giant snakes or something.

She raised her nose and inhaled, checking up on Lee and Toko. They weren't in Might Gai's 'new age' apothecary, thank goodness. Two months ago, Toko had dumped a whole bin of caraway seeds all over herself. She was picking them out of her hair for a week.

She smiled as she picked them out in a rough hewn building on the outskirts of Konoha, surrounded by a olfactory palette of other chakras… Academy age chakras. "The Dojo," she thought. "Good, that means he's added another session. Let's hope most of the students in this class are paying ones..." Being married to the Leaf Village's premier martial artist carried with it a certain notoriety. Fame didn't pay the bills though.

Kiyo stirred and cried out. Karin silently stuck her head in the back room and checked up on him again. A little bit of light was shining through the drawn curtains and was shining into the little crib she had set up back there. Karin snuck in and readjusted the curtains. She paused for a bit and smiled down into the crib. Kiyo whimpered and rolled over. Karin smiled and gently touched the downy black hair on her son's head. Still smiling she tiptoed out of the back room. It amazed her how content she was, here in the Leaf village, living out her life as a mother and a simple shopkeeper. She felt genuinely happy. Being married to Lee helped of course. He doted on her and their children, he was an ever flowing wellspring of energy and enthusiasm. She was put off by his eccentricities sometimes, and she knew that some people still mocked him behind his back, but still when you consider the alternatives…

Karin froze and scented the air deeply to make sure. "Crap!" she muttered. "It's her, and I'm pretty sure she is coming here!" She sniffed again. Cherry blossoms and honey, that was Sakura Uchiha alright. Thankfully, Sasuke's scent of frosty, mid winter mornings was nowhere to be found. Sakura was accompanied by someone it took her a second to recognize. She finally placed the smell of sunny fields after the rain as being the chakra belonging to the Hokage's wife. Karin steeled herself, took a deep breath and put on her widest smile.

The door to the shop rang. "Sakura! It is so good to see you again!" Karin said brightly, turning. "You look positively radiant!"

Sakura hesitated for a moment but then suddenly had her own wide smile. "Why thank you Karin! I apologize for not being by more often. But between taking care of the children and work I barely have enough time to sleep let alone shop!" She giggled with forced cheer. "Is Lee working today?"

"Sorry," said Karin shaking her head. "He's just started a new class down at the Dojo. You have the choice of being waited on by either me or Kiyo today."

"Oh? He's here with you? You are so fortunate to able to bring your children to work with you. I wish I could have done that," said Sakura brightly.

"Oh I know!" said Karin, her smile growing even more forced. She pointed to Sakura's stomach "What number is this little one now?"

"Number six!" said Sakura proudly.

They stood there smiling at each other with a mixture of chill awkwardness. It was broken by the Hokage's wife, who gave Sakura a little nudge. "Oh, that's right!" said Sakura cheerfully, "Karin-chan, I was wondering if you still have any of that perfume in stock that the fifth Hokage liked so much?"

Karin thought for a moment cataloguing smells. Smoke, sandalwood, sake and money. "I don't have any of it already made," she said seriously, "but I would be more than happy to prepare the fragrance specially for Tsunade-sama. If you are able to come back tomorrow I could have a batch ready for you by then."

Sakura waved one hand. "I was hoping to get some now actually... I was just on my way to see her, and I was hoping that I could bring her some as a gift."

"Hmmm," Karin frowned and sucked the air between her teeth. "Let me check the back." She gave a short bow and snuck into the backroom to search amongst her stocks. She tried not to listen to their whispered conversation.

"What was that all about?" asked the Hokage's wife in what she thought was complete confidentiality. Like most people who hadn't grown up living in Orochimaru's shadow, the Hyuga woman could learn a thing or two about secrecy.

"What was what all about?"

The Hokage's wife sighed. "All that… The fake smiles and the forced cheerfulness and the pretence that you are all so friendly. Why was that all necessary? I thought you saved her life?"

Sakura sighed. "I didn't really save her. She was just… really badly hurt and I healed her."

"Close enough," hissed the Hokage's wife. In the gloom, Karin tiptoed around the crib and started to pick up bottles. "So then, what's causing all the awkward tension?" Sakura mumbled something. "What? I couldn't hear that?" prompted the Hyuga.

"Sasuke told me that... she used to be in love with him," said Sakura in a dry voice. "And then... Well, he tried to kill her."

"Oh," replied the Hokage's wife. There was a long pause. "If it's that awkward to talk to her, then why do you even shop here?"

Sakura sighed. "Well, she's married to Lee and I'd like to support him and his family. Secondly, she's not that bad a person and I'd like to be friends with her if I can. Lastly, because if I wanted to avoid every woman who was in love with my husband when he was younger, I'd have to hide from about two-thirds of the women in the village."

Karin bumped into one of the vials of oil of sandalwood. It teetered and crashed to the floor. Kiyo woke up wailing.

Karin quickly stepped out of the back room. "I'm terribly sorry," she said worriedly, placing the vials down on her workbench. "I do have all of the ingredients to make you a vial or two, right now. If you could just give me a moment to calm down my son, I will be right back."

Sakura smiled genuinely at her. "Please, feel free to bring him out here, I'd love to see him."

Karin rushed back to the crib. Kiyo was sitting in the crib, holding up his chubby arms, and begging to be picked up. Karin scooped him up and quickly left the back room, which was beginning to reek of sandalwood.

"Oooh!" cooed Sakura. "He is such a little cutie!" Kiyo stopped crying and looked up at Sakura. He studied her for a moment and then hid his face in Karin's neck.

"Don't be shy little one," said the Hokage's wife. "We just want to say hello." Kiyo glanced up with a shy little smile and then hid again. The Hyuga woman held out a finger and gently waggled it in front of Kiyo. Kiyo happily burbled something and reached out for it. "He has a very strong grip."

Karin chuckled. "That comes from his father. He bought both of our children special weighted baby toys to build up their strength," she shook her head.

The Hokage's wife looked up, surprised, but Sakura just smiled. "That sounds like Lee, always looking for new and interesting ways to train."

Karin smiled back. "The other day he was juggling Toko and Kiyo, tossing them into the air with his hands and feet." She gave a small laugh and shook her head. "They loved every minute of it." She looked up at Sakura chuckling along with her. Karin cleared her throat quickly. "I hate to impose on you, but would you mind watching Kiyo for a minute? I won't be long, just long enough for me to clean up the bottle I dropped in the back room."

Sakura looked a little surprised, but the Hokage's wife held out her arms. "We would be honored to watch such a darling little boy." Kiyo happily went into the woman's arms, gurgling happily. He reached out with her little hands and tugged on the Hyuga woman's long dark hair. The Hyuga smiled. "My own son was never that gentle," she commented. She watched as Karin ducked into the back room. "My name is Hinata Uzumaki-Hyuga. It is nice to meet you."

Karin threw open the windows to let some fresh air in and grabbed some rags to mop up what was left of the fragrant oil. "It is my honor to have the head of the Hyuga clan, not to mention the wife of the Hokage in my shop."

"I'm sorry I've never visited before now," said Hinata, bouncing Kiyo on one hip. Kiyo was giggling at the face Sakura was making. "It's a very interesting claim you have posted out front. How does it work?"

Karin picked up the broken pieces of glass and put them in a bag. "What, that I can augment the natural scent of your chakra?" She tossed the rags in the bag as well, spun it and tossed it out the back. "Easy. I can smell chakra."

"Really? So you have a really sensitive nose? Like the Inuzuka clan?" asked Hinata with interest.

Karin washed her hands under the hand pump in the back room. "Sort of, I used to be a sensory type ninja. Instead of smelling a person's scent, I can smell chakra." She walked back into the main part of the store. "Everyone's smells a little different." She looked over at Kiyo, happily babbling away. "If you don't mind holding him for a little bit longer, I can start on Sakura-chan's order?"

Hinata smiled "Oh, I would love to, he's no trouble at all. When Sasuko was his age, he was either screaming at the top of his lungs or trying to put everything into his mouth. Kiyo is simply a little darling!" Hinata held Kiyo up in the air and made a face. "Who's a little darling? Yes you are!" she said to Kiyo. Kiyo squealed at being held up. "So what you do is match a perfume with the scent of one's chakra?"

Karin began to carefully pour measured amounts of scented oils into an empty glass vial. "That is the... general idea for a basic scent. Usually though the customer has some goal in mind and is looking for… help with that."

"A goal in mind?" asked Sakura.

Karin sighed. "The boy wants to get the girl. The girl wants the boy to notice her. Maybe the manager wants to be promoted and needs to be viewed as more of a leader. Goals like that."

"And does matching the perfume to the situation and their chakra really help them achieve their goals?" asked Sakura, with a hint of skepticism in her voice.

Karin looked up. "Have you ever disliked someone at your first meeting just because they smell wrong? Smell plays a small but influential part in your perception of someone. A person's chakra is influenced by their character, their personality. I believe that on some level, all of us can sense another person's chakra and make judgments about them based on that." Karin smiled. "I just happen to have a better nose than most people and can smell each chakra's scent."

"But does blending a fragrance and someone's chakra smell actually help someone achieve anything?" asked Sakura again.

Karin shrugged. "It gives the person wearing it confidence. That counts for something."

"So what does my chakra smell like?" Hinata asked curiously.

Karin stopped up the bottle with a small rubber cork. "Like a garden, just after it has rained." She looked up at Sakura. "Would you like this wrapped?"

"Yes please," Sakura was pensive for a moment. "So... if someone's emotions were to… grow significantly darker… you could smell it in their chakra?"

Karin hesitated in wrapping up the perfume. "Yes. Yes I could smell it." She went back to boxing up the fragrance. "If I knew the person well enough, I could tell whether they were happy, sad, scared or... Vengeful." She handed Sakura the box. "That will be eighteen hundred ryo."

"So what would you recommend for me?" asked Hinata curiously. "I have an important clan meeting tonight and I want to feel more like a leader."

Karin tilted her head a notch to one side. "For you, I would mix up rose water, boiling rice, gold and chocolate."

Hinata blinked, and convinced Kiyo to let go of her necklace. "Excuse me?"

Karin sighed and held up her fingers. "You want to smell like a leader right? Well there are two ways to go about it. You can rule through fear, or you can rule through love. You strike me as more of the loving type, so I would go with rose water and gold to get you smelling like royalty, then I would mix in the boiling rice and chocolate to get everyone thinking of their mothers." Karin turned and started to rummage around the shelf behind her. "It's not that uncommon. I think I still have some that I made for the fourth Mizukage." She pulled out a small vial and opened it. "Here."

Hinata took a sniff. "Mmm. That smells… very nice."

Karin grinned. "I know... it sounds like such an odd mixture, but it does work nicely together though don't you think? I'll let you have this one for one thousand ryo. There's not much call for it around here."

Hinata smiled and completed the sale. "Thank you very much Karin-san, I shall definitely frequent your store in the future." She gave her a small bow. "It has been a pleasure meeting you." Hinata and Sakura each said a smiling goodbye to Kiyo who laughed and waved. The shop bell rang as they both left.

Karin hugged Kiyo and gave him a little swing. "You did a good job making nice friends with the head of the Hyuga clan!" Kiyo squealed as he spun. "If word gets out amongst the Hyuga, That's bound to give me a boost in business!" She gave Kiyo a kiss on the cheek, and he made a little whining cry. "Let's get you your bottle, I bet you are hungry!"

As she went to the back to get Kiyo his lunch, Karin checked up on Sakura and Hinata strolling down the way, making a quick stop at the newsstand, and then heading back into a carriage. She was about to give Kiyo his bottle when she froze. There was something about the carriage driver's scent, some familiar undercurrent that was almost frightening in its familiarity… waves and water and things swimming in the deep. She had a brief flash of an insolent grin full of pointed teeth, and a constant annoying teasing.

It couldn't be Suigetsu though for two reasons. First: He was dead. She had seen him die… And second: the scent of this chakra wasn't quite right. It was mixed with something else… something darker… not dark enough to dangerous, she didn't feel the need to rush out and warn Sakura or the Hokage's wife, but there was a hint of something sinister, something...

Kiyo cried out again and reached for the bottle. Karin shook her head and smiled brightly. "Sorry little one," she said handing over the bottle. "Mommy was just distracted for a moment."


	41. Chapter 16 Preparations and Goodbyes Pt3

"Chirosu! Hebisu! This is your last warning! Get your butts out of bed and down the stairs in the next five minutes or so help me I'm going to start summoning pit vipers into your room!" Anko angrily stormed off muttering obscenities under her breath..

Chirosu groaned, smacked her lips, and rolled over. She pried open one eye and looked at the clock. It read 10:30 AM in glowing red numbers. "What's Mom having a fit about?" she muttered groggily, "It's not even noon." She turned in her bed and stared at the ceiling.

There was a rustling of sheets as her twin sister giggled in the bed on the other side of the room. "Ooh, your arms... they're so big and strong!" Hebisu murmured in her sleep. She shifted in her bed and hugged her pillow. Chirosu let her head fall to one side so she could better watch her sister's antics.

Hebisu giggled again. "Stop it Asuma-kun! I know you're grateful to me for rescuing you, but I have my honor as a kunoichi to think about… I'm just not that kind of girl!" Hebisu moaned and squeezed her pillow tighter. A second, louder moan escaped her lips. "Actually… nevermind that... I think I am that sort of girl." She giggled again and rolled with her pillow.

Chirosu made five quick hand signs. Electricity sparked between her fingertips. She coiled it into a thin snake and snapped it at her sister's bed.

Hebisu screamed, leaped into the air, and fell out of bed. She rolled across the floor and popped up, wild eyed in a combat stance. "What? Where? Who?" she babbled.

"Mom said it's time to get up," croaked Chirosu. She tried to run her fingers through her hair but they got stuck in a tangle. "She says we've got five minutes." Chirosu made a vague gesture across the room. "Also, your bed is on fire. You might want to put it out."

"What? Again?" shrieked Hebisu. She grabbed her fallen pillow and began frantically beating the small fires in her blankets. Smoke and bits of charred linen began to float around the room. A large piece landed on Chirosu's bedding and began to smolder. She eyed it critically and decided that she could stay in bed for a little bit longer… at least until it burst into open flame. "Open the window, will you?" she called out to her sister. "It's getting stuffy in here."

"You open it!" snapped Hebisu in between smacks. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm busy!"

Chirosu thought about the effort it would take to get out of bed and groaned. "I guess it's not that important," she murmured, and pulled the blankets over her head.

Hebisu gave the bed one more solid thwack and sighed. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Why does this always happen? I was just having the nicest dream too. Asuma-kun and I were out on a date," she said in a teasing voice.

"Really," said Chirosu flatly. "I never would have guessed that."

"Mmm-Hmm!" said Hebisu proudly. "And then we started making out and everything."

"Wow… That sounds amazing. Too bad it was just another dream." Chirosu rolled over and covered her head with her pillow.

"You're just jealous! I'd just gotten to the point where Asuma-kun started to…" Hebisu gasped in realization, and looked at her bed, glanced over at her sister and then stared back at her bed. "It was you!" she said with icy certainty.

"What was me?"

"All this time… You've been making me think it was me accidentally setting fire to the bed." Hebisu narrowed her eyes. "Every time I had an Asuma dream."

"How could it possibly have been me?" asked Chirosu feigning drowsiness. "I was asleep this whole… YEOWCH!" Chirosu howled as a jolt of electricity snapped her. She tumbled out of bed. "What was that for?" she snarled at her sister.

"Revenge!" said Hebisu proudly. "Now we're even for all the times you zapped me!"

"Oh no," said Chirosu coldly. "This is not even close to being over."

"Are you sure about that?" said Hebisu impishly. "Because I think you ought to know, now your bed is on fire."

Chirosu screamed in frustration, scooped up the burning sheets and hurled them at Hebisu. Hebisu stuck out her tongue and easily side stepped the smoking bundle, which landed in a corner piled high with junk.

Chirosu followed up with a roundhouse kick. Hebisu countered with a series of punches. Chirosu caught the last punch and tried to leverage it into a throw, but Hebisu reversed it and tried for one of her own.

There was a soft "Whumpf!" in the corner as the embers from Chirosu's blanket ignited the papers piled up there. Hebisu froze. "My unfinished love poems!" she wailed. Chirosu used the distraction to tackle her sister.

From there, both sisters forgot about all about their years of taijutsu training and the fight degenerated into a hair pulling, eye poking, knees and elbows flailing, shrieking brawl.

"Stupid jerk!" screamed Chirosu, trying for a choke hold around her sister's neck.

"Ugly bitch!" yelled Hebisu, grabbing a double handful of her sister's hair. They rolled about on the carpet crashing into the beds, desks, dressers and chairs. The fire in the corner began to spread to the wall and across the carpet.

"Times UP!" yelled Anko from downstairs. "I warned you, but you didn't listen!" Both girls froze, and stared at each other in horror.

"Mom wait!" yelled Hebisu

"We're awake! We're awake!" called out Chirosu.

There was an enormous burst of smoke. Both girls screamed as the bedroom filled up with snakes.

* * *

It was later. Fires were put out, snakes were removed, and both Chirosu and Hebisu sat at the breakfast table pouting at their mother. "That was totally uncalled for Mom," said Chirosu in a hurt voice. "We were getting ready, honest we were."

"We just got... a little distracted that's all," Hebisu chipped in.

Anko gave a glare that froze them both. "Your father is going to be really upset when he hears you set fire to your room again."

Chirosu blinked. "Dad's going to be upset? Why?"

"Dad never gets upset," added Hebisu.

"He will get upset when I tell him to be upset! I just never tell him to be upset, unless something makes me upset!" shouted Anko. "And right now, I am really upset!"

Both Hebisu and Chirosu hung their heads. "Sorry Mom," they mumbled in unison.

Anko turned her back and began angrily scooping their breakfast into bowls. "Well you should be sorry. Honestly, the pair of you are chunin! Your father would be ashamed to see the pair of you brawling like that."

"Dad would be ashamed? What about you?" asked Hebisu innocently.

"Especially me!" snapped Anko.

Both Chirosu and Hebisu flinched. "Sorry Mom," they echoed again.

"I mean really! The pair of you were fighting like you were still in the academy. Have I been wasting my time all these years? The next time you two fight each other, I expect you to go at it like you're serious!"

Hebisu looked up. "Mom?"

"As a loving parent, I just cannot tolerate that sort of thing," said Anko in a disgusted voice. "The average fight on the academy playground shows more basic taijutsu skill than what you were doing. Weren't you paying attention to anything your father and I were teaching you all these years?"

"But Dad told us not to destroy the house again, otherwise he might have to get mad at us," said Chirosu quietly.

Anko made a dismissive gesture with one hand. "Trust me, Kakashi would be more upset to see that the pair of you completely threw your training out the window then he would about some little damage to your room."

"Are you sure Mom?" asked Hebisu, "Because last time, when we took out a wall he said..."

Anko slid a bowl of cold rice in front of each of her daughters. "Pfft! Your Father won't get upset unless I tell him to." She sat down at the table with her children. "The next time you two go at it, I want to see some real violence, some real blood lust there. That kiddie stuff will never cut it in the real world." She shook her head. "If I fought like that when I was your age I would have been eaten alive." She nodded to the bowls. "Now eat up. You've got a long day ahead of you." The twins carefully looked at each other, picked up their bowls, and started shoveling rice in their mouths.

"So what's the big rush Mom?" asked Hebisu, spraying little bits of rice. "We don't have to be at the Cafe' for work until three. And we're off of missions until the big review thing is all cleared up."

Anko smiled a thin smile. "You may not have an official mission, but there's nothing to stop me from giving you one. 'She whipped out two sheets of paper and slapped them down on the table in front of her daughters. "I need you to go... shopping!"

"Woo-Hoo!" yelled Hebisu, throwing her hands up in the air. "There's a whole bunch of those sexy little short-shorts that they just got in at the ..."

"Shopping for what Mom?" interrupted Chirosu in a suspicious voice.

"Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that." Anko turned away and busied herself about the kitchen humming happily.

Slowly Chirosu picked up her list and read down it. "New carpeting... Really Mom new carpets already?"

Anko shrugged. "Well somehow the carpets in someone's upstairs bedroom got a little scorched this morning, so I figured why not make the most of it and redo all the rugs."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense," said Chirosu slowly. "But why the new curtains?"

"Why not spice things up further with a new design for the windows?" Anko reached out and tugged at the current drapes around the kitchen window. "The old blue ones just aren't doing it for me anymore. I was thinking some dark red... Maybe with a pattern of shuriken."

"Ooh! Or skulls! I'd like skulls!" chirped Hebisu through a full mouth.

Anko nodded. "Skulls would be good too... Definitely different."

Chirosu shook her head she looked at the next item on the list. "New upholstery?" She asked incredulously.

"Well the furniture should match the drapes don't you think?" said Anko with forced seriousness.

"So you want skulls on the furniture too Mom?"

Anko giggled. "Heavens no! Skulls on the furniture, don't be so macabre." She scoffed and thought for a second. "The furniture will need something a little more sensible... Swords perhaps."

"Swords," said Chirosu sarcastically. "Why swords? Why not axes?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh! I like that one Mom!" said Hebisu, clapping excitedly. "You could have sort of a decapitation theme going on!"

Chirosu covered her eyes with her hands. "A decapitation theme. Yes, nothing says interior decorating like a decapitation theme." She looked up and glanced at her mother and sister. "What's next? A miniature guillotine over the bathroom sink? A severed head as a table lamp?"

Anko pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I did put new light fixtures on the list."

"Mom! I was only joking!" snapped Chirosu.

"Yeah Mom, she was joking. If we made a severed head into a lamp it would get all runny and goopy after a week or so!" said Hebisu in a scolding voice. "We'd have to use something that wouldn't rot... like a skull!" she said emphatically.

"You bring up an excellent point Hebisu. Do you know where we could get a couple?" asked Anko eagerly.

"Ugh!" groaned Chirosu. "Why do you always have to do this? Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is?"

"What? We're just decorating the house," said Hebisu innocently.

"Nobody decorates a house like this!" fumed Chirosu "Skulls!? Axes!? Decapitation!? What kind of stupid game are you playing?"

Anko turned and smiled "Don't be so serious," she said calmly. "We're just teasing you."

"We are?" asked Hebisu, disappointed.

"Yes we are," said Anko with finality. "But, the shopping list is real. We do need to redo the rugs and I figure that now is as good a time as any to redecorate." Chirosu started to say something, but Anko stopped her with a pointed finger. "Yes... before you ask... I am serious about redecorating... again. Just not with skulls."

"Aww! I liked that idea. I thought it was pretty cool," whined Hebisu. Everyone ignored her.

Chirosu sighed, half with relief, half in annoyance. "Fine, what do you want us to get?"

Anko shrugged. "Surprise me."

Both Chirosu and Hebisu stopped eating for a moment and looked at their mother. "Surprise you?" asked Chirosu incredulously.

Anko nodded again. "I want to hear your ideas. I want to see what you think would be good this time." Anko grinned. "I want to work on a little mother-daughter project with the both of you."

"Does this mean we can do a decapitation theme?" asked Hebisu excitedly.

Chirosu sighed wearily. "Mom... the last mother-daughter project we 'worked on' together was when you made us attack that bandit camp."

Anko turned away and cheerfully started doing the dishes. "Slavers dear. They weren't bandits, they were slavers."

"What's the difference?" asked Chirosu grouchily.

"Bandits steal things. Slavers steal people," said Hebisu helpfully.

"Thanks. That just cleared everything up for me," muttered Chirosu sarcastically.

"Actually I've found that most bandits aren't as bad as slavers. I've met a few over the years who have turned out to be okay." Anko shook her head. "I've never known a slaver who deserved a moment's mercy."

"And yet for some reason, you marched your two thirteen year old daughters right into their camp with no plan, no gear, and no preparation," said Chirosu in a hurt voice.

Anko smiled, showing far too many teeth. "And the pair of you tore those bastards apart," she said with a vicious pride.

Hebisu nudged Chirosu. "Remember that one guy we chased up the tree? He refused to come down until the ANBU promised on their honor that they wouldn't let us hurt him anymore."

Anko walked around the table and put an arm around each of her daughters. "I left the pair of you in that slavers' camp because I knew you could destroy it. I wanted to give you some confidence, show you that the pair of you could do some good in the world." Anko squeezed them a little bit tighter. "I also wanted to give you an up close lesson about what happens to people who don't fight hard enough."

"Mom," said Chirosu in an exasperated voice, "All of those slaves were just ordinary people, not shinobi. There was no way they could have fought those slavers and survived."

Anko sighed. She let her arm slide down to the table and began to drum her fingers. "How many slavers were there?"

"Ooh! I remember!" said Hebisu eagerly. "There were eight!"

"And how many slaves were there?" asked Anko quietly.

"I don't know," shrugged Chirosu, "maybe sixty? Seventy?"

Anko smiled. "I wouldn't want to fight at eight to one odds, would you?"

"Even so, at eight to one odds, if those people fought, some of those people were going to die!" said Chirosu emphatically.

Anko turned and stared at Chirosu until she blinked and uncomfortably turned away. "You saw what was being done to them." Anko said icily. "You saw the conditions they were living in. Would you say that was better than risking death to save yourself and the other people you were enslaved with?"

There was a long thoughtful silence. Anko sighed and clapped her daughters on the back. She gave them a reassuring smile. "I'd say it was an eye opening experience for the both of you! Not a very pleasant one, but eye opening nonetheless." She gave them a little pat. "Right now all I am suggesting is that we try an activity that is a little less violent. What do you say? Let's try to redecorate."

Chirosu sighed heartily. "Whatever Mom." She picked up the list and slouched her way towards the door.

Hebisu got up as well, but hesitated. "Hey Mom? I really, really, really liked the skulls idea. Can we try it please?"

Anko laughed. "Let's see what you can come up with. I promise we'll give it a try." Hebisu hugged her mother and happily bounced out of the kitchen.

Anko waited for the front door to close and checked the clock. She smiled. "Good," she thought. "I still have plenty of time to get ready."

* * *

Kakashi wandered in twenty minutes later. He struggled a little taking his shoes off, his bad knee was stiffening up again. "The weather is changing, there must be a storm coming," he thought to himself as he limped his way into the main hall. "Anko?" he called out. There was no answer. "Honey?" he tried again, "I'm home!" he said a little louder. He could smell the scent of food coming from the kitchen so he headed that way.

He stopped when he heard a thump from upstairs. He turned toward the stairwell and called up. "Honey? Is that you?"

"I'll be right there in a second!" yelled Anko. She muttered a frustrated expletive as there was another loud thump.

"I thought you said you wanted me to come home for lunch today because you needed my help with something?"

"I do," she yelled back down from upstairs. "Just… Damnit! Just go to the kitchen! I'll be there in a second!"

Kakashi stood still for a moment peering up the stairs, but then he shrugged and headed down the hallway into the kitchen. The table was set with a large single dish piled high with food. There was a single pair of chopsticks, and a single candle burning. Off to one side was a plate, piled high with chocolate covered strawberries. Kakashi tilted his head and looked at the scene.

Anko clumped down the stairs in her high heels, and lounged in the doorway wearing a red robe. "Hey," she purred in a low throaty voice.

"What's all this?" asked Kakashi, amused.

Anko tried to sashay forward, stumbling a little in her heels. "I wanted to eat lunch with my sexy husband. You were late last night and missed dinner, and you said you'd be working late for the rest of the week… So, I thought that maybe we could... spend a little quality time together." She placed a hand on his chest and began to gently push him back. "Have a meal, just the two of us."

Anko pushed Kakashi back to the chair. Smiling he sat down. "I see," he said. "I hate to point this out, after you went to all the trouble of preparing this, but you forgot some chopsticks. There's only one pair."

Anko laughed and shook her head. "I did that on purpose." She sat down in his lap, straddling him. She leaned over the dish, and used the chopsticks to snag a piece of sushi. "I was hoping that I could feed you… Like this," she pulled down Kakashi's mask and popped the piece of sushi into his mouth. "And then maybe you could feed me… Like this." She took his hand and guided it into the bowl of strawberries. Kakashi took one out and held it up to her mouth. Anko grinned at him impishly. She licked the strawberry, sucked the chocolate off the tip, and then bit down. She looked down at Kakashi and raised her eyebrows.

Kakashi smiled. "Where are the girls?" he asked innocently.

"Oh, I sent them off on an errand." Anko leaned forward and nibbled his ear. "They shouldn't be back for a few hours or so," she whispered.

Kakashi reached up, turned his head and kissed her passionately. Anko pulled back, and still grinning, fed him another piece of sushi. "I have to say," he said smoothly, "That this is turning out to be the best lunch I've had in awhile." He raised one eyebrow and looked at her. "I do have one small question… Why are you wearing the robe?"

Anko smiled slyly. "Well," she said getting up. "I was thinking, that if we just happened to finish lunch early we could re-enact chapter twelve from Make-out tactics." She unbelted the robe and let it slide to the floor. Underneath she was wearing a French maid costume. She grinned at Kakashi and did a slow pirouette. "Well?" she asked in a sexy voice. "What do you think?" she stepped back over and straddled his lap again. "Are you still hungry?"


	42. Chapter 16 Preparations and Goodbyes Pt4

Kiba gave a pained sigh and took one last squinty-eyed look around the woods before he headed back to the clearing. Beyond the clearing was the road, and once on the road it was back to the village. He always felt better in the woods. They made him feel more alive. Not that he didn't like the village, oh no. He loved the village. But the village was hot. The village was dusty. The village was crowded, cramped and closed in. It was filled with too much noise and far too many memories.

He needed these patrols. For him, walking out of the village and sliding into the woods was like jumping into a cool stream. It was invigorating. He felt cool, refreshed, and a little bit more alive again.

It didn't hurt that in the woods, he felt closer to her as well. It was easier to remember her out here... out in the open, surrounded by trees… They had some good times out in the woods…. on their missions, traveling back and forth between their villages… At home cooped up together, well that was a recipe for harsh words and long arguments.

He pulled out his canteen and took a long drink. 'Hydration is the best cure for a hangover' was what Shino was constantly nagging at him. He was wrong of course. The absolute best cure for a hangover was to have another drink real quick, as soon as you woke up. The problem with that was, that one drink led to two, and then three… and soon you were going out on missions drunk, and then your squad-mates and your clientele were all upset, and then the only work you could find was some lame ass pity mission that your old friend the Hokage specifically made up for you… just so you could keep yourself and your kid fed.

Kiba took another drink from his canteen. It was water… Naruto did make him swear that he wouldn't drink on missions… and... for the most part... he followed that rule. It was just… some nights, it was just so hard to sleep… Out in the field, he told himself, he never drank enough to be truly drunk per se... It was more of a medicinal thing.

He put his canteen away, squared his shoulders, and strode on. The old growth forest gave way to younger trees. Soon he and the dogs would cross the clearing, and then it was a short hike through some scrubland before they hit the road proper.

The trees opened up and he blinked to be in the bright sunlight. He stopped in the middle of the clearing, looked around, and got ready to say his goodbyes.

Hoshi Akari circled back and gave him a questioning look. "It's alright girl," he said softly. "I just need to stop for a moment." Hoshi Akari nodded once knowingly and loped off to spread the word to the rest of the pack. As she left, the forest fell still. Kiba slipped his pack off his shoulders, stretched out his arms and inhaled.

If he thought about it hard enough he could almost remember what her hair smelled like. Not her scent; that was burned forever in his brain, but her hair. Karui liked to use this cheap shampoo. He used to joke that it always left her smelling like a fruit salad. It bothered him that he could no longer remember what it exactly smelled like.

He remembered what her hair felt like when he would run his fingers through it on a lazy Sunday afternoon. He remembered what her lips tasted like, how she used to kiss him softly when she needed comfort, and hard and forceful in moments of passion. He remembered how her skin felt as it slid over his, how he could look down in the moonlight, their bodies entwined, and see her dark brown wrapping around his pale white, like yin and yang.

It really troubled him that he couldn't remember what her hair smelled like.

He rubbed his eyes with his fingertips, but they came away dry. Kiba sighed. "One day," he worried to himself, "I'll have cried away all the tears I have in this life and all that will be left is a dull, hollow ache inside me with no way to let it out."

A gentle breeze rose and the trees murmured. Kiba smiled.

When she was six and a half Tsudemi once insisted to him that Karui was talking to them when the breeze blew. "After all," she insisted matter of factly, with the iron clad certainty that young kids have, "the wind moved the clouds, and then it moved the leaves, so in a way it was just passing messages between the Cloud and the Leaf. I bet Mommy could use it to pass messages between Heaven and Earth too, because Mommy is so very smart and sneaky." Tsudemi was so adamant about her discovery that Kiba eventually agreed with her just to get some peace. Back then, Tsudemi used to spend her evenings sitting in her father's lap, looking up at the stars and chatting quietly with the evening breeze until she drifted off to sleep.

In the years since, she grew harder, and angrier, and didn't talk with the wind anymore.

"I guess it's the sort of thing that only makes sense if you're a kid," Kiba muttered to no one in particular. "I'm really sorry she doesn't believe that you can hear us anymore." His voice hitched for a second, and he grinned as he found he still did have some tears left after all.

Kiba looked up at the pines shifting in the breeze. "I miss you," he whispered, "I miss you so much. I know we fought and yelled and screamed and sometimes I was a first class asshole and you were an evil witch… but…" he paused and choked down a sob. "I... really wish that you were still here with me."

He blinked at the sky, his tearing eyes following a cloud as it drifted past. "Tsudemi misses you too. You'd be proud of her, she's tough. Far tougher than her old man. She doesn't have to run off and hide in the woods just to make it through the day." He sniffed. "She's such a brave kid, but she still misses her momma."

The breeze picked up for a second and the trees rattled. Kiba laughed. "I'm not saying you had a choice dearest." He smirked as the tears ran openly down his face. " Did I tell you even Sasuke Uchiha was impressed? I know you hated the man, but you impressed him. You took out nine of those Kurokaze bastards and saved our little girl." He inhaled a hitching breath. "I just wish that I had been there with you… Then maybe we could have saved you too…"

Kabocha stuck his head into the clearing. He waited until Kiba had wiped his eyes and then gave a short wine. Kiba smiled at him. "I know. I'm holding up the patrol…again. You're always so damn impatient, you damn mutt." Kabocha wagged his tail twice, not taking the insult seriously, and headed off into the underbrush.

Kiba retrieved his pack and started after him. Just as he exited the clearing, the wind picked up, swirling a huge cloud of leaves around him. Kiba looked up. "It's not like I want to stop talking to you either, but the dogs and I really do have to get back. I mean we were supposed to be in late last night. Tsudemi is going to be worried."

A small whirlwind spun the leaves in a circle in front of him. He watched it weave back and forth.

Kiba chuckled. "Tell you what… If you're willing to hang around a bit, we can walk and talk at the same time… How about that?" The whirlwind spun lazily around in a counterclockwise arc. "Hey… Why don't you come with me? Come back to the village I mean, come visit. We could see the old place together." He smiled. "Maybe you could even stop and say hi to Tsudemi?"

The whirlwind abruptly stopped. Leaves floated gently away. "Yeah," muttered Kiba, "You're right. That would probably freak her out."

As he walked through the scrubland, he smiled contentedly as a gentle breeze floated through the bushes. "I'm glad that you decided to stick around for a little while longer. It's been so long since you and I took a little romantic stroll together." A powerful little gust whipped up a small cloud of grit that stung his face and eyes. "I know, I know," he said grinning. "I should really keep my mind on the job… It's just that I don't get to talk to you that often, you know?"

The wind rose threateningly again. Kiba chuckled, turned on his heel and walked backwards for ten steps, checking his six. It was so easy to lose focus on a patrol. It was far too easy to let his mind drift off and daydream of other times. He could almost just sit back and let the dogs do all the work.

The wind buffeted him a third time. "But that would be sloppy," he muttered under his breath. Sloppy and dangerous, not to mention unfair to the dogs. He was the pack leader. They were all looking up to him. They depended upon him to lead; he had to set a good example.

His stomach roiled, and he forced himself to swallow back down the acrid mix of cold water and cheap sake. Kiba had to admit... he wasn't doing the best job of setting a good example… Man… if Karui was here she would beat seven kinds of hell out of him.

He did a quick scan of the brush. Kabocha was the easiest to spot. At ninety kilos he wasn't much of a stealth dog. He was a fighter. He often forgot to hide in the shadows, which meant that his dull orange fur often shone whenever the sunlight hit it. Next he found Hoshi Akari. She was the point scout. Her dusty black fur melted into the undergrowth. The only reason he could spot her at all was she would occasionally stick up her tail, which had a bright white slash on the tip. She would use it to flag Kiba and send him the occasional report. It was also helpful because it gave the other dogs something to orient on.

It took him awhile, but eventually he found Poki, Kumo, and Burauni spread out in a skirmish arc. He smiled. They were good dogs. He trusted them. "But they also need to trust me too… Isn't that right Karui?" he asked glancing up at the sky." He chuckled. "You never got the hang of that did you?

He smiled remembering how frustrated she would get doing field training with the dogs. "They accepted you, they loved you. Akamaru certainly did, but in the field?" he snorted. "You were so nervous. You could never get the hang of telling the dogs what to do. You could never work together well enough. You would balk, the dogs would hesitate and in the end it would all just fall apart." The wind tugged at Kiba's leather jacket. He smiled. "Hey, good to know you're still here, I was beginning to wonder."

The wind tugged a second time. He brushed his jacket back into place. "Yes I know I could never master all your sword techniques. I'm not saying that. You were the most beautiful, deadly, kunoichi I ever met. Dogs just weren't your thing." He smiled up at the sky. "I always thought you were so adorable when you tried though." The breeze gently tousled his hair. Kiba sniffed and wiped a hand across his eyes. "I love you too…" he whispered.

They were about ten meters away from the road when Hoshi Akari's tail shot straight up. The pack froze and then went to ground. They waited.

There was a low rumble coming from the road. "Probably a wagon," Kiba thought to himself, "but it never hurts to be prepared."

Kiba gave a soft whistle. A high short note, a long low note and another high short note. The dogs acknowledged his call for rolling ambush positions and silently vanished into the trees lining the road.

Well, almost silently. Kabocha brushed into a shrub as he passed causing it to rustle. Inwardly Kiba cursed. If this had been a real situation, a mistake like that would have given them away. Still he'd seen Kabocha take down four rouge shinobi all by his lonesome. His fighting abilities alone made him a worthy member of the pack. Kiba sighed. He'd just have to make him go through another few rounds of stealth training with Hoshi Akari. Sooner or later some of it would have to stick.

He patted his shuriken holster, his equipment pouch and his tanto blade to make sure they were where he had left them. He glanced quickly up into the sky. "Routine check," he said under his breath. "I'll be right back." Shouldering his pack, he walked out of the scrub and onto the road.

The cart was quite a ways away, marked only by a large dust cloud. Kiba feigned disinterest and began to trudge his way towards the Hidden Leaf village. The dogs would maintain pace with him and the wagon. If there was any trouble, the plan was that he would draw their fire while the dogs pounced in a counter attack.

The cart drew level with him and slowed. Kiba glanced up to see a dark skinned old man and a teenaged girl peering down at him from the driver's seat. The old man glanced at his forehead protector and gave him a friendly smile. "Excuse me sir, how much farther is it to the Hidden Leaf?"

Kiba pointed his chin forward. "Not far. It's about seven and a half kilometers." He eyed the contents of their wagon. Bundles of cloth, steel tools, a few small sacks from which the pungent odor of spices wafted. There were two large crates in the back that were tied down and covered with a tarpaulin. He gave the crates a surreptitious once over. "Have you been traveling for a long way?"

The older man's smile broadened, revealing a few missing teeth. "A better question would be how long have I been traveling for! I've been doing this circuit for near thirty years now. Just going around and around the five great nations, and passing through most of the smaller ones along the way. Transportation may not be the most glamorous of professions, but you sure do get to see a lot of interesting places and meet some interesting people along the way."

Kiba tilted his head up towards the girl. "And yet you take your daughter along with you? Isn't that a little bit dangerous?"

"I'm not his daughter," the girl said, shooting a glare at the old man. "I'm his niece."

The old man nervously brushed her back and chuckled. "I never had time for my own family, so I'm borrowing my sister's. I'm teaching her the ways of the trade."

"I've already got my own trade," muttered the girl twitching aside her traveling cloak, "and he's not the one protecting me, I'm the one that's protecting him." On a belt around her waist was the forehead protector for the Hidden Cloud village. Strapped behind her were a pair of katana.

Kiba laughed. "Good for you! I have a daughter, just a little bit younger than you, who wants to be a kunoichi too. She's been in the Academy for three years now."

The girl stared Kiba up and down and narrowed her eyes. "Who are you, and what are you doing out here all by yourself? Konoha shinobi work in three man teams."

"My name is Kiba Inuzuka," he said with a nod. "It's nice to meet you both. And you're right, usually we do work in a three man squad. However, right now I'm coming back from a solo long range patrol." He shrugged. "It's just me."

The girl's hand surreptitiously gripped the hilt of her katana. "If it's just you, then who's been following our cart in those bushes over there?"

Kiba sighed. Damnit. The clumsy mutt definitely needed that stealth training "That... would be my dog. Kabocha!" he called, and followed with a whistle. Kabocha trotted out of the woods and gave him a sheepish grin.

The girl gave a short gasp and her sword slid a few centimeters out of its scabbard. Kabocha gave her a casual glance before he sat down in the middle of the road and shook. "He is a little on the big side, and that tends to make him clumsy," said Kiba offhandedly, "But don't let his size scare you. He's extremely well trained." He tilted his head to one side and looked at the girl. "Speaking of teammates, shouldn't you be having a few of them around as well? This is an escort mission, isn't it?"

The girl scowled and shot an angry glance at her uncle. The old man made a short reedy chuckle. "Actually, this isn't a hired mission; her escorting me is just a family favor." The girl shook her head and stared off into the woods.

Kiba tiled his head and stared at the pair of them. Something didn't smell right. "Well, as formidable as I'm sure your niece is, if you were worried about bandits you really should have hired a complete squad of shinobi"

The old man smiled nervously. "Well, I didn't so much need guards as... I just wanted the company."

Kiba reassessed the situation. He could smell the fear in the old man's sweat. The girl was anxious as well, but it was a 'battle ready' anxiety as if she was gearing up to fight him. She also kept glaring at her uncle as if she was blaming him for something. As a test, Kiba casually glanced in the back of the wagon again, this time staring pointedly at the crates. He saw the old man tense up.

Kiba groaned theatrically and shifted his pack. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to give me and my dog a ride back to town would you?" he said with an easy smile. "We could ride in the back. I promise Kabocha won't damage anything."

The old man and the girl exchanged a glance. "Well…" started the girl.

"We'd be more than happy to give you a ride," declared the uncle, wiping his palms on his cloak. "But I insist you ride up front with me. My niece will be more than comfortable in the back." The girl gave him another look.

"You are too kind," said Kiba smiling. He whistled at Kabocha. Low-short, High-short, the code for search. Kabocha perked up his ears. "The wagon," Kiba called to him, "get in the wagon Kabocha."

The dog launched himself over the side and landed in a scrambling slide on the wagon bed. He promptly began sniffing around enthusiastically.

"Hey!" yelped the girl. "You said he wouldn't damage anything!"

"He won't. He probably just smells a mouse or something." Kiba climbed up on the driving bench next to the uncle. He unzipped his jacket and draped it on the seat next to him. "Kabocha, stay down," he said. The dog lay down next to the covered crates, but continued to sniff.

There was a jolt as the wagon started rolling again. There was a long pause as Kabocha continued to poke around the crates and the three humans eyed each other while pretending to watch the scenery. "Nice weather we're having…" said the uncle.

Kiba nodded, "Yeah, it's much warmer here than it is in the Land of Lightning. Of course... the view is a lot better there than it is here…"

The old man's hands started to shake. "Oh?" he asked with a quaver in his voice. "Have you been to the Hidden Cloud Village?"

Kiba nodded. "A couple of times."

"Is that where you got your belt buckle?" asked the girl from the back, the tension in her voice building to a crescendo. "It looks like it is an old forehead protector."

Kiba smiled. "That's because it is an old forehead protector."

There was the slide of steel on a wood scabbard. "Right," snapped the girl. "Just how stupid do you think I am? How long have you been following us?" Her katana hovered threateningly near Kiba's neck.

Kiba sighed. "Kid, I'm going to pretend that you took that sword out because it's dull and it needs sharpening and not because you are an idiot." He made a casual gesture to the bed of the wagon. "Even if you could kill me, you'd still be sharing the wagon with a very large, soon to be very angry dog."

"That's okay," said the girl confidently. There was another whisper of steel. "I've got another sword. Now who are you and how long have you been following us?

Kiba rubbed his face, exasperated. He turned to the uncle. "Will you tell your niece to put her blades away? She seems like a good kid. I don't want to see her get hurt."

The old man flashed Kiba a vicious grin. "It seems to me like you're the one who should be worried. It was my niece who got the drop on you. Now why don't you answer her questions?"

"Yeah," piped up the girl. "Who are you really, how long have you been following us, and which one is your real forehead protector? Are you Leaf or are you Cloud?"

"Okay," said Kiba wearily. "In the interest of preventing any violence, my name is really Kiba Inuzuka. I'm really from the Hidden Leaf village. I first laid eyes on you about twenty minutes ago when I stepped out of the woods after finishing my patrol. The forehead protector is a remembrance of my late wife who was a kunoichi from the Hidden Cloud Village, and it's because of her that the pair of you are still talking to me and not trussed up in the back of the wagon…" he sighed. "Look, I don't know what's in the crates or why they are so damn important, but I do know that you guys are getting into a world of trouble. It's obvious that neither of you know what the hell you are doing and that you should quit right now. First of all, the Hyuga clan mans the checkpoints at every gate in Konoha. Do you know what that means? It means all they have to do is take one look at your cart with their byakugan and they will find out whatever it is you think you've so cleverly hidden in your damn crates. Second, Kabocha here is a fully trained Ninja dog. Does he look nervous at all at the prospect of tangling with you?" The girl glanced down at the dog. Kabocha yawned showing all of his teeth and gave her a lazy stare. "I've trained him in combat since he was a pup."

Kiba smiled down at Kabocha proudly. "I'm not going to say he's invincible, I know that there are a bunch of shinobi in the world that could beat him in a fair fight, but I'm willing to bet money that you, kid, aren't one of them." Kiba took a breath. The girl was looking stoic. The old man was beginning to sweat. "But let's just say, for the sake of an argument, that you are some sort of katana wielding prodigy and you can manage to beat both Kabocha and me." Kiba gave another whistle, High-long and low short. "I know for a fact that you couldn't take all of them."

The rest of the pack stalked out of the woods and surrounded the cart. The mule started and pulled up short, pawing at the air in protest. The old man yelped and drew up his legs in fear. The dogs ringed the wagon with their teeth bared in a silent snarl.

The girl spun her head around, trying to watch all the dogs at once. She froze when she felt a damp pressure on her wrist. She looked down.

Kabocha had silently risen to his feet and gently taken her wrist in his huge jaws. He looked up at her with a sad puppy dog expression that seemed to say he'd really rather not bite down, but if he had to... he wouldn't hesitate.

"Now," said Kiba calmly, "like I was saying, you're very lucky that the pair of you ran into me… I happen to have a soft spot for Hidden Cloud villagers and shinobi because my wife was one. So why don't you put away the swords. I'll call all the dogs up on the cart and while you give us a ride into Konoha, you can tell me what's so important about these damn crates." Kiba leaned back, pulled a cigar stub from his coat and stuck it jauntily into his mouth. "If you tell me everything that you know... then maybe... just maybe... I'll be able to arrange things so you don't get into too much trouble."


	43. Chapter 17: Loyalty and Friendship pt1

**Chapter 17: Loyalty and Friendship**

Naruto wiped the sweat that was dripping down his nose, put down his saw, and straightened up. "We can't stop now Daddy!" yelped Sasuko dropping the board he was dragging to the growing pile. "The fort isn't finished yet!"

Naruto stretched his arms over his head and twisted his back. There was a loud crack. "I just needed a little break, buddy. We'll get moving again in a bit."

"But Daddy," said Sasuko with just a little hint of as whine in his voice, "you haven't even put anything together yet! The walls aren't even done! All you've done is cut lots of little squares in the boards!"

"They're called joists Sasuko, and they'll help make your fort stronger." He smiled and ruffled his son's hair. "Why don't you go and get some more of the boards and I'll show you how it works in a second. I just need to get the kinks out of my back." Sasuko gave Naruto a grumpy look but obediently wandered off.

Naruto stretched from side to side and caught sight of his reflection in one of the first floor windows. He twisted sideways and appraised himself. You couldn't honestly say that he the same rock solid six pack abs he had ten years ago back again, but he was noticeably slimming down. He smiled at his reflection and posed like a bodybuilder. If he flexed his stomach and if you squinted... maybe... you could kind of… sort of... maybe see some of the muscles under there. Yep, he was definitely getting back in shape again. He supposed he should thank Sakura and Sasuke for nagging him and training with him so much. He should probably thank Hinata as well, come to think of it, for forcing him to eat healthier. Naruto smirked imaging the ways Hinata might want thanking from her new and improved sexier husband.

"Daddy, what do joists do?" asked Sasuko dragging back more wood.

"Hmm?" said Naruto, snapping out of his daydream. "What's a what?"

"A joist Daddy. What is it? Why is it so important that we have one in my fort?"

"Oh." Naruto reached down and picked up a board. "This is a joist," he said pointing to the cut-out portion. "It's a fancy word for a board with a space cut out of it so it fits around one of the main beams like so." He picked up a thick square post and demonstrated how the beam fit into the slot.

"Okay, so what does it do?" asked Sasuko.

"Well, this way we make a frame from the posts, and then use the joists to make the frame even tighter and stronger. Then we take the uncut boards and nail them all along the frame to cover it up."

Sasuko stared at Naruto's demonstration and tilted his head. "Why don't you just make a big box with four walls and a ceiling?"

Naruto smiled at his son. "This way is much, much stronger. If I were to make a box with four walls and a roof, the roof would bend if anyone climbed up on top of it. That would pull at the walls, and then the nails might start to come out. Then if anyone else climbed up on top of it the whole box could come crashing down. Building it this way will make your fort strong enough, that if you and all your friends climbed up on top of it, it would still be safe for someone to be inside."

"Really?" asked Sasuko eagerly. "All my friends? Like me and Fugawari and Chyrio and all her chipmunks and Kusumina and Jiraiya?"

Naruto smiled. "Well I don't think it would be big enough for all of you to fit up there, but yes, it should be strong enough to hold all of you."

Sasuko looked down at the pieces of his box and nodded smiling. "Will my fort be strong enough to hold up Kurama, Daddy?"

"Your little stuffed toy nine tailed fox?" Naruto nodded. "Oh, yeah… easily. This will definitely be strong enough." He picked up Sasuko and gave him a little toss in the air and caught him again. "Kurama can stay up there and stand guard while you play safe and sound in your fort."

Sasuko giggled. "No Daddy, not my Kurama! The real Kurama! Will this be strong enough for him to stand up there?"

"Oh." Naruto let Sasuko slide down. He looked thoughtful and a little sad. "The real Kurama was huge. When he was full sized, he was almost as big as the Hokage monument. I don't think that anyone ever built anything that could hold him up."

"Wow!" said Sasuko, turning and staring awed at the mountain. "What is he like? Was he scary?"

Naruto frowned in thought. He tilted his head as if he was trying to listen for something, and then he shook it sadly. "He could be scary at times, but he wasn't mean so much as just really angry."

"Why was he so angry?"

Naruto sat next to Sasuko and shrugged. "Mostly because a lot of people were mean to him when he was younger."

"Mean to him?" Sasuko seemed shocked at the idea. "Why?"

"He was always very powerful and people wanted that strength, so bad guys were always putting jutsu on him and making him do bad things. Then the good guys trapped him in a special cage so the bad guys wouldn't be able to use him to hurt anyone. After a while Kurama got angry at everyone and everything and decided that he wasn't going to trust anyone or be friends with anyone any more."

Sasuko sat quietly for a moment. "That's so sad. I'd be his friend."

Naruto reached over and ruffled his son's hair. "I'm sure you would. I bet he'd appreciate that," he said sadly.

Sasuko leaned over and gave Naruto a hug. "So why are you so sad Daddy? I know Kurama is your friend!" He thought for a second and looked up at Naruto. "Kurama... didn't die did he?"

Naruto shook his head. "Oh no, he's still around." Naruto sighed and absent-mindedly rubbed his stomach. "He's just… Well...it's kind of a long story, I'll tell you some other time."

"Oh, okay." Sasuko got up and began dragging the boards into a rough pile. "Hey Daddy?" he asked suddenly. "What's a Jinchuriki?"

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. He knew that Sasuko was a smart kid and picked up all sorts of stuff from his sisters and brother, but 'Jinchuriki?' Nobody in the house used that word. None of his friends used that word. There weren't many people in Konoha who still used that old terminology… "That's a big word for such a little kid. Where did you hear something like that?"

There was a polite cough from outside the back yard. "Excuse me Hokage-sama, I don't mean to intrude but…"

Naruto turned and looked up at the rear gate. "Neji," he said brightly. "How are you?" He stood up and motioned for Sasuko to follow. "Come say hi to Uncle Neji with me."

Sasuko grasped his father's hand and together they started towards Neji. "If you're looking for Hinata, I'm afraid she left about two hours ago." Naruto unlatched the gate and motioned for Neji to step inside.

Neji made a low bow. "Thank you Hokage-sama for allowing me inside your home," he said politely.

Naruto smiled. "Why are you back to acting so formal again? I thought we agreed we could stop all that, you know? I married your cousin. We're family." He gave Sasuko a nudge. "Go say hi."

"It is nice to see you Uncle Neji," said Sasuko quietly. He gave a nervous bow.

Neji bowed back. "Sasuko-kun, I am glad to see that you are well." He gave Sasuko a faint smile. "Are you looking forward to having your cousins visit you tonight?"

Sasuko grinned. "Uh-huh! We're going to have a party with ramen, and sweets, and ice cream, and cake and…"

"I... don't think we're going to have quite all that there Sasuko," said Naruto chuckling nervously.

"Really?" asked Sasuko in a disappointed voice. "But you said that…"

"So Neji," asked Naruto loudly, "what brings you here?"

Neji paused and looked down for a second. "I was hoping that I could impose upon you to keep an eye on Hizashi for a few hours today. Unfortunately Tenten has to leave on her mission in an hour and we would rather he was not at home alone."

"Sure!" said Naruto brightly. "No problem! Send him and Hishyoni right over!"

Neji frowned and made a small cough. "Actually Hokage-sama…"

"Gods Neji! Enough with the formality! We're relatives! And friends. I've known you forever." He straightened and put on a comically pompous face. "As your Hokage, I order you to call me Naruto."

Neji smiled faintly. "Fine. Actually... Naruto... Hishyoni is not at home right now... I was wondering if you could send someone to be with Hizashi until it is time for the sleepover."

"Oh... I didn't think that Hishyoni had a mission today."

"She doesn't," said Neji quietly. "She's had a... little disagreement with her Mother and me this morning. We haven't seen her since."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Well that's easy enough to take care of. Do you want me to send someone to go looking for her?"

Neji shook his head emphatically. "No. I think… I'm positive she just needs some time to cool off." He took a deep breath. "I'm sure that she will be back in time for the sleepover at your house." He looked up at Naruto. "What Tenten and I think would be best is if you would be willing to get Hizashi and bring him over to your house early? Could we let him stay with you for a while?"

Naruto shrugged "Sure, if that's what the pair of you really want... I'll send Kusumina over to get him."

Neji breathed a small sigh. "Thank you very much Naruto. I apologize for the inconvenience. Once again it seems that our eldest has put her family in quite the... awkward position."

Naruto shrugged again. "No problem at all, we'll take good care of him." He stepped forward to the rear gate. As he unlatched it he happened to glance into the street. He whistled at the ornate carriage parked there. "Is that your ride? Swanky! The one Sakura and Hinata were sharing wasn't half as ritzy as that one." He nudged Neji. "You had better be careful traveling in the lap of luxury like that. You'll lose your edge as a shinobi."

Just as Naruto was teasing, a large man leaned out of the wheelhouse window. He waved a bejeweled hand. "Good day Hokage-sama!" he boomed in a loud voice. "I hope you and your family are well?"

"Oh Gods it's... what's his name...the fat pirate guy," muttered Naruto.

"Honan Hyuga," said Neji quietly.

Naruto grinned and waved back. "Hello Honan-san! It's good to see you again! I don't think we've had a proper talk since the wedding!"

Honan laughed and slapped his belly. "That was fifteen years and thirty kilos ago! I'm surprised you even recognized me!" He grinned good naturedly. "I hate to be rude but Neji-san and I simply must get going if we're going to make the clan meeting on time. I offered the poor man a ride when I saw that he was running late."

"Of course!" Naruto yelled back. "I understand completely." Neji bowed and turned to leave, but as he did Naruto stopped him with a hand on his sleeve. "Hey Neji," he said quietly, "I need to ask you for a favor."

Neji looked back. "What is it?"

"I know you guys like to keep Hyuga business in the clan in all, and you don't like us outsiders interfering, but yesterday, Hinata was telling me how that she thought that Honan was going to try something fishy at the clan gathering. I know she trusts you. Do you think that you could try to find out sneaky like if he is planning anything and warn her about it before the meeting starts?"

Neji blinked. "I... guess so."

Naruto smiled at him and clapped Neji on the shoulder. "Thanks Neji. Hinata keeps telling me how much you're like an older brother to her. I know you won't let anything bad happen to her."

Neji looked down and nodded. "Of... Course not."

Sasuko gave Neji a wave. "Tell Mommy I said hi! Tell her I want to show her my new fort when she gets back!" he said happily.

Neji nodded and gave Sasuko a weak smile. "I will be sure to tell her," he said. He bowed to Naruto and Sasuko and trudged back to the ornate carriage where Honan was waiting. He climbed the steps without a look back. Soon the horses began to pull and the wheelhouse went out of sight.

Naruto and Sasuko went back to building the box. Now that all the joists were cut, it was put together very quickly. "How did you learn to build things with wood like this Daddy?" asked Sasuko, holding up a fresh board.

Naruto grinned as he drove in the nails. "It was all Jiraiya's fault." Sasuko looked at him blankly. "Not your brother," explained Naruto. "The other Jiraiya. My old master. I learned about this sort of thing on my travels with him."

"You built boxes?" asked Sasuko confused.

Naruto smiled and shook his head. "Nope, we rebuilt a hotel." Sasuko handed him another board.

"A hotel? Why did you have to rebuild a whole hotel?"

"Not the whole thing, just part of it." Naruto stopped his hammering and looked wistful for a second. "It was this little place near this hot springs. Ero-sen…" The Hokage gave an embarrassed cough. "I mean, Jiraiya-sensei was trying to... make friends with the lady who owned it, only there was this leader of a really tough gang in a nearby town who thought that she was his girlfriend. He got angry that Jiraiya-sensei was trying to be friends with this woman, so he took his gang and was going to burn down the hotel."

"Wait," said Sasuko tilting his head. "I thought you said he wanted the woman to be his girlfriend?"

Naruto sighed. "He did. She didn't want to be his girlfriend because he was really mean."

"So… why did he try to burn down the hotel? That seems like a stupid way to get someone to like you!" Sasuko said mystified.

Naruto laughed. "You're right about that kid!" He looked over at Sasuko and smiled. "Anyway, there was this big fight and the inn got... a little bit broken. So, Jiraiya promised his lady friend that we would not rest until we rebuilt the hotel for her."

Sasuko handed his Father some nails. "Wow, he must have been very nice."

"Jiraiya-sensei was always nice... to pretty women," said Naruto, taking the nails.

"Was the innkeeper-lady pretty?"

Naruto smirked. "Oh yeah."

"Oh." Sasuko stopped and tilted his head for a second. "Was she prettier than Mommy?"

Naruto stopped hammering and glanced over at him. He shook his head. "Nobody is prettier than Mommy." He started hammering again. "The bigger problem was that this lady was so pretty that when it came time to start working on fixing the inn, Jiraiya-sensei spent all of his time talking to her and taking her out for picnics and soaking with her in the hot springs while me and my shadow clones did all the construction," Naruto said darkly.

After awhile he smiled again. "Anyway, that is pretty much how I learned to build things out of wood. I didn't use it much until Hinata and I moved in here."

Sasuko nodded and watched his Father work. He was quiet for a while handing Naruto more nails and boards. "Kichiko says Uncle Neji looked really nervous before." Sasuko said breaking the silence. "Do you think there's something wrong?"

Naruto shrugged. "He's probably just worried about cousin Hishyoni. This is why you should always tell someone where you are going. Otherwise, your family will worry about you. That's what parents do," He rested his hammer and turned to look at his youngest son "And brothers and sisters and cousins too… Aren't you a little worried that she's missing?"

Sasuko shook his head. "Nope. She's tough, and scary. And from what Uncle Neji says, it sounds like she'd be even tougher and scarier because she's mad. Kichiko says we shouldn't worry about her… he says we should worry more about whoever she runs into."


	44. Chapter 17: Loyalty and Friendship pt2

The door to the shop rang. Ino looked up from the ledger and frowned. "Make sure your dog doesn't break anything," she called out. The Inuzuka girl gave her a venomous look, but kept her tongue. Her dog grumbled noisily.

Mako Aburame gave each of them a nudge back, and stepped forward to take the lead. He cautiously approached Ino and gave her a small smile. "Good afternoon Akimichi-san," he said with a quick bow. "By any chance… might your daughter Inoji be around?"

Ino put down her pen and sat up. She stared at the dirt, blood, bruises and mud covering Tsudemi, Mako and Akakaru. Gods only knew what the three of them had gotten themselves into. Some sort of minor criminal activity no doubt. "Inoji is working right now," she said coldly. "She doesn't have time to play."

Mako nodded. "We know, we just need to ask her... a quick question. Would that be okay?" He gave her his winningest smile.

Ino frowned at them with obvious distaste. Mako stretched his smile out further. "Please? It will only take a minute."

Ino sighed. "She's in the back cleaning up. Wait right there." Ino stood up. Keeping an eye on them the entire time, she edged her way to the stock room door and opened it a span. "Inoj!" she called, watching Tsudemi and Mako carefully. "I need you out front please!"

* * *

Tsudemi surreptitiously shoved Mako. "I told you it wasn't going to work," she hissed. "She'd never leave us alone for a second."

Mako gave a small shrug. "I wasn't expecting it to work. Like General Nara says: 'In order to be victorious you must have plans within plans within plans'."

"So what now genius?" asked Tsudemi sarcastically.

"Now we ask Akimichi-san real nice to give us what we need," said Mako dryly.

Tsudemi looked surprised. "Really?"

"No! That would never work. Watch and learn..."

* * *

Inoji shuffled out of the back room and glanced up at her mother. "What is it Mom?" she mumbled.

Ino waved to the front. "Your friends are here to see you." Inoji's eyes widened. She shot a glance towards Mako and Tsudemi and then turned back to her mother. "It's all right," said Ino with a dismissive wave. "Go talk to them, just don't take too long. Remember, once you've swept up, you still have to catalogue the stockroom."

Mako ginned at Inoji and nodded. "Thank you Akimichi-san!" He gave Tsudemi a nudge.

"Yeah, thanks," said Tsudemi darkly.

Ino watched as Inoji nodded and plodded over to her group, where they all started whispering with each other. Ino sighed again and muttered a silent prayer that those two hooligans in the making wouldn't get Inoji into too much trouble.

* * *

Inoji slowed as she approached them. "What happened to you guys? You look terrible. Did you get into a fight again Tsudemi?" mumbled Inoji nervously looking back at her mother.

"No!" snapped Tsudemi. Mako nudged her. "Well... yes actually... but it wasn't my fault this time. I didn't start it."

"Much," said Mako under his breath.

"What was that bug-boy?" growled Tsudemi.

"I believe you mean to say that you didn't start it... much." said Mako smugly. Tsudemi glared at him.

"What happened?" asked Inoji again, more urgently this time.

Tsudemi took a deep breath. "This crazy chunin bitch said that she would give me a lesson in throwing kunai if I could beat her in a sparring match. So we start the match and then about halfway through she goes all psycho killer. She knocked out this wimp here," she said punching Mako on the arm, "wailed on me, and tried to kill Akakaru."

"That's horrible!" gasped Inoji.

Mako rubbed his sore arm. "Yeah, well, Tsudemi was all for tracking this girl down and getting revenge, but I managed to convince her that maybe getting bandaged up before going another round with this chick and getting our collective asses handed to ourselves again was a good idea," said Aburame boy smugly. Tsudemi scowled at him.

Inoji looked nervously back and forth at them. "Well, um... okay… so, what do you need me for?"

Tsudemi turned on her, still scowling. "Help us! Duh! Get us some bandages or something!"

"I'd like an aspirin actually," said Mako with a slight grin. "That chunin nailed me across the head and I have a killer headache." Inoji kept staring and the floor. "Please may I have an aspirin?" asked Mako politely.

Inoji gave a slight nod. "Okay," she said her voice quavering. "Aspirin is down this aisle, and you can find bandages over…"

"We don't have any money," hissed Tsudemi. "We can't buy anything." Inoji froze. Her hands started to shake. Tsudemi pushed her gently in the shoulder with her fist. "Look, we just need you to throw some stuff out the back when nobody's looking."

Inoji looked up at Tsudemi and Mako, licked her lips and looked away. "I can't just take things from the store, guys… It… it doesn't work that way."

"So you're not going to help us?" asked Tsudemi in a cold voice. She took a step forward, but was stopped by Mako.

"Tsudemi," he said forcefully, before turning back to Inoji "Look, Inoji… We're not asking for much. Just some bandages for Tsudemi and Akakaru and a couple of aspirin for me. That's not too bad between friends is it?"

Inoji shook her head. "You need a bandage too. That cut on your head is pretty deep."

Mako smiled at her. "Can you get that for us?"

Inoji glanced up and saw her mother frown and quickly look away. "You can't ask me to do this. I'll get into trouble."

Tsudemi snorted. "I thought you were our friend," she said harshly. "We'd do anything for you. We got in fights for you, we were the ones at school who stood up for you. We were the only ones at the Academy who ever took the time to help you. We got into so much trouble for your sake, and now you act like you don't give a crap about us?" She shook her head. "If this is how you treat your friends, I think we're better off without you. Come on Mako, let's get out of here."

"Wait! Please!" implored Inoji, sniffling. "I do want to help, I just can't take anything from the store. That's stealing! I'll get into so much trouble with my mom!"

Tsudemi scoffed and kept on walking. Mako grabbed her arm. "Wait, will you?" he said calmly. "You should really learn how to listen to people." He turned and looked at Inoji. "So Inoji, you know how things work here better than we do, what can you do to help us?"

Inoji rubbed her nose and looked up. "Does this mean that you guys will still be my friends?"

Mako gave her a small smile. "Despite the fact that Ms. grumpy-pants here is still trying to storm off in a huff, yes we are still your friends. We do need your help right now though," he said in a soothing voice. "We're not going to ask you to take anything, but please, think. Can you think of a way to get us what we need?"

"Go to the hospital?" Inoji said quietly. Tsudemi's scowl got larger. "Tsudemi still looks mad," mumbled Inoji, shuffling her feet.

Mako sighed. "We can't go to the hospital. We're not shinobi yet. If we go there they'll notify our parents... and then we'll be in trouble." Inoji glanced up at Tsudemi and then looked down again at the floor. Mako took a deep breath and smirked. "Don't worry about Tsudemi. She always looks mad. If you see her smiling that's when you know you're in trouble."

"What?" barked Tsudemi. Ino looked up sharply.

"Shut up!" hissed Mako. He turned back to Inoji. "Look," he said softly, "We just need some medical stuff. If you hurt yourself here, how would you get it?"

Inoji wiped her face, and thought. She glanced up at her mother who was still pretending to work on the books while listening in on this conversation. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay," she said in a whisper. She took another breath to calm herself even more. "I know just what to do." She turned and started walking back up to the counter.

Tsudemi sighed. "Miracle of miracles," she thought. "Bug-boy managed to calm down the walking panic attack."

"See?" said Mako smugly. "We just needed to give her half a chance, that's all."

"Mom!" Inoji called out loudly. "Tsudemi and Mako got hurt. Is there some way for us to help them a little bit?"

"Hurt in the store?" said Ino loudly. She straightened up behind the counter and scowled at the pair of them. "I knew letting you two in would be trouble." Tsudemi and Mako shrank back.

"This was your big plan?" Tsudemi muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Actually… No. I was not expecting to throw myself on the nonexistent mercy of Akimichi-san," said Mako with a worried smile. The stool behind the counter scraped back. "Okay, new plan," said Mako hurriedly. "When she comes at us… run."

"They didn't get hurt in the store mom," Inoji clarified. "They just came in here looking for some help."

To their surprise, Ino sighed, Ducked behind the counter and pulled out a large medical kit. She crooked her finger at them. "Come here the two of you." Reluctantly they stepped up to the counter.

Ino grabbed Mako's jaw and tilted his head towards the light. She looked at his forehead and tsked. She reached out for Tsudemi, but she flinched away, so Ino just stood there looking her over. She sighed and popped the large clasps on the medical-nin field kit. "Been fighting, have you?" she asked dryly as she began pulling out medical supplies.

Mako grinned sheepishly at her. "No 'mam! We just... had a really big training mishap, that's all."

Ino raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked skeptically. She motioned Mako over took out a brown bottle. "You took a blow to the head hard enough to split the skin and raise a bump that size. I'm willing to bet money that you were out cold." She opened the bottle and dabbed a cotton ball in it. "Hold still please, this will sting." Mako winced as she touched the cotton ball to his forehead. "I'm going to use some butterfly bandages to hold it closed while I put in some chakra sutures. Then I'm going to give you a quick exam for a concussion." Ino held out one fingertip, which started to glow. She ran her finger up and down the edges of the wound, which closed up. She placed her palm on Mako's forehead and concentrated. "Whoever brained you knew what they were doing," she muttered. "Just enough damage to put you out and barely a hair more." She looked up at Mako and gave him a half smile. "Well, you check out… more or less. Just watch your head for the next couple of days. Is there anything else I can do?"

"My head does kind of ache. May I please have an aspirin?" Ino opened a bottle and handed him one.

Then she turned to Tsudemi. "All right, now it's your turn."

"I'm good... thanks," grumbled Tsudemi taking a step back.

Ino frowned. "Young lady, I am a fully trained medical-nin. I can tell what you have injured just from how you are standing." She pointed. "Left ankle sprain, right knee strain, abrasions on both legs, minor scrapes and bruises on both arms, a nasty looking blade cut on your right hand that I will want to look at in closer detail, and four bruised ribs." She gave Tsudemi a stern frown. "Now you can either come over here and let me take care of them properly, or you can go to Konoha Hospital and see if they can squeeze you in. I will tell you now though, I will make you fill out far fewer forms than the hospital will. I also won't tell your father."

Tsudemi looked down. Her lips twitched in a snarl, but she did step forward. "Inoji," said Ino sharply, "I want you to watch this. Even Sakura had to start somewhere."

"Who?" asked Inoji.

"Sakura? The chief of surgery at Konoha Hospital?" said Ino testily. "Married into the Uchiha clan?" Inoji shook her head timidly.

Mako spoke up. "Doctor lady, pink hair, always either pregnant or holding a baby," he said with a small grin. Ino shot him a look of such intense study that he flinched back a little.

To his surprise, Ino smiled. "That… was a fairly accurate description." Ino finished wrapping Tsudemi's ankle and bandaging up her hand. "Okay, I've taken care of your ankle and hand. However, to take care of your knee and ribs, I'm going to need you to take off your shirt and your pants. And that means you!" she snapped, stabbing a finger at Mako, "need to turn around! And no peeking!"

"Why?" asked Tsudemi. "We go skinny dipping together all the time. I don't care if he sees me in my underwear."

Ino's lips became a hard thin line. She shot a chilly look at Inoji. "I've never gone swimming with them Mom," her daughter said in a terrified squeak.

Ino's head slowly rotated and she blasted Tsudemi and Mako with her wintry gaze. Tsudemi just stared back defiantly while Mako blushed and pretended to be alternately looking at either the ceiling or his shoes.

"Well... whatever you do in your free time is your business, but in my store you follow my rules. And I say he turns his back."

Mako raised his hand like he was in the classroom. Ino acknowledged him with a nod. "I think it might be best if I waited outside… Thank you Akimichi-san!" he called over his shoulder as the door jangled shut.

Ino stared around suspiciously. "He probably left one of his insects in here to spy… Boys are all the same."

Inoji shook her head. "Not Mako. He would never do something like that."

Ino humphed. "Just wait until he gets older," she muttered. She turned quickly to Tsudemi. "Hurry up! I want to get those wounds bandaged up." She narrowed her eyes. "And don't think I'm not going to tell your father about you going swimming without any clothes on!"

Tsudemi shrugged out of her shirt. "Go ahead and tell him. Dad goes skinny dipping with us too."

Ino scowled, but she wrapped up Tsudemi's ribs. She dabbed disinfectant on the scratches on Tsudemi's calves and then wrapped up her knee. "Okay, you can get dressed now. Inoji?" Ino called to her daughter. "Go find that boy and tell him that it's safe for him to come back in."

Inoji nodded and shuffled out of the door. Ino turned her gaze back to Tsudemi. She watched her quietly as Tsudemi pulled her clothes back on. "So… How is your father these days?"

Tsudemi shrugged. "He's good," she said looking away.

Ino waited to see if anything else was forthcoming. After a long pause, she cleared her throat gently. "Well, I'm glad to hear it," Ino said with a forced smile. "We were all so worried when we heard about…"

"How long do I have to keep these bandages on?" interrupted Tsudemi, rotating her torso.

"Oh at least a week." Ino watched Tsudemi for a bit and her frown softened. "You know if either your or Kiba need anything at all, I would be more than happy to…"

"And how long do I need to keep the knee and ankle wrapped for?" said Tsudemi, ignoring her.

Ino sighed. "The ankle you can take off in a couple of days. You can come back and I'll wrap it again if it feels tender. The knee I would leave on for a week as well." Ino gave her a quick nod. "Of course, if it starts feeling much better, you could probably take the wraps off sooner. If I recall correctly, both your mother and father healed quite quickly."

Tsudemi nodded once more. She glanced up at Ino and quickly looked away. "Thanks," she muttered and quickly turned for the door.

"Thank you, Tsudemi-chan," said Ino. Tsudemi's hand froze on the door handle. She turned slowly and looked back at Ino. Ino smiled, a little awkwardly, at her. "You've been a good friend to Inoji. I know she has had a… somewhat difficult time at the Academy and she tells me very often how you and Mako look out for her. I just wanted to say thank you."

For the first time since she walked into the store, a small smile played on Tsudemi's lips. "You're welcome Akimichi-san," she said quietly. "You know… Inoji is a really nice kid. None of the other kids at the academy want to be her friend because she is .. different, but me and Mako don't mind. None of those jerks want to be our friends either." Tsudemi smiled and shrugged. "I do know she'd like to hang out with us more, if you think it would be okay."

Ino's face went very still. "I would... have to think about that. Inoji has a lot of responsibilities."

Tsudemi nodded. "Sure, we get that. But she'd still be more than welcome to go out with us when she has the free time. Me and Mako do all sorts of fun stuff, we go exploring, look for new bugs, sneak in and watch the ANBU training, go camping... I'm sure she could work her chores around that ."

"I see." Ino sat back in her chair. "I don't... object to Inoji being friends with you... It's just that..." Ino sighed. "I would have one small favor to ask… If you are going to keep being friends with her… Could you please make sure that Inoji stays safe and doesn't get into trouble?" Tsudemi looked blank. Ino waved her hand, trying to explain. "Could you not do any of those activities that you mentioned? Both you and Mako have a... reputation."

Tsudemi stiffened. "Excuse me?"

Ino sighed. "Your mother was always so quick to take offence as well." She cleared her throat and tapped a finger on her chin. "Inoji is such a shy, quiet girl. She's never had many friends, she's never had much confidence, she's never shown much enthusiasm for anything. You and Mako have such… exciting lives… I just worry that she will end up getting hurt... or getting into trouble."

Tsudemi nodded coolly. "Don't worry… Mako and me will get into all of the trouble. We'll make sure we're the ones who get hurt." She reached out and grabbed the doorknob. "You do a really good job keeping her safe and making sure she doesn't get into trouble." Tsudemi swallowed nervously, but then looked up defiantly at Ino. "But you know... someday trouble is going to find her no matter how hard you try to keep her safe. My Mom always used to say that getting hurt when you were younger was good practice for when you grow up."

Ino chewed on her lip. "That's what I'm afraid of. She's just not ready."

Tsudemi gave her a sad smile. "We all grow up, whether we're ready to or not. I wish I had more friends around me when my turn came." She turned back to the door. "You should let her hang out with us more. If there is one thing Inoji does need, it's toughening up."

Ino gave her a long slow appraisal. "You're pretty wise for a young delinquent."

Tsudemi barked a low chuckle. "And you're pretty nice for a stuffy shopkeeper, but I wasn't going to say anything." The door rang and closed behind her.

Mako sauntered up smirking, with Inoji in tow. "Hey," he called out. "You all fixed up? Are you ready to go out for revenge?"

Tsudemi gave a noncommittal grunt. "Your mom's not too bad… for a mom," she called out to no one in particular.

Mako and Inoji looked up. "Excuse me?" asked Mako.

Tsudemi gave him a look. "Not you," she pointed at Inoji, "Her." Tsudemi turned and looked at Inoji. "Your mom… She seems okay."

Inoji gave her a shy nod. "She's very… caring… Yes."

Tsudemi pursed her lips and looked around. "So Inoji… What time are you all done here?" she asked quietly.

Inoji scuffed the ground with her foot. "When my mom closes the shop... that's usually around six."

"Well, I figured that maybe we could all hang out afterwards?"

"Really?" said Inoji excitedly. She took a breath and her face fell. "I don't know if my mom will let me. I mean, I'll have to ask."

"I bet if you ask her now… she'll say it's okay," said Tsudemi quietly.

Inoji quickly looked up. "You talked to her? For me?"

Tsudemi exhaled through her nose. "You'd better hurry back inside. Your mom… she needs your help you know?"

"Did she really say I could? I can't believe you asked her if I could hang out with you guys!" asked Inoji, grinning.

Tsudemi gave her a dour look. "Just get back in there will you? Hurry before she changes her mind!"

Inoji bounced excitedly on her feet. She jumped forward, gave the pair of them an excited hug, and bounded back into the pharmacy. Mako looked askance at Tsudemi. "What was that all about?"

"What was what all about?" asked Tsudemi smiling at the sky.

"You just invited Inoji to hang out with us. You're being nice." He took a step back and frowned at her suspiciously. "You're never nice."

Tsudemi snorted. "Well maybe I just felt like being nice today. You got a problem with that... bug boy?" She started walking.

Mako grinned and shook his head. "Nope, I'm totally fine with that... you Rabid mutt." He jogged after her, trying to keep up with her long strides. "Hey, you do realize that if Inoji starts hanging out with us, we'll have to give her a nickname too…"

Tsudemi glanced back at him. "Why?"

"Why?" Mako asked incredulously. "Look if we're all going to hang out we've all got to have a nickname. Rabid mutt, Bug boy and... Inoji, just sounds weird."

"It sounds like you're trying to make us into superheroes."

Mako shook his head impatiently. "It's the aesthetics of the thing. Trust me... she needs a nickname."

"Whatever," said Tsudemi in a bored voice. She thought for a second. "Fine. We'll call her what all the idiot dorks at school call her… It worked for me and you."

Mako stopped in his tracks. "Fatty?" He stared at Tsudemi. "You cannot be serious."

"Why not? They called me Rabid mutt, and they called you Bug boy."

Mako rubbed his nose. "Every so often I think we've made a breakthrough with your attitude, and then I find out we're right back where we started... Don't you think calling her 'fatty' is a bit insensitive?"

Tsudemi frowned. "No more than calling me a mutt."

"Yeah, but you're tough. Think about it…what does Inoji do whenever anyone at school calls her fat?"

Tsudemi rolled her eyes. "Pretend she's not crying."

Mako pointed at Tsudemi. "Right. Don't you'd think she'd take it the wrong way if her two newest friends walked up to her and said 'Hey Fatso! How's it going?'"

"Fine," grumped Tsudemi. She started walking again. "I guess I can see your point... So why don't you suggest something?"

Mako hummed to himself while he thought. Finally he snapped his fingers. "In the first year at the academy, didn't a bunch of kids call her 'the giant' because she was so tall?"

Tsudemi shook her head. "You can't call her a giant."

"Why not? She's still tall."

Tsudemi laughed. "Everyone is tall compared to you, Shorty."

Mako grinned up at her. "I'd rather stick with Bug boy, thank you very much."

Tsudemi shook her head. "Rabid mutt, Bug boy, and the Giant... We do sound like stupid superheroes."

Mako nudged her. "Or supervillains… We could be a totally kick ass group of supervillains." Tsudemi laughed again. They walked in silence for a few steps. Then Mako nudged her again. "So… No revenge today?"

Tsudemi hesitated and then shook her head. "No. My foot needs to get better first. We'll track that bitch down in a week or so… get her when she least expects it."

Mako smirked up at her. "Wow! First Inoji and now giving up on a chance for vengeance. You really are turning into a great big softy aren't you?"

Tsudemi shoved him. "Shut up Bug boy."

Mako giggled and shoved her back. "No, you shut up you Rabid mutt."

Tsudemi wound up to push him again when Akakaru ran back down the street barking madly. Tsudemi froze and sniffed the air. She grinned and bolted towards the village gate.

"Hey! Slow down!" yelled Mako sprinting after her. "What did she say? Why are you running?"

Tsudemi went even faster as Akakaru danced around her heels. "It's Dad!" she called over her shoulder. "Dad's back!"


	45. Chapter 18: The Past that Haunts: Part 1

**Chapter 18: The Past that Haunts**

Karua shot a skeptical sideways glance at her little brother. He was singing a cheerful little tune to himself as he walked alongside her. She sighed and consulted the list her mother gave them. "Let's see, that takes care of the latest batch of clothes. We've got the family picture, the gifts from the weapons district, and the pharmacy left," she muttered.

Shikasu sighed dreamily, his voice full of counterfeit joy. "I can't wait!"

Karua eyed him again. "Yeah…" She said hesitantly. Something was definitely up. He was absolutely miserable, yet he hadn't even once gotten that shifty eyed look that meant he was thinking about sneaking off. She couldn't make up her mind if he was doing all of this to annoy her or...

Shikasu caught her staring. "What?"

"What what?"

"That was a 'Why are you looking at me like that?' what." Shikasu asked in a saccharine sweet voice.

"I'm wondering when you're going to try and sneak off."

"What?!" Shikasu exclaimed, pressing a hand dramatically to his chest "I wouldn't dream of abandoning my beloved older sister!" She walked on in silence, trying to ignore him. She could easily deal with her lazy little brother with his nose buried in some video game, who communicated with only a series of grunts. This new 'chipper' version, happy to be with her, trying to be helpful, was starting to become… troublesome. Shikasu noticed her staring again and gave her a little wave. Yeah... He was totally up to something

She looked up at the store front. "Good Art," she read off the sign. As far as names went, it was straight to the point, and slightly eccentric ... From what she knew of Sai-san, it fit him perfectly. "Well, here we are."

Shikasu peered inside the open front. "Huh."

"Huh? What do you mean huh?"

Shikasu shrugged. "Well given all that I've heard about Sai-san, I was kind of… you know... expecting more pictures of naked people."

Karua rolled her eyes. "Drawing nude figures is a perfectly valid form of artistic expression."

"Well I heard that he has a whole room in the back which is just full of pictures and statues of naked people."

Karua looked skeptical. "Really. And who told you that?"

"Jiraiya Uzumaki-Huyga from school."

Karua snorted. "And you believed him?"

Shikasu shrugged again. "Well, he did say that if he were Sai, he would have put all the nudes out front, to drum up business. Then he started talking about marketability and resale value of collectible pieces. So yeah, I kind of believed him."

Karua stepped into the store and waited. Shikasu stood next to her humming something tuneless. She looked down at him. "Would you stop that please? You're giving me a headache." Shikasu shrugged and began to whistle instead. Karua glared at him. "You're not helping."

Shikasu stopped and began rocking back and forth on his feet. Together they waited for a bit, but no one appeared. "Well, I guess there's no one home," said Shikasu. He glanced up at his sister. "Do you want to come back later or…"

"We'll wait," stated Karua firmly.

Shikasu shrugged again and wandered deeper into the store. He began walking around staring at the pictures and prodding at the sculptures. "Don't touch anything." Karua warned him. "We can't afford to have anything in here break."

Shikasu made a face at her. "I'm not five you know." He stopped in front of some family portraits hanging up on the wall. He chuckled.

"What is it?" asked Karua, heading over next to him.

"It's a picture of the Hokage's family," he snickered. "Look at the face Jiraiya is making!" He moved on to the next one. "Oh, hey here's one of the Uchiha clan." He glanced over at his sister and smirked. "Your boyfriend is in it as well."

"He's not my boyfriend," said Karua quietly, staring at the portrait.

Shikasu tilted his head. "Wow, his mom looks almost as scary as our mom. I didn't think that was possible." He pointed. "Ha! Mibuki is getting popped in the face!"

Karua looked down at him questioningly. "Mibuki?"

"Don't you know your boyfriend's own family? Mibuki Uchiha! He's a year ahead of me in the Academy. The kid's a brainiac. He does all this advanced study and research stuff with sealing jutsu…" Shikasu shook his head. "Don't ask me to explain it." He turned and began walking away. "He hangs out with Jiraiya all the time."

Shikasu stopped and discovered a table full of little statuettes. "Cool!" He said as he eagerly stepped over and began picking them up one by one. He held them up for his sister's inspection. "Check it out!"

Karua looked at them and frowned. "These guys look evil… Who are they?"

Shikasu rolled his eyes. Duh! The Akatsuki! The villains from Shinobi Legends Volume Three? See the little cloud pattern on their coats?"

Of course Karua had heard of them. Who hadn't? She just didn't see much point to memorizing all the physical attributes of a bunch of shinobi long dead… aside from what it took to get an 'A' in her history course that is. She fingered one who had what looked like the open mouth of a Venus flytrap growing out of his shoulders. "Which one is this guy?"

Jiraiya gave a disgusted grunt. "Zetsu?! Do you know how Mom and Dad talk about fighting all the white Zetsu clones during the fourth ninja war? That's him."

"Freaky." Karua put down the statue. "Which one is Hidan?" Hidan… the one who killed her father's sensei.

Shikasu waved a hand vaguely at the display. "Find the guy holding the triple bladed scythe." He wandered over to the corner where a cloth was covering something huge. "I wonder what's under here?" he murmured, lifting the corner of the cloth.

"Shikasu, I really think that we shouldn't be poking around…"

Shikasu yelped and dropped the corner of the cloth. He stumbled back and knocked his hip against the table. The small group of wooden Akatsuki figurines knocked together and fell over.

"I told you not to touch anything!" Karua jumped over and checked the figurines. She began to stand them up one by one. "What's the matter with you?" she snapped. She glanced up at her brother and stopped. Shikasu was white faced and staring at the sheet.

There was a rustling noise behind them. Shikasu whipped his head around to see a young girl peeping around a curtain that closed off the front of the store from the back room.

Karua turned and gave the girl a smile. "Hi," she said brightly. "We're looking for Sai-san. Is he here?" The girl stared at them with large round eyes for a second and then vanished into the back.

Shikasu watched the curtain sway back and forth for a few moments. "Okay, this is getting a little too creepy for me, man."

Karua glanced at her brother. "What? she's probably just going into the back to get him.

"Yeah," said Shikasu, still staring after the child. "Scary statues and weird mute children. This store is a horror movie just waiting to happen." He longingly looked back at the entrance. "I vote we come back some other time... Like never."

Karua sneered at him. "What, you're afraid? The master of 'Silent Village Two' the self proclaimed scariest video game in existence? You're freaked out by some little girl and a statue?" She stepped towards the cloth.

"I really don't think that..." started Shikasu in a warning tone.

Kartua shook her head, lifted the cloth up and pulled it away. She glanced down and flinched. "Oh." was all she could say.

The statue was about a meter tall and seamlessly carved out of a dark wood. The light from outside glistened over its surface making it look like it was writhing in pain. It depicted a twisted, malformed figure. It upraised hands were chained and there was a forest of poles sticking out of its back. It appeared to have multiple eyes which were hidden behind a blindfold. There was a bit clenched tightly between pointed teeth.

Karua stared. "Now that's... creepy," she said quietly.

There was a noise from the back. Both Shikasu and Karua turned to stare. It sounded almost like footsteps, but there was a wooden hollow sound to each one. Shikasu swallowed. "Oh Gods, it's them," he said with a quaking voice.

"It's who?" hissed Karua.

"The evil cultists!" he said through clenched teeth. "I've seen this a thousand times! It starts off with weird kids and freaky statues, then we get the cultists who open the forbidden doorway, and out come the ghost nurses with no faces and some big guy with a triangle for a head! We're going to get sacrificed!"

Karua looked at him. "I don't..." She lost her train of thought as the strange steps grew nearer.

Shikasu leaped forward. "Hurry!" he hissed, fumbling with the cloth. "Cover it quick! If they think we haven't seen anything important they might let us live!"

His panic was infectious. The steps were very near now. He scrambled with Karua to pull the cloth over the weird statue. It was harder than it seemed. The cloth kept catching on the poles, then the hands and finally the teeth. They heard the curtain being pulled aside. Cringing they turned to look.

A well worn, but kind face peered out. "Hello!" it said cheerfully. "Mina said you were looking for some help." The man walked further into the room. His legs had an odd swinging gait to them. With each step he took, there was the wooden thump. Karua made a sharp intake of breath watching him. Shikasu leaned to one side so he could peer around the edge of the table. From mid thigh down, the man's legs were made of wood. Clinging to his hand was the little girl with the big eyes.

The man glanced at the table with the rearranged Akatsuki statues and the sheet hastily covering the grotesque statue. He turned back to Shikasu and Karua and gave them a fragile smile. "I'm sorry but I'm afraid the pieces in that corner are not for sale… perhaps I could show you some of my other works?"

Shikasu was staring at the man. He was frozen with his mouth hanging slightly open. Karua took charge. "Um… Our mother asked us to pick up a family portrait?" she said hesitantly. She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a receipt. She nervously handed it over.

The man gave her a kind smile and glanced down at the paper. He looked back up at them and his smile grew. "The Nara order... Of course. I should have recognized you both from the picture."

He paced over to a large hanging file system and began leafing through it. "I apologize but we are really quite a bit behind with all the orders. We've just been terribly busy lately."

"Should we come back later?" Karua asked.

The man gave a small laugh. "Oh no, it won't take but a moment. I just need to find the painting." He boosted the little girl up onto a stool next the filing folders. "You wait here Mina." The girl gave Karua a shy smile and began to kick her feet back and forth. From under her dress winked one flesh foot and one wooden one.

"Got it," said the man. He pulled out a tacked canvas and placed it on a easel. "I think Sai did an excellent job with this one, don't you Mina-chan?" The girl gave a quick nod and looked away, blushing.

Karua took a step forward and looked at the painting. "It looks finished to me." she glanced up at the man. "What's missing?"

The man smiled. "Its frame." He checked a sheet of notes that were in the same folder as the painting, and nodded to himself. He made a series of hand signs, and clapped his hands together. A thin stream of wood sprouted from his palm and began to twist around the painting in an intricate whorl pattern.

"I knew it!" yelled Shikasu triumphantly. "You're Captain Yamato!"

The older man looked up and gave Shikasu a weary smile. "It's... just Yamato these days. I've been retired for a very long time now." He cleared his throat in an uncomfortable manner. "I'm sorry, I just need to concentrate here. The frame your mother requested requires some very delicate work." He turned back to the painting.

Before her little brother could make the poor guy any more uncomfortable, Karua decided to distract him. She gave Shikasu a nudge. "Who is he?"

Shikasu rolled his eyes at her. "You totally need to play more video games Sis." he whispered. "Captain Yamato was assigned to command Team Seven after the Hokage returned from training. Later on as the Fourth War was beginning, he was assigned to protect Uzumaki-sama at some hidden location. The Akatsuki attacked and Yamato ended up getting taken prisoner. He was a captive for almost a year until Team Seven freed him during the assault on Kabuto Yakushi's stronghold." He snorted. "That's the whole plot line of Shinobi Legends-Volume 5."

Yamato looked up from the portrait. "Well, it looks like we have quite the student of history here." He picked up the newly framed picture and turned it so they could see. "If you want, you can observe me working on the frame."

Karua snorted. "The only thing my brother is a student of is video games." She watched silently as the frame grew around the portrait. Karua tilted her head and studied him. "You're a wood user? I thought that was a bloodline trait limited to the first Hokage?" Shikasu elbowed her.

Yamato looked up for a second, studying the ceiling. "Yes… and no." He looked at her and smiled. "Let's just say I'm a special case..."

Shikasu gestured to figurines on the table next to him. "So you got to see the Akatsuki first hand?"

Yamato smiled. "Some of them. The rest I just made to match their reports in the bingo book."

Shikasu grinned at him. "This... is so... cool! I'm actually meeting you! You're like totally the best character in the game, did you know that? Most people playing always pick either Sasuke-san or the Hokage, but you by far have the best moves of any character."

Yamato chuckled. "You flatter me. I'm sure most people don't even remember who I am."

Shikasu eyebrows went up with surprise. "Dude! You survived for a year surrounded by the nastiest bunch of shinobi the world has ever seen! You're one of the only shinobi able to master wood style jutsu. Of course you're famous" He looked at Yamato with admiration in his eyes. "So that means that the big statue there…" he pointed to the cloth-covered figure in the corner.

Yamato gave a quick smile and a nod. "That's the Gedo Mazo."

Shikasu breathed out. "The Demonic statue of the Outer Path," he whispered. "I heard a rumor that Shinobi legends would have had to have an adults only rating if they tried to show it. Nothing I've read even tries to describe it, and you've made a replica." He looked back to Yamato. "Did you see it when you were a prisoner?"

Yamato shifted uncomfortably. "I was unconscious most of the time I was being held. But I did see it… once. And that was enough."

"When?" asked Shikasu eagerly. "Ow!" Karua gave him a second nudge… hard.

"I want to apologize for my little brother Yamato-san. He sometimes gets very excited... about video games."

Yamato smiled when he saw the elbow. "It's all right. The Medical-nin recommend that I try to talk about it more. They say it helps." He looked up again and took a deep breath. Mina hopped off her stool and lightly stepped over next to him. She gently took his hand. Yamato looked down at her and smiled, before turning back to his work.

"So… You already know that for over a year they kept me trapped, barely alive. Kabuto tied my life force into this huge tree that he was using to grow Zetsu clones. He also had a piece of the First Hokage bound in there as well."

Yamato pulled his hands away from the picture frame and coughed. The little girl Mina patted him on the forearm until he recovered. "I would drift in and out of my mindless stupor. Only the most violent noises could cause me to stir. All throughout the Fourth war I was simply an unthinking cog in a giant machine, producing more clones to kill my fellow shinobi." He blinked quickly. Mina looked up at him and gave his hand a little squeeze. Yamato looked down at her and smiled. "After the war, Kabuto must have transported the tree into his new mountain hideout. I remember starting to wake when the mountain cracked open." Yamato swallowed, his eyes stared far away at nothing.

"I was in a huge cavern. There was a sharp explosion and everything shook. A large crack split down the wall and a huge chunk fell in with an echoing crash. The four of them charged in. Team Seven, the old and the new. I remember squinting my eyes against the glare as Kabuto's monsters snarled and howled with pain. It was Sai who spotted me. 'Yamato-taicho!' he called out, seizing me by my hands and pulling. I remember screeching with pain."

"Pain?" interrupted Jiraiya. "Why?"

"My lower half had completely bonded with the tree. Sai was turning and calling out for Sakura. She was confronted by one of the oni as she made her way to me. She seized it by the arm and hurled him into the wall. She prodded my torso where it was attached to the trunk."

"Her voice was soothing, but her face had that blank look that all medical-nin get when they see something helpless. 'Don't worry Yamato-taicho. We'll soon have you out of there.' She gave me a gentle pat and started a quick examination."

"There was the dull detonation of a series of rasengans, I looked up and Naruto was hanging over my face. 'Captain Yamato!' he said as a cheerful greeting. 'We've finally found you again!'"

"A fourth voice I didn't recognize cut through the din. 'Don't get distracted!' it yelled. 'Watch your backs!' I squinted. Someone was running towards our little reunion, followed by at least twenty of the oni. In my muddled state it took my brain a long time to register who it was. When I finally realized who I was looking at, an icy blast of shock filtered through my chest."

"I tried to point, but my arms were weak. 'Look out!' I croaked. Sai, Sakura and Naruto spun around. Sai's scroll spun open and let loose with a score of his drawn lions. Sasuke Uchiha danced around the lions, who proceeded to fight it out with the ogres. I gestured wildly again, wondering why no one was making a move to stop him. 'Right there!' I said in a hoarse shout, trying to point. 'Stop him!'"

"Everyone stopped and looked back the way I was pointing, even Sasuke. I began to wonder if I was the only one who could see him. I wondered briefly if I was stuck in some sort of horrible nightmare. 'Hey, It'll be alright Yamato-taicho,' said Naruto with a weak grin. 'We'll keep the monsters off of you and get you right out of here.'"

"Sasuke turned back around and looked at me. There was a wry grin on his face. 'I think he's talking about me,' he said in a dry voice. The group of oni finished off the last of Sai's lions and started towards us again with hungry eyes. Sasuke leveled his katana at the advancing ogres. 'Naruto… You help Sakura get him out of there. I can handle these all by myself.'"

"Naruto cleared his throat. 'Are you sure Sasuke?' He pointed up. Swooping along the cavern ceiling were small creatures that I took to be bats. Then one dove lower and I could see the cruelly hooked beak lined with teeth."

"'I might be able to hold off the onmoraki,' said Sai, 'If the pair of you could deal with the oni.' He turned his head and grimly looked to one side. 'And the zombies.'"

Yamato turned back to the frame. The wood began to twist and coil making a vine pattern in a different darker color inlay. "A moan echoed through the cavern. I saw Sakura glance up and flinch. 'How many are there?' I asked."

"Sakura shook her head. 'It will be fine. We just need to focus on getting you out of here.' She went back to her medical scan. I heard the sounds of battle echoing all around me."

"I couldn't see much of the battle. Only that Sai was drawing furiously, producing wave after wave of small birds toting explosive tags. I could tell that whatever Sakura was discovering, it wasn't good. Her face got more and more controlled while her voice grew more and more optimistic. 'Okay now... deep breath... Good!' she'd say cheerfully. 'Now wiggle your toes... Okay, now...'"

"The deafening crack of a thunderbolt echoed through the cavern. Sakura dove over me to protect me from falling debris. There was a high pitched whine in my ear and for a second, I thought that I was deaf. I was almost relieved when the wind release rasenshuriken detonated with a hollow boom. 'Sakura!' yelled Naruto at top volume, 'Hurry it up! We need to get him out of here before the real fighting starts!'"

"There was a sudden absence of sound. I could hear the labored breathing of Sasuke, Naruto and Sai echoing around the cavern. There was a shuffling noise as if a hundred pairs of feet were taking a single step back, and then there was a high pitched chuckle. 'Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, what a joy it is to find that after all this time... you've come to me! Do you know how long I've been looking for the pair of you?'"

"Sakura turned around, her fists clenched. 'Kabuto,' she hissed. 'Sai,' she called standing up. 'Stay with Yamato-taicho. I need to talk to Sasuke and Naruto for a second.' She gave me another reassuring pat and turned away. Before she left, she whispered something into Sai's ear."

Yamato glanced away from his work and wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow. He smiled at the Nara children. "You have to understand… when I first met Sai, he had the best poker face I had ever seen. As time passed and he began to overcome his indoctrination into the Root ANBU, he began to understand and express more emotion. However, to this day, I still avoid playing cards with him."

"Whatever Sakura said, it made his eyes widen. He studied me for a moment and then retreated behind one of his painted on smiles. 'Don't worry Captain Yamato, everything is going to be...' He stopped as I grabbed his arm."

"'Sai,' I said through gritted teeth, 'tell me the truth. One shinobi to another. What is the problem?'"

"Sai hesitated and then his smile faded. 'Your legs have fused with the tree. Sakura has no idea how to safely separate you.' He reached out and put his hand on my head. 'I'm so sorry.'"

"I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. 'In that case, I'd prefer not to be a prisoner anymore.' I met his shocked gaze. 'I want to you free me.'"

"He took a step back. 'I don't think that…'"

"I reached out and snagged his hand. 'It is your duty to deny support and material to the enemy is it not?' I swallowed. "Right now, my body, and my chakra are doing both. Do your duty and take away that support.'"

"Sai glanced over his shoulder to where Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto were exchanging threats with Kabuto. 'Damn it!' I hissed, holding out my hand. 'If you won't help me then give me a kunai! I'll free myself from this miserable existence!"

"Sai blinked. He looked at me, looked at the tree, and then looked back at me again. For the first time I remember, his face broke into a genuine smile. 'Wait right here,' he said happily, 'I have an idea.' He turned and walked away."

"This whole time Kabuto was taunting away in a cheerful tone as more and more of his monsters entered the cavern. I could feel the air thickening with the promise of violence. 'Oh yeah?' snarled Naruto. 'If you think it would be so easy... then why haven't you just wandered over here and killed us yourself then?'"

" 'Excuse me!' Sai's voice echoed through the cavern. 'Excuse me!' he called again. I squirmed and twisted so I could get a look."

"Kabuto was lurking outside my field of vision. I could just barely see Sai walk up in front of and faced the master of the Gedo Mazo with one hand upraised. 'Could you give us a moment please?' Sai asked brightly. 'I need to ask my friends a quick favor."

"There was a cold slithering across the stones. "You dare interrupt Kabuto-Ryu? You dare to ignore the mighty dragon in his own lair?' he roared."

"Sai gave him a fake smile. 'Oh this is hardly an interruption. I just need to ask my friends a quick favor before any fighting starts.' He bowed politely to Kabuto and then tilted his head towards Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura and whispered a short sentence to them. Then he quickly turned, sat down on the floor and took out his scroll and brushes."

"He began to draw. Occasionally he would shoot a quick glance to where Kabuto crawled in the darkness. I heard him slithering around impatiently. Finally curiosity got the better of Kabuto. 'What in the nine hells are you doing?' he asked in an amused voice."

"Sai looked up and tilted his brush sideways, as if he were measuring proportions. 'I'm drawing a picture of you,' he said, and he smiled pleasantly."

"'Why?' asked Kabuto"

"'I've never had the opportunity to draw a dragon from a live model before. I doubt that anyone living ever has.' He paused and squinted up at Kabuto in thought. 'I'd have to be crazy to pass up this opportunity.'"

"Kabuto started to chuckle. His dry laugh echoed around the walls. 'I have to admit, as far as delaying tactics go, yours is novel… and quite entertaining. What ever shall I do with your portrait after I kill you all?… Maybe I should hang it in the entryway?'"

"Sai smiled and provided a few final brush strokes. 'Oh this is not a delaying tactic… It's art, see?' He turned the scroll around and held it up for Kabuto to look upon."

"Kabuto twisted forward. He was even more hideous than the last time I saw him. The last time I laid eyes on him he could at least pass for human if he kept that thick cloak of his on."

"He must have stretched out to ten meters from his head to the tip of his tail. His face had grown longer, thinner and more serpentine. The scales covering his body glistened with a pale, sickly, purple green hue. As he moved, fissures in his skin tore open and weeped a pale yellow fluid."

"He tilted his elongated head this way and that as he stared at the drawing. 'I suppose it is an adequate likeness.' He coiled himself up into a three meter pile. He raised his head and began to slowly weave it back and forth as if he were a real snake preparing to strike. He smiled hungrily down at Sai. "You must have a very good memory to draw my human form. I haven't looked that way in years.' He smiled exposing rows of needle like teeth. A forked tongue flicked out between his lips. 'Were you hoping to trigger some sort of nostalgia? Did you think perhaps that remembering my human self would bring forth some small piece of humanity left in my soul? Perhaps you were hoping I would grant you mercy?'"

"Sai's smile widened. 'Actually I was hoping it would be an adequate diversion.' He spun the scroll, unraveling it further. Drawn neatly above the human Kabuto was a clone of him in his dragon form."

"Both the ink Kabuto and the ink dragon exploded off the page. The dragon entwined itself with Kabuto while the ink man began attacking the real Kabuto's face. They rolled along the floor in a twisting, snarling ball. Together they crashed into the ranks on oni and sent them tumbling."

"Sai's brush flew again and again. A whole menagerie of drawings leaped off the page and joined the chaos. 'Multi shadow clone jutsu!' yelled out Naruto. There was a burst of summoning smoke and the battle grew even more frenzied."

"Sakura and Sasuke ran towards me. Sakura grabbed my hands and pulled. I gritted and ground my teeth as she stretched me as far away from the tree as she could. 'Don't worry,' she said as I cried out, 'this will hurt. But we're sure it will free you.'"

"Sasuke was peering intently at the tree. 'Sakura, you'll have to show me where to cut. I can't distinguish them.'"

"Sakura held me up with one arm. She marked two quick arcs on the bark with one finger, one stretching above my legs and one below. Sasuke readied his katana, it's edge crackled bright with blue lightning chakra."

"'Wait!' I cried out desperately. I pulled one hand away from Sakura and reached out towards Sasuke. He hesitated and looked down at me. His face was a stone mask, but I thought I detected a softness in his eyes."

"'I'm sorry,' said Sakura softly. 'It's the only way. Even if we had weeks to come up with a solution, I don't think we could find anything better than this.'"

"I stared up at the pair of them in shock. My legs? I was going to loose my legs? My mind completely shut down. Naruto screamed a battle cry at the top of his lungs and a series of explosions rocked the cavern. 'Hurry it up guys!' he yelled. 'We can't keep them off of you forever!'"

"I was buffeted by a flock of ink hawks swooping into a flight of onmoraki diving at us. 'Yamato-taicho, please!" wailed Sai. 'It's not perfect, but you'll live! Isn't that worth something?' I'd never heard that much emotion come out of him before."

"It made up my mind for me. I looked up at Sasuke. 'If this doesn't work,' I hissed through gritted teeth as Sakura stretched me again. 'Your third cut takes off my head... agreed?' Sasuke blinked and gave a single nod. I wasn't sure whether I was praying for two cuts, or three. His blade flashed twice. I screamed and blacked out from the pain."

Karua and Shikasu glanced at each other, as Yamato took a long shuddering breath. Mina climbed up the back of the stool the wood user was sitting on and leaned her head against Yamato's back. Slowly his hands started to move again.

"When I came to, there was someone holding me. I cracked open my eyelids and saw Sai looking down. He was smiling, a large relieved smile. 'I'm glad to see you are still with us... Well, most of you anyway. Sakura said it was really touch and go there for a bit.' He looked down at my expression and his face froze. 'I'm sorry,' he said quietly, 'I was trying to make light of the situation. Was that an inappropriate thing to say?'"

"I looked down and felt the world spin. My legs were gone. They felt.. numb like everything below my hips was asleep. I told my toes to move and I swear… somewhere I felt them wiggle. I felt like if I swung them over and stood up, I'd just have to walk around for a little bit to get the feeling back in them. But I could look, and clearly see that they weren't there."

"Sai ducked and covered me with his body as a wave of fire flashed overhead. It snapped me out of my shock. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were battling Kabuto. As I watched, the torsos of various shinobi squeezed from his abdomen and would strike at the three of them with various jutsu. Bone spurs sprang from the floor, poison gas clouds sank through the air, waves crashed, spider webs spun and twisted trying to trap them. And through it all crashed Kabuto, gnashing and tearing and breathing fire. The three were holding him though. It was obvious that it was a very even contest. Kabuto traversed the floor warily twisting back and forth, hemmed in by a slowly advancing Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto. The man who called himself a dragon carelessly crushed the bodies of his fallen oni, onmoraki, and nuribotoke and he circled to keep team seven at bay. 'It's time to give up now.' Sasuke called out in a quiet voice, stalking him. 'We've beaten everything you could throw at us. It's just a matter of time before we win. Give up now and maybe the Villages will show you some mercy,"

"Kabuto laughed at them. 'Well,' he said cheerfully, 'I must say I am almost impressed. I would name the trio of you The Legendary Sannin but that title has been taken by shinobi... much better than you.' He chuckled. 'This has been amusing, but playtime is over. What do you say to us ending this little trifle, hmm?' He began the summoning jutsu series of hand signs.'"

"I nudged Sai, 'Help them,' I said indicating Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. 'Why aren't you doing something?'"

"Sai nodded down at his side there were a line of small holes each the size of a finger stitched down his ribcage hip and thigh. There was a slowly growing puddle of blood underneath him on the floor. 'Doctor's orders,' he said cheerfully. I forced myself to focus and noticed his face glistened with a fine sheen of sweat."

"Kabuto finished the summons and there was a tremendous burst of smoke." Yamato paused and pointed at the statue of the demon of the outer paths. "The Gedo Mazo appeared," he said and swallowed. "It sat there, stock still for a heartbeat and then suddenly it's eyes sprang open. It was such a bowel churning horror to see that thing move. It's eyes fixated on the tree in which I had recently been prisoner and then it opened it's mouth."

"A huge cloud of chakra was pulled from the tree and sucked into the statues gaping maw. It reached forth with it's chained hands and stirred the large lumps that I thought were fruits hanging from the tree. It pulled forth a double handful of twisted white bodies and unceremoniously dumped them between its teeth as well. With a dead stare in it's nine eyes the statue began to chew."

Yamato smiled. "I found it so horrifying, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. Sai put his hand on my jaw and turned my head. He smiled down at me, and I found myself smiling back. Sai coughed and I felt the sticky wetness of his blood soaking through my shoulders as I lay on his lap. 'Are you going to be okay? How did you get hurt?' I asked him, concerned.'"

" 'I'll be fine,' he said with a grin. 'Sakura told me I was well enough to stay back and protect you. Did you know that one of Kabuto's navel snake clones has a bone based jutsu? He shot his finger bones at you once it became clear that we had freed you from the tree. I was clumsy enough to have gotten in the way.' We both stared at each other and started to laugh."

"There was a gagging noise from the Statue. Both Sai and I turned to look. The Gedo Mazo bent it's head forward and vomited forth a crowd of stained figures on to the cavern floor. The humanoid shapes writhed and then slowly stood, revealing themselves to be a fresh batch of oni. Kabuto smiled 'Ahh… reinforcements,' he said happily."

"There was an explosion of smoke. A thick stream of green fluid fell amongst the ogres. They screamed as their flesh bubbled away. Kabuto looked up with a small frown of his face. Sakura was astride Katsuyu. For some reason the battle, as fierce as it was getting, did not seem to be causing myself or Sai much worry. I felt like I was floating in a warm bath. Nothing really seemed to matter much, not my legs or the battle. I reached out and grabbed Sai's hand. 'Thank you Sai,' I said squeezing his fingers. 'Thank you... for all that you have done for me.'

"Sai smiled back. "That is what friends and comrades are for isn't it? Besides,' he said admonishing me, 'Chapter seven in 'How To Make New Friends and Maintain Meaningful Relationships' states that helping people is a good way to earn trust and build a rapport with them… At least I think that's what it says. One of the flying demons tore the pack off my back and ate it.' Sai sighed. 'I'll have to get a new copy and redo all my notes.' We laughed again."

"A detonation shook the roof of the cave as a giant rasengan exploded. Debris fell from the ceiling showering us with small sharp shards. Sai bent and threw his arms over me shielding me yet again. The motion sent a fresh wave of blood oozing from his wounds. 'How can you still move?' I asked him."

"He smiled, his face inches from mine. 'The same reason why you are sitting here calmly talking to me instead of screaming. Sakura used some anesthetic ninjutsu to deaden the pain.'"

"I shook my head in disbelief. 'She is truly an amazing kunoichi. I can barely feel a thing.'"

"Sai grinned again and held up a disposable syringe. 'Don't compliment her too much, when it became clear that the ninjutsu wasn't enough, she also shot us up with morphine.'" Yamato grinned a little and looked over at Shikasu. "That was why Sai and I could have this nice little conversation in the middle of all the fighting and wounds and pain. We were both drugged out of our minds on painkillers."

Yamato sat up a little straighter and began adding a third inlay to the frame. This one was a light golden tone. It looked like wind blown sand clouds swirling amongst the leaves. "Sai and I sat there giggling as the violence raged all around us. I don't know how much morphine Sakura gave us or what the side effects of the anesthetic ninjutsu she used were supposed to be, but neither of us cared much."

"There was only one thing that could have made us look up. 'Enough!' Kabuto roared. 'I will finish the three of you if it is the last thing I do!' He concentrated and the shackles fell away from the Gedo Mazo. It creakily got to it's feet, spread it's arms wide and roared."

"Much later, Sai explained to me that this was part of their plan. In it's chained state the Demonic statue of the outer paths behaves like any other summoned creature. If you can give it enough damage it will un-summon away. Once it is unchained however, it becomes more like a living creature. It can be killed. The plan was to give Kabuto enough confidence that he could win a confrontation, but press him hard enough to convince him that he needed the statue to win."

"Sai slowly pulled out his scroll and brushes. 'I believe, as they say, that is our cue.' He uncapped his brush and clumsily sketched out a giant owl."

" 'Wait… What…' I began as the owl picked me up in one giant claw and tossed me on it's back. Then the owl did the same to Sai."

" 'We both need medical attention, and now is probably the best time to leave while Kabuto is distracted,' Sai called over to me. The owl flapped its wings and we rose into the air."

" 'Distracted?' I asked over the rising wind. I looked down. The Gedo Mazo swung a huge clumsy hand at Katsuyu. The blow connected, but Katsuyu exploded into a thousand smaller slugs to lessen the impact. Sakura tumbled to the ground and the statue raised one enormous foot to crush her."

"Sasuke leaped next to her and exploded in a swirl of purple chakra. The armored figure of the Susano'o sprang up around him and shoulder checked the statue causing it to stumble back. The susano'o pulled out a gargantuan katana blazing with black flame. The blade flicked out at the Demonic statue."

"A snaking mass of glowing chains snapped out of the Gedo Mazo's mouth and snared the susano'o. There was a quiet struggle as Sasuke fought against the pull of the statue. One mighty fist swatted down at the susano'o, but Sasuke managed to catch the blow. I saw the Gedo Mazo's mighty fist slowly force the susano'o arms down"

"Kabuto laughed from his perch on the statue's shoulder as Sasuke and the susano'o were drawn inexorably closer. 'Well Sasuke,' he said in a cheerful voice. 'It looks like today is the day that I finally get my revenge on you, wouldn't you say?'"

"I wish I could have seen this part clearly, but at that moment everything below us was blocked from view. For while Kabuto was ranting, Naruto had scaled the wall of the cavern, positioned himself above the Gedo Mazo, and let go. Mid-plummet, he underwent a full transformation into the Kyubi. I wish I could have seen Kabuto's face as he realized thirty metric tons of primal fury was falling towards his head at terminal velocity."

"The Nine tails crashed into the Gedo Mazo and savagely tore into it with tooth and claw. The Demonic statue was larger and stronger, but the fox was faster. Kabuto let loose some jutsu that burned brighter that the sun, momentarily blinding the fox, and giving the statue a chance to throw it off. The Gedo Mazo stared at the Kyubi as it rose to it's feet and shook. The statues finger crept up it's face and rubbed at its single large eye. It's hand dropped, it's mouth cracked open and the Gedo Mazo let out a huge hiss. The fox arched it's back and snarled back. Warily they began to circle each other."

"The statue took a step forward and the Kyubi pounced. They crashed together in the center of the floor. As they wrestled, the statue's mouth suddenly gaped open and nine ghostly dragons oozed out and began to writhe towards the nine tails. One of them bit one of the Fox's tails and tore loose a swirling red mass of chakra. The Kyubi threw back it's head and screamed in pain. The statue tightened its hold as the other dragons slithered closer."

"The Gedo Mazo jerked back as a large jet of green fluid sprayed out at it's face. Sakura had reformed Katsuyu. The acid missed the statue's eyes but it splashed, burning out huge holes along its upper chest, causing the chains trapping the susano'o to hiss and sputter. With a mighty yank they snapped and the susano'o stepped free. The susano'o's katana slashed at the air and three of the Demonic statues chakra dragons smoked with dark flames. The statue bit those three off and withdrew the other six back into it's mouth."

"I watched the four titans face off as the owl soared out the hole in the mountain." Yamato paused from his work, lost in his thoughts. "After a year of being a prisoner, the fresh air was exhilarating. We were circling, looking for the shinobi camp. I had to keep talking to keep Sai awake, the blood loss was getting to him and he was growing weak. There was a flash of light, followed a split second later by a thunderous roar. I looked back to where the mountain was exploding in an eruption of chakra. This was followed by a tower of black flame and a howling, torturous, screech. Then what was left of the mountain collapsed in on itself, and all was silent."

Yamato blinked and went back to the picture frame. "I'm sure you know the rest… They dug out the Hokage, Sasuke-san and Sakura-san. Kabuto made a run for it, but Kakashi-sempai and Anko caught up to him." Yamato smiled. "Sai and I made it to a field medical unit. They patched him up and replaced some blood. They did what they could for me."

Yamato looked around the store and sighed. He rose from his stool and took the portrait to a large roll of coarse brown paper. He started to carefully wrap it. "For the longest time I felt useless," he said softly. Mina hopped away from the stool, circled around and leaned against him. Yamato smiled down at her. "But I'm getting over that, a little bit more each day," he said with a happy note in his voice.

Yamato cleared his throat delicately. He shifted and held out the newly wrapped parcel. "So… Here's your order. I'm sorry if I troubled you with my tale…"

"That... was so... amazing!" squeaked Shikasu. "Do you think you could do a little statue of Kabuto? And the Hokage and Sakura-san and Sasuke-san? Ooh! And the Kyubi and the susano'o and Katsuyu too? And then maybe could you make a scale model of the whole mountain and show me in a play by play exactly what happened?! That part is, like, the hardest battle in the game! I've only managed to beat it once, and that was by the skin of my teeth and completely by accident!"

Karua clapped a hand down on her brother's head to keep him from exploding with exuberance. She grinned weakly at Yamato. "I'm terribly sorry Yamato-san. My brother… He just gets really excited…"

Yamato nodded, with a smile on his face. "About video games… yes. I gathered that."

Shikasu squirmed out from under his sister's restraint. "No seriously, how did they…" He was cut off as Karua clamped a hand over his mouth.

Karua gave Yamato a deep bow. "Yamato-san, I would like to thank you for sharing your story with us." She grabbed the picture and stuck it under one arm. "I apologize for our hasty departure, but we really must get going."

Yamato nodded farewell to them as Karua dragged her muttering brother out of the shop. "Video games?" he asked himself in an amused tone. He shook his head and began straightening up. "And apparently I have better moves than either Sasuke or Naruto. Hmm." He began to whistle a cheery tune.

* * *

"…So the key has got to be Katsuyu," Shikasu grumbled under his breath. "I maxed out the Susano'o and the Kyubi transformation, but I put more training points into Sakura's healing jutsu than her offensive attacks. I wonder if… Ack!" He stopped talking as his sister shook him.

"What was that?" asked Karua sharply.

"What was what?"

"That was so rude!" snapped Karua. "You were sitting there all politely interested in the man's story and then all of a sudden you blurt out that it was all because you wanted to get some hints on how to beat a video game?"

Shikasu knocked her hand away. "Hey, lay off. It's a hard game okay? I need all the help I can get!"

"You do need help, Gods dammit! You should have…" started Karua. She turned at a tug on the back of her shirt. "Yes?" she asked turning.

The young girl, Mina was behind her. She held out a scrap of paper in one hand. "Papa Yamato said you needed this," she lisped. "He said you need the receipt if your mommy doesn't like it and wants to return it."

"Oh," said Karua surprised. She took the paper. "Is this... um... just for the frame, or will it work if she wants to return the portrait too?"

Mina shook her head, causing her curly hair to frizz up into a big puffball. "No. Papa Sai and Papa Yamato share the business. It will work for both." Karua thanked the girl. Both Karua and Shikasu watched as Mina merrily skipped away.

Shikasu stared after her. "Two dads huh? So where did she come from?"

Karua shoved him. "She's obviously adopted, you idiot. I'll bet she's an orphan, probably from the Kurokaze attack. You did see her foot right?"

Shikasu nodded. "Yeah. I saw it… But I mean, two dads…"

Karua scowled at him. "What? It's not that unusual. Don't be such a drag." She turned and started walking.

Shikasu took a few quick steps to catch up. "No no, it's not that. Can you imagine how easy our life would be if we had two dads? No Mom to boss us around all the time?"

Karua looked sideways at him. "What?"

Shikasu shrugged. "No mom nagging, no mom arguing, no mom snooping or punishing or telling us all the time about how big and important we are. Just Dad with his shrugs and his sighs and all the time saying 'punishments are just too much of a drag.'"

Karua turned on her little brother. "It would suck. Without Mom, Dad would just sit around the house all day doing nothing. If there were two of him, he'd sit around the house all day playing shogi against himself, all day and all night. We'd have to do all the shopping, cooking, cleaning and all the other stuff for ourselves, and take care of him too." She turned back around and started walking. "I'm glad we have Mom. Sometimes she is a pain, but she's the only thing that can get Dad to put his lazy ass in gear."

* * *

High above them on the rooftops, One shadowy figure gestured to another. They were quickly joined by a third. The third made a sharp gesture and they melted back into the shadows, following the Nara children.


	46. Chapter 18: The Past that Haunts: Part 2

Kiba leaned against the guard hut next to the main gate. The dogs lay in a heap at his feet , trying to stay cool in the unseasonably warm late morning sun. They stretched out in the dust, tongues hanging out, trying to squeeze into the tiny patch of shade being thrown up by the wall. As usual, Kabocha's bulk crowded everyone else out.

Kiba nodded at the cool breeze filtering into the village. "That was your doing wasn't it?" he muttered. "Leading those two to me?" The breeze rose and fell and he smiled. "Haven't changed a bit have you? Underneath that tough, no nonsense exterior, you've still got a heart for the underdog." He watched the old man and the young kunoichi from HIdden Cloud being questioned by a group of stern faced shinobi.

The Nara kids crossed his line of vision. He gave them a nod and a wave. The girl nodded back, the boy just stared, as if he was trying to place who the scruffy, mean-looking guy with all the dogs was. Kiba glanced up at the clouds. "I always liked the Naras. Remember how when we started talking about having kids you were so nervous. 'A child raised in two villages? How would that work?' I just pointed to them. 'Shikamaru and Temari can do it. Why can't we?'" He looked up at a babble of raised voices. A squad of Hyuga shinobi were examining the crates in the wagon and reporting their findings to a pair of ANBU, one in a wolf mask, the other in a bull mask. "I feel bad for the genin," Kiba grumbled under his breath, "I can't believe her uncle would get her into that much trouble. He must be a class A idiot." A short gust caressed his face carrying with it the scent of the woods. Kiba smiled. "You're welcome. Of course I would have tried to help them even without your encouragement... Like you, I also have a soft spot for the underdog."

The interrogation appeared to come to an end. The questioning Leaf shinobi were replaced by sterner and beefier looking ones. The Hyuga went into a huddle with the ANBU. After a quick discussion, the wolf mask ANBU pointed right at Kiba and the whole group turned to stop and stare. One of the customs agents broke from the group and walked over to him, nervously tapping a clipboard against his leg. "Oops, got to go sweetie," he whispered. "Here comes official business." He straightened up against the wall and gave the approaching shinobi a smile.

"Are you Kiba Inuzuka?" he asked in clipped tones. He glanced at Kiba and his pile of dogs, looking them over with his pale Hyuga eyes. Kiba nodded and took the cigar stub out of his mouth. "What is your relation to Ayoto and Katsuki of the Hidden Cloud village?"

"Is that their names?" Kiba asked innocently. "I never caught them. I just met them a little while ago."

The Hyuga chunin nodded and placed a little check on his clipboard. "Can you describe what happened when you encountered them?"

Kiba immediately felt his hackles rise. Every Inuzuka hated puffed up, mid level, bureaucrats running around thinking they were so much better than everyone else. "Golly! I'll need to think about that for a second," Kiba said, scratching his head and and pretending like he was some wet behind the ears genin who didn't know full well that the damn customs officer already has his deposition in front of him. "I guess me and the dogs were just heading back in from our LRP. We were running late because of some suspicious activity that I wanted to check out. Anyway on the road back to town, we ran into this cart, and the two people on it... What did you say their names were?"

"Ayoto and Katsuki," replied the chunin dryly.

"Right... well the old guy, Ayoto, he tells me how some shadowy mystery guy offers him eight hundred thousand ryo to deliver a set of mystery crates to an address in Konoha. Now he needs the money, but he thinks the whole thing is kind of suspicious, so when he met me on the road he asked what would be the best way to turn all of these over to the authorities for inspection." He looked up at the chunin and took another puff of his cigar. "Did you figure out what was in them yet? The dogs said all they could smell was a bunch of paper."

"And his niece?" asked the chunin making another check on his clipboard.

Kiba shrugged. "He said she was just along for the ride. He wanted to teach her the family trade."

The chunin glanced up at Kiba and tapped delicately on the clipboard. "So that's your official story?"

Kiba smiled brilliantly. "Yup."

"Is there anything else that you feel that the Konoha customs bureau should know about this situation?"

Kiba stuck the cigar back into his mouth and puffed on it furiously to bring it back to life. "Nothing comes to mind… No."

The Hyuga studied him and leaned forward. "You're lying," he said quietly.

Kiba narrowed his eyes. "That's a terribly rude thing to accuse a man of."

The Hyuga chunin started to open his mouth to retort, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. The wolf masked ANBU pulled him backwards and gave him a gentle shove back towards the main group. She stood there studying Kiba and the dogs carefully. Kiba gave her a friendly nod. "Nice mask."

"You once served on a squad with with Hinata-sama, did you not?" the ANBU asked her voice muffled by the mask.

Kiba grinned and nodded. "Served with her? Hell, it was me, her and Shino Aburame tearing up the neighborhood back when we were all genin. Of course she was just a shy little thing back then."

The ANBU tilted her head as if mulling something over. "You were married to that kunoichi from the Cloud. Karui? Was that her name?" Kiba's eyes flicked away. He nodded. "I'm sorry for your loss," said the ANBU. "I always heard that she was a wonderful person."

"Thank you," muttered Kiba.

The ANBU brushed her long, black hair back from her shoulder. "So, to get back to business... Let's assume that your 'official' story is more or less the truth," she said. "I'm wondering if there might be any… little details that you might be willing to add to the unofficial story."

"How unofficial?"

One of the ANBU's bangs draped itself over the wolf's snout. "Let's just say, I might be willing to overlook certain minor things… as long as I can figure out the major parts to this little mystery."

Kiba chewed on his cigar and looked thoughtfully upward. "Why don't you ask me the important questions and I'll do my best to answer them."

The ANBU nodded. "Did you know that Ayoto-san has been suspected of illegal transport of goods for over ten years now? The Hidden Sand village has banned him from their territory outright."

Kiba shrugged. "Is he now? Like I said, I never saw the man before today. He seemed really shifty and nervous the whole ride. If he is a smuggler, he must not be a very good one." Kiba blew out a cloud of smoke. "The kid now, she shows some promise. She's just a genin you know."

The ANBU glanced over her shoulder to where Ayoto and Katsuki were standing. "She told us that she was his niece."

"She is," Kiba growled. "The cheap bastard wouldn't spring for a full escort so he pushed her parents into sending her along." Kiba took the cigar stub out of his mouth and used it to point at the girl who was staring daggers at her uncle. "She knew he was being an idiot and dragging her ass into danger and she still didn't rat him out." He put it back in his mouth and gave it a puff. "Brave kid."

"Brave and stupid, just like her uncle," said the ANBU darkly. "She's on an unsanctioned escort mission for what looks like a smuggling operation. When all this is over, she'll be lucky if she's only sent back to the Cloud's academy." They both stood in silence for a while. Going on unsanctioned missions often led to being declared a rogue-nin. Traditionally,becoming a rogue meant death. These days, the penalty for being a rogue ninja was usually imprisonment or hard labor or something like that... Provided that all you did was run away. If that rogue-nin turned to a life of crime… well, let's just say people tended to take a more traditional view.

Kiba knocked a pile of ash of the end of the cigar. "So… what I want to know is what her uncle though was so damn important about those crates that he decided to risk her honor, her career, and possibly her life for it."

"You really don't know what's in the crates?"

Kiba shrugged. "It's the Hyuga who have the fancy eyes. All I can tell you is it smells like a lot of paper."

The ANBU stared at him for a moment, thinking. "Officially I can't release any information until the report has been fully reviewed by the Hokage."

"I hope someone is there to help Naruto with the big words," Kiba grinned.

The ANBU stifled something that might have been a chuckle. "Unofficially, the crates are packed with sealing tags."

Kiba's eyebrows shot up. "Tags?"

The ANBU nodded. "Normally we would have arrested the both of them by now for the transport of controlled items, but the tags are… incomplete."

"Incomplete? How?"

The ANBU shrugged. "Again... we haven't opened the crate and examined them yet. We're waiting until we can get someone who's an expert on seal to make sure nothings booby trapped and give them an official analysis. Unofficially, they almost look like they have a reverse summoning inscription on them, but they don't have anything sealed into them yet."

Kiba blew smoke through his nose. "Huh… That's really weird. I can see why the customs guys are all worked up." He squinted at the uncle. "Have you thought of throwing dear Uncle Ayoto in a small room with the interrogation squad and seeing if they can help him remember anything else?"

The ANBU made a dismissive gesture with her hands. "Transporting blank tags isn't a crime. The girl we can hold, because she entered the village without being on a mission or with an official pass but if our sealing expert can't find anything suspicious with the summoning tags, we are going to have to let him go."

Kiba looked over at the genin. She was surrounded by Hyuga, standing at attention, holding her chin up... but even from a block away, Kiba could smell her fear. There was a tight little breeze that blew through the street. It tickled his ears and he gave a slight nod. "Would you mind if Ayoto and I have a little chat?"

The ANBU tilted her head. "Why?"

Kiba smiled. "People just open up to me. I think it's because of my charming personality."

The ANBU shook her head once. "No, I mean why are you taking such an interest in this?"

Kiba shrugged. "I guess I just have a soft spot for Hidden Cloud shinobi. I want to make sure the girl stays out of trouble."

The ANBU looked down at her feet. "Ten minutes," she said quietly. "I come with you and observe. You stop when I say stop, and I want no marks on his body."

Kiba grinned. "Deal." He pushed himself off the wall and headed over to where Ayoto and Katsuki were surrounded by guards. The dogs all got up and followed him. Tagging along behind was the wolf-masked ANBU.

Kiba stood outside the ring of guards. "Hey Ayoto!" He waved for him to come, "We're going for a little walk."

Ayoto took a nervous step forward. The guards tensed and then parted at a small gesture from the wolf masked ANBU. Her partner, the bull masked ANBU straightened and tilted his mask in a questioning way. The wolf ANBU nodded her head, and he reached over and gave a tug on Ayoto's arm. Gingerly Ayoto stepped outside the circle. "Where are we going?" he asked quietly.

Kiba gave him a big friendly smile. "Just a little walk, we need to have quiet chat in private." He started towards one of the side roads and waved for Ayoto to follow.

"So Ayoto," said Kiba casually. "My buddy… How's everything going?"

Ayoto looked up at him. "What is going to happen to me?"

Kiba frowned. "To you? Nothing. As far as we can tell, you're not transporting anything illegal."

Ayoto exhaled. "Thank goodness, for a moment there…"

"Did you know what was in the crates Ayoto?" hissed the ANBU from behind.

Ayoto looked up surprised. "What? No! I already told you that…"

"Who gave you the crates Ayoto?" she asked in a low voice.

Ayoto looked back at the ANBU and then forward to Kiba. "I already told you, I didn't get a good look at them."

Kiba nodded his head. "Yeah, you said that in your 'official' story… I want the unofficial one."

Ayoto narrowed his eyes. "Why should I tell you? You've already determined that I've done nothing wrong." He drew himself up with an indignant frown. "In fact, you have no right to keep me here! I demand that you release me at once!"

"Ayoto, Ayoto…" said Kiba placatingly, steering him around a corner. "You're not the one who is in trouble here."

"Well then, all the more reason why…"

Kiba coughed. "Your niece is."

"My niece?"

Kiba nodded. "Yup. She's in a foreign village, on an unsanctioned mission and without a guest passport. That kind of makes her being here an illegal intrusion… Maybe even spying." He took Ayoto's shoulder and gently steered him into a left turn down a smaller street. "I'm sure the Raikage would frown upon that. He might even declare her a rogue-nin." Kiba turned him again. "Do you know what they do to rogue–nin these days?"

Ayoto looked down and swallowed. "But I'm still free to go… Right?"

Kiba's smile turned grim. He dropped his cigar butt and ground it out under his heel. He took the older man's elbow and steered him into an alleyway. "Well, not quite yet. Your cargo still needs the official inspection first."

"And then I can go?"

Kiba shrugged. He turned and faced Ayoto directly. "Officially yeah, then you would be free to go… Unofficially…" He snapped his fingers. Burauni darted around behind Ayoto's knees and Kumo jumped up and struck him in the chest with all four paws. Ayoto cried out and tripped over Burauni. Burauni twisted out of the way and seized his left arm, while Poki grabbed his right. Kumo and Hoshi Akari each took an ankle.

Ayoto gasped for breath on the pavement. "What do you…" He froze as Kabocha lumbered up and looked down at him disapprovingly.

Kiba squatted down next to him. His smile was no longer friendly at all. "Unofficially... the dogs here have decided that you're going to answer some questions for the nice lady in the wolf mask. See they know you're a smuggler, and not a very good one at that. They can also smell when someone's lying, and they know that you've been telling a whole bunch of those. But most of all…" Kiba leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "They are most upset about your lack of concern for your niece… See the dogs here think that you should be digging through every little detail in your mind trying to help the nice ANBU lady here, in the hopes that she will conveniently forget that your niece is a foreign genin, and let her head back home with maybe a quiet warning."

"You can't do this to me!" sputtered Ayoto. "I'm a private citizen!"

Kiba shrugged. "I'm not doing a thing… I'm telling you friend… it was the dogs who talked this over." He gave Ayoto a little smile. "C'mon man, Katsuki was willing to risk it all to protect you and your stupid crates. Don't you feel like you should do the same for her?"

Ayoto glared at them his face becoming more and more red. Finally he angrily turned his head away. Kiba sighed. "Suit yourself." He moved back a bit.

Ayoto cringed as Kabocha leaned over and looked at him with a frown. The dog made a little grumbling noise and then opened his jaws very wide.

* * *

Kabocha was getting antsy. The other dogs were getting bored. Kiba picked at his teeth and wished the ANBU lady would hurry up and finish her questioning. "So the mystery man never disclosed to you the nature of what was in the crates. He said that if you asked too many questions that you would be killed. If you let yourself be captured then you would be killed, and if the crates failed to reach their destination, you would be killed." The ANBU looked at her notes, sighed and closed her notebook. "And tell me why you agreed to accept this job again?"

There was a pause and a strange wet noise. Ayoto coughed and gasped. "Because if I didn't do it…"

"… You'd be killed. Yeah, I think we could figure that part out," said Kiba grimly. "So what can you tell us about the mystery man?"

Ayoto frantically shook his head. "I can't say a word. If I tell, I'll be…"

Kabocha made an umph sound. Suddenly Ayoto's voice turned to muffled squeals.

After a while Kabocha looked up at Kiba with sad eyes. Kiba nodded and Kabocha let go of the man's face. Kiba leaned over while Ayoto shook his head and spat. "Come on man… Aren't you getting tired of this yet?" Kiba asked, trying to be sympathetic.

Ayoto sputtered for a while, but didn't answer. Kiba nodded to Kabocha yet again. Kabocha sighed and leaned forward.

Ayoto muttered something. The ANBU held up her hand and everyone froze. "Say that again please?" she asked politely.

"I don't know anything about him!" rasped Ayoto. "He wore a cloak with a hood the whole time. I never even heard his voice!"

The ANBU pulled out her notebook again. "Was he tall or short?"

Ayoto pursed his lips. Kabocha chose that moment to shake himself. The noise made Ayoto flinch. He glanced at the dog and said, "Medium."

The ANBU sighed. "How 'medium'? About my height?"

"A little shorter."

The ANBU nodded and jotted down a note. "Was he fat or thin?"

"Skinny. Really really skinny."

The pen scratched on the paper. "What did you mean by 'you never even heard him'?"

"He would only whisper to his bodyguard. Then the bodyguard would relay the information to me."

"Uh-huh," said the ANBU. "And what did the bodyguard look like?"

"Tall, muscled. I couldn't see most of his face because he had a mask on."

"Most of his face?" asked the ANBU sharply. "What sort of mask was he wearing?"

Ayoto gave a resigned sigh. "He had on one of those cloth half masks that only cover your mouth and nose."

"So you could still see his hair and eyes then?"

Ayoto hesitated. Kabocha opened his mouth again and shut it with a click. "Dark hair, pale eyes," said Ayoto with a shiver. "He had some sort of headband across his forehead."

The ANBU's pen stopped in mid scribble. She stared at him. "Pale eyes?"

Ayoto nodded and tried to worm away from Kabocha. "Really pale, like light grey? He had almost colorless eyes."

The ANBU reached up and slowly detached her wolf mask. She slid it over just enough to expose one eye. "Like this?" she asked quietly.

Kiba sprouted a small grin. "Hey! You're a Hyuga!"

Ayoto nodded worriedly. "Exactly like that."

The ANBU replaced her mask. She stood there quietly studying Ayoto. "If you're all set with your questions, I have one I'd like to ask," said Kiba brightly. He turned to Ayoto. "You were so insistent that Katsuki come with you on this boneheaded plan to smuggle a huge pile of mystery crates into Konoha. The charming people who hired you to do this made it quite clear that if anything went wrong, you were a dead man. Even the cheapest bastard in the world is willing to splurge a little when his life is on the line." Kiba crouched down next to Ayoto and tapped him on the forehead. "Your niece has guts, but guts will only take you so far in a fight. Why was it such a big deal to have the girl along? A second ago you were ready to take off and leave her here to the tender ministrations of the ANBU."

Ayoto looked away nervously. "I'm a coward. I needed protection but I couldn't afford to go through official channels to get it. She was the only one I could ask."

Kiba sniffed the air. "You smell afraid. The dogs think you're lying. I tend to agree with them."

"Of course I'm afraid!" the old man snapped. "Your dog has been swallowing my face!"

Kiba grinned. "Oh no. Kabocha has only been holding your head in his mouth. I've seen him crack open a beef bone in one go. He's been as gentle as a lamb. If you want, I can ask him to give you a demonstration of swallowing your face."

Ayoto turned to the ANBU. "I'm a citizen of the Land of Lightning! I demand that you release me right now!"

Kiba sighed. "Kabocha?" The dog looked up. "Eat his nose," said Kiba calmly. Kabocha looked down at Ayoto with disgust, but reluctantly opened his mouth. His jaws closed on Ayoto's nose

"They said they'd pay extra!" Ayoto squealed nasally.

"Excuse me?" asked Kiba very quietly.

"The bodyguard said that if I brought any young shinobi, like my niece, to the pay off point they would give me an extra one million ryo per child."

"They knew about your niece?" asked the ANBU with a note of surprise in her voice. "They asked for her specifically?"

Ayoto's chin dipped in a nod. "They asked for her, and any other genin I knew. They were interested in any young shinobi I could bring them."

The ANBU's hand twitched. "Why did they want them?" she asked, in a deadly calm voice.

Ayoto guiltily shook his head. "They didn't say."

"Why?" Kiba whispered.

Ayoto looked up nervously. "I just told you! I don't know why they wanted them."

Kiba looked up. His teeth were bared in a snarl. "No! If you knew this, then why would you bring your niece along with you? Were you planning on selling her?" He spat. "You're supposed to be looking out for her!"

Ayoto swallowed nervously. "I'm… I'm sure that she could get herself out of any situation. Katsuki is a fully trained shinobi."

"SHE'S YOUR BLOOD!" bellowed Kiba. Poki flinched at his shout and inadvertently tightened her jaws. Ayoto cried out as the dog's fangs broke the skin on his ankle. Kiba took a step forward and pulled back his foot as if to kick him.

The ANBU put a hand on his arm and squeezed. Kiba winced and stopped his foot. "Kiba-san!" the ANBU sternly snapped, clearing the red haze that had dropped in front of his eyes, "can your dogs hold him there for a moment?"

"Huh?" Kiba shook his head to recover. "Sure, they'll hold him just fine. If you're worried I could have Kabocha sit on him."

"No, I just wanted to make sure that he is not going anywhere. We need to talk." She glanced at Ayoto and paced deeper into the alleyway.

Kiba watched her go. Then he looked back to the dogs. "Everyone stay. Kabocha, if he struggles… Eat an ear." Ayoto whimpered. Kabocha looked up at Kiba and sighed. Kiba gave the nin-dog a sympathetic look, then walked back into the shadows of the alleyway.

The ANBU appeared beside him. "We need to talk to the Hokage," she hissed. "We need to summon a council and talk to the Hokage and Nara-san and Commander Kakashi. We need to do it fast. I… I think something really bad is going to happen."

"Something bad is going to happen to Ayoto, I'm going to make sure of it," grumped Kiba, staring at the old man.

The ANBU shook her head. "No…" She looked at him for a moment, debating. "Look, I'm not supposed to know anything about this, and you sure as hell aren't but, Kakashi-sama has been sending out secret scouting parties gathering intel. He believes that there is a threat from…" She paused and looked at Kiba. "Well, he believes that there is a credible threat to the village." She glanced back at Ayoto. "I'm beginning to suspect that all this is connected somehow." She swallowed. "We've got to warn the Hokage, and then we've got to warn Hinata-sama."

"Hinata?" asked Kiba.

"If the Hyuga have gotten themselves wrapped up in this, there could be trouble." She looked up at Kiba. "I'd like you to meet with the Hokage as well. You can verify my report."

Kiba pulled out another cigar butt and clenched it in his teeth. "I can do that. Just give me a couple of hours to say hi to my daughter first." He grinned. "I'm about fifteen hours late coming back from my mission."

The ANBU nodded. "It will take some time to get everyone assembled. I will send for you." She turned to leave.

Kiba stepped around her. "What about mister charming personality over there?"

She studied Ayoto for a few seconds. "What do you think about the girl? Would it be any use to question her?"

Kiba chewed on the end of his cigar thoughtfully. "I doubt it. But if you want, I could ask her a few things before we let her go."

The ANBU nodded. "Okay, see if she knows anything and then release her. Tell her that her uncle has been detained on the suspicion of smuggling. Tell her that we are going to hold him until we figure out what those tags are."

"Do you need the dogs to help you take him anywhere?"

Kiba got the feeling that under her mask, the ANBU was smiling. "Nope."

They walked back over to Ayoto. "Ayoto-san," she said apologetically. "I'm terribly sorry to have done this. There appears to have been a terrible mistake." She turned to Kiba. "Inuzuka-san, if you would be so good as to call off your dogs?" Kiba whistled and the pack trotted back to him, with Kabocha giving an audible sigh of relief. The ANBU reached down and pulled Ayoto to his feet. "There. No harm done."

"What do you mean no harm?" snapped Ayoto. "That dog bit my ankle!" He jabbed a finger angrily at Poki. "The Daimyo of the Land of Lightning and the Raikage shall hear of this!"

"We'll make sure you get the finest medical attention before we release you," the ANBU said soothingly. "If you want, we will also give you the opportunity to air your grievances to the Hokage."

Ayoto gave Kiba a vindictive glare. "Thank you. I will take you up on your offer."

The ANBU nodded. "Good. Now, if you will be so good as to come this way?" Ayoto turned. The ANBU reached out and gently touched him on the side of his neck. There was a short spark of blue chakra. Ayoto's eyes rolled up into his head. She caught him as he collapsed and casually threw him over her shoulder.

Kiba grinned. "Well, then I'll see you in a couple of hours." The ANBU nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke.


	47. Chapter 18: The Past that Haunts: Part 3

Ichisui walked with his younger brothers and sisters and pretended not to notice the occasional cold stare. He smiled and held firm to his belief that if he could just apply the right effort in the right spot, the entirety of the village of Konoha would accept his clan once again. He woke up every morning with that one lingering dream in his mind: That somehow he would smooth things over and everything would be normal for his family.

In his head Ichisui always thought of himself as the hero of a story. He dreamt of the day that the citizens of the HIdden Leaf would welcome him with open arms. Of a day when there would be a parade in his honor. Of a day when everyone would acknowledge his family and accept them for what they were. Shinobi just like everyone else. Flawed, but basically good people.

He could still remember the old house in that small section of Konoha that he had lived in when he was four. Back then it was just him, Mom, Dad, and Baby Hana. He could still remember the the faces of the children on his street that he would play with until the stars came out on warm summer nights. They would play and share stories and treats. Occasionally a neighbor would invite him in. The other kid's parents would always watch him carefully at first, but after awhile he found that his good behaviour and manners soon relaxed everyone concerned.

That was before the night... that terrible night that they all... had to move.

He couldn't remember the other children's names now. The couldn't remember their family names. The old Uchiha house was gone too. Someone had torn it down to make room for a larger apartment building. Ichisui sighed half suspecting that it had been destroyed out of spite.

Once again, his father hadn't come with them on this outing. His father rarely came with them for any outing that took the Uchiha clan into Konoha proper. "I have too many things to do around the house," would be his excuse… Or sometimes something like "I don't feel like shoving my way through a crowd today… You children go on ahead and have fun." He would smile and wave goodbye to the little ones and go through his little pantomime routine for their sake. He would pat each of them on the head and tell them to bring him back some piece of news or story.

Sasuke was a proud man. He knew what people said behind his back. He tried to avoid those tales reaching his children's ears. Being with his children tended to only bring out the stares and whispered comments in people. A small minority in Konoha were rude enough to shout what he had done to his face. Ichisui had already heard the stories. All of the Uchiha children already knew something about the legend of Sasuke Uchiha. They all knew that their father was an exceptional shinobi. There was no one in the Leaf, or any other village that would deny that.

Far fewer were the number of people who didn't consider Sasuke Uchiha to be some sort of monster. Oh, technically they had their clan allies: The Hyuga, the Nara, the Akimichi, but even among their 'friends' sentiments were divided.

When they reached the ripe old age of eight, each one of the Uchiha progeny was quietly taken aside by Sakura, where very calmly and matter of factly, she would explain in simple but complete detail the whole history of the Uchiha clan.

Sakura did it in the hopes that it would answer her children's questions. She hoped that it would give them some perspective on their history and the clan that they had been born into.

He couldn't attest if the exact same thing happened to his brothers and sisters, but by the time he was eight, Ichisui Uchiha had had those same stories mercilessly taunted to them a thousand times over.

"Your Uncle killed his whole family!"

"Your father is a traitor! He broke his oath to the village!"

"Don't play with them, the blood of murderers and killers is in their veins!"

"Dirty Uchiha! Little better than a pack of filthy animals! I don't know why the Hokage lets them stay in this village!"

"Hey I hear that Orochimaru did all sorts of experiments on your dad and he can turn into a monster... Is this true?"

The playground taunting had been bad... But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was when he tried to come over to play, the other children would simply pick up their toys and move elsewhere. At least when they were taunting him they were acknowledging that he was there.

"Ichisui!" Hana called out sharply. "Are you watching Chyrio or are you daydreaming again?"

Ichisui swung his head around to find his littlest sister. She was happily babbling to one of her chipmunks, showing the rodent the nicknacks at a craft stall. The shopkeeper was giving her a sour look. "I'm keeping an eye on her Hana." The second oldest Uchiha grunted, pulled up the hood on her cloak, and went back to her walking.

There were three rules that Sasuke drilled into every Uchiha child from the time that they could talk:

1) Stay together.

2) No running off

3) Listen to whoever is in charge

On those rare occasions that they all went out together, Sasuke watched his children like a hawk. When he stayed at home, which was more often the case, he put the older children in charge of the younger. When Sasuke deemed that his older children were mature enough to watch the younger ones, he told them the last rule. The secret family rule.

4) If you have to run, run like hell. If you can't run, fight. Show no mercy.

He never had to tell them the reason why. Sasuke never came out and told his family why he kept a fully stocked armory of ninja tools. He never said why he stored up food, or prepared boltholes and safe rooms. He never said why he drilled his children in evasion techniques and escape routes or why he had carefully prepared their house and yard with booby traps that could be set up at a moments notice. He never said why he did these things, because he never had to tell them. All the children knew that... bad things happen to you when you are an Uchiha. Sometimes they are accidental, sometimes other people make them happen.

It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you.

Ichisui understood all that. You would have to be blind not to notice the deep bred suspicion that was directed at his family. That didn't mean he reflected it back like his sister. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his 'uncle Naruto'. He had to believe that if he showed everyone that the Uchiha could have honor, and be heroes as well, then maybe the village could accept his clan again.

He stopped in the middle of the Emporium Plaza and held up one hand signaling everyone else to stop. It didn't help. Fugawari did stop, but only because Ichisui was giving him a piggyback ride. Of course, Fugawari's response to halting was to dig his heels into Ichisui's side and yell "Giddy-up!" in his ear. Ichisui sighed. At least Fugawari had acknowledged that he stopped. Chyrio continued to run to and fro to any market stall that caught her fancy. Occasionally she would squeal at the sight of some particularly interesting piece of cloth or scrap of junk that she could use for her never ending performances with her chipmunks. A melancholy Mister Whiskers was securely tied in the pocket of her overalls.

Hana had the hood of her cape pulled so far over her head that her whole face was cloaked in shadow. Occasionally the tiniest suggestion of her chin could indicate which way she was looking. Right now she was staring stonily ahead, in silence. Mibuki was walking in a straight line, ignoring everything except the scratchpad he was doodling on. His pencil would quickly scribble out a series of formula that would quickly be added onto, scratched over, and erased into oblivion. He only stopped moving when he bumped into Hana, which earned him a sharp shove. He looked up at her quickly and frowned, erasing an errant line.

"Chyrio!" Ichisui called waving to his littlest sister. Chyrio stopped pestering the proprietor of a stall selling dollhouse furniture about the low quality of his work and how a chipmunk could chew the leg off of one of his tables in no time at all. She dropped the furniture much to the proprietor's relief and skipped over to her brother.

"I can't believe what that guy was trying to pass off as toys! Did you see those?" she sneered. "They wouldn't last two seconds in one of my weddings!"

"That's because your weddings always end up being war zones," mumbled Mibuki adding a few more lines of script to his sealing jutsu. He yelped as Chyrio stomped on his toe.

"Stop it please everyone," said Ichisui in a nervous voice. "We don't want to have a fight here. Who knows what everyone else in the plaza would think." Hana snorted derisively and turned her head away. Ichisui cleared his throat and continued. "Now… Father asked all of us to help out with the shopping today. We need to get the food for this week, and we should probably get something special to bring over to the Uzumaki-Hyuga's tonight." He smiled as Chyrio eagerly raised her hand.

Ichisui nodded to her. "I could have my chipmunks help me make a big cake!" she burbled happily. "We can bring that!"

Ichisui's smile grew brittle. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea Chyrio."

Chyrio frowned. "Why?"

Hana turned her head slightly to one side. "Because the last time you made a cake no one wanted to eat it."

Chyrio pouted. "I don't know why… It was delicious!"

Under her hood Hana snorted. "Because no one wanted to risk that the chocolate sprinkles in your cake might actually be chipmunk poop."

Chyrio grabbed Mister Whiskers tightly. "How dare you! I'll have you know that Mister Whiskers is perfectly hygienic!"

"Squeak!" was the muffled cry of Mister Whiskers.

Ichisui raised up his hands for silence. "I'm sure that your cake would be delicious Chyrio, but Father did specifically ask us to buy something."

Chyrio pursed her lips. "Well, then can we get cookies?"

Ichisui nodded. "We'll see. After the food shopping we need to get Mibuki some replacement sealing tags that will not be used for pranks on anyone in the family, is that clear?" he said pointedly looking at Mibuki. Mibuki didn't look up from his notebook. He just nodded and waved his pencil around to show that he understood.

Ichisui gently coughed into his hand. "So aside from the groceries and the tags, is there anything else that we need to take care of on this trip?" he asked looking at each of his sibling in turn.

"Candy and toys!" yelled Fugawari, bouncing excitedly and digging his heels into Ichisui's kidneys.

Ichisui winced and laughed at the same time. "We'll have to see about that. I'll make you all a promise however, if we have any money left over, we can divide it up and use it for other purchases... Deal?"

Dividing up any remaining shopping money and using it for a personal treat was always Ichisui's favorite part of being out shopping with his father. It was a great reward for good behavior. After the incident that lead to their banishment, after Sasuke ceased going out in public, it was that little loss of shared fellowship that Ichisui missed most.

Fugawari and Chyrio jumped up and down. Even Hana managed to crack some semblance of a smile.

Together they all marched into the market. The eyes of patrons and staff were all on them as each Uchiha child took up a shopping basket and divided up the shopping list.

There was a reason they always went shopping during lunchtime on a Saturday. For that was when Akimichi-san was supervising the store. Trying to deal with the staff when he wasn't there was, as Karua would no doubt say, just too troublesome.

"Ichisui!" Choji called out cheerfully waving them over to the butcher's counter. Choji had the body of an intimidating thug and the face of your favorite uncle. His huge hand swallowed up Ichisui's as he shook it. "What a wonderful surprise to see the whole Uchiha clan in here once again." He looked each of them up and down, his smile growing a little forced when he caught sight of Chyrio. "I trust that your little pets will be on their best behavior today Chyrio-chan?"

Chyrio nodded, a serious frown on her face. "Don't worry Akimichi-san. I only have Mister Whiskers with me today, and he promises to be super duper good today."

Mister Whiskers looked nervously up at Choji peering down at him. "Squeak," he squeaked nervously.

Choji nodded and turned back to Ichisui. "Look at you... A chunin at last eh? I remember when you were a fresh faced student toiling away in the academy. So tell me, when are you planning on taking the jonin exam?"

Ichisui gave him a short bow. "Thank you Choji-sama. Unfortunately I will be unable to take the jonin exam for another two years."

Choji gave him a grin. "Ahh… I remember when I was made a jonin. Of course, many in my generation had an advantage over you youngsters. Most of us received a field promotion after the Fourth war." He nodded and gave Ichisui a staggering clap on the shoulder. "Well, when you do turn seventeen, Konoha will be proud to have one the most skilled shinobi I have seen in years joining the ranks of it's elite shinobi."

A young Akimichi teen stopped carving the joint of meat he was working on and looked up sharply, glaring at him. Ichisui recognized him as one of the bullies who tormented him last night. He gave the boy a polite nod, but the Akimichi's frown only deepened. Choji saw the nod and turned. The Akimichi teen looked down and quickly went back to work. Choji sighed. "Buronto, could you please go back to the freezer and fetch me another pork ribs? We have a large order coming up." Buronto nodded once and headed into the back of the store." When he was gone, Choji leaned forward on the counter. "Has he been bothering you? If he has I apologize. He's a good boy, he just hangs out with the wrong element and doesn't have the brains to think for himself."

Ichisui shook his head. "Oh no, he isn't troubling me at all… We just happened to… run into each other yesterday." Hana began to whistle tunelessly.

Choji nodded. "Well if he does give you any problems let me know… I'll have a talk with him." Choji shook his head slightly. "I don't know what's happened to the young people of the clan these days."

Ichisui tilted his head. "Surely there aren't any difficulties in your family Akimichi-san? I believe that your daughter is in the academy with my younger brother?"

"Ah yes... Mibuki Uchiha." Choji turned and looked at Mibuki. "And how are you young man? Hard at work on some project?" Mibuki didn't even bother to look up he just waved his pencil for a second time and then went right back to writing. Choji grinned. "Such dedication." He turned to Hana "And you Hana, you graduated from the academy last year correct? How are you finding the life of a genin?"

"It's fantastic," droned Hana in a dry, unamused tone. "I can hardly contain my glee."

Choji smiled sweetly at her. "Don't worry, it starts out dull but it gets more exciting as time goes on." Choji leaned back, a look of pleasant nostalgia on his face. "Why, there was this one time that Team Ten and I…"

Ichisui watched the rest of the Uchiha clan back away and slip off quietly as Choji-san launched into one of his trademark, long-winded stories. Hana just melted away into the shadows like she always did. Mibuki wandered off scratching away furiously, and then even Chyrio left pulling Fugawari in tow to find something more interesting. He smiled and settled back. Odds were he had heard this tale before. Odds were he would be bored senseless. But that didn't matter. What did matter was that the Head of the Akimichi clan was one of the few people his family could genuinely call a friend. If the price of his friendship was listening to the occasional tiresome repetitive tale, Ichisui was more than willing to pay that. He sighed and, as he often did, when things were difficult, he retreated into his own personal story narrative.

"Our hero found himself once again in a position of sacrificing himself for the common good. His family honor commanded that he stay and endure the torture. And so stay he must..."

* * *

The mirror on a pole dipped just beyond the frame of the store window. The shadowy figure clinging to the underside of the awning counted the Uchiha clan inside and smiled. All of his targets were there.

* * *

"Psst!" hissed the voice from behind a row of stocked shelves. Mibuki ignored it and kept on writing. He was so close to a breakthrough he could taste it. All he needed to do was figure out how to clone the initial seal and then bang! Multiple summonings from a single tag.

"Psst!" the voice hissed again.

The problem was a matter of conservation of matter and energy. What you put in, plus a little bit of chakra for initial seal, and the release of said seal, you always got back out. Because of this the typical summoning jutsu was a one way, one time affair. If you sealed one kunai into a scroll, you got one kunai back. If you sealed away two spiders, you got two spiders back. If you sealed in three chipmunks, you would get back three very scared looking chipmunks. Oh, and one very angry little sister.

The issue was, what if you wanted to seal three chipmunks away right, but you wanted to release them the first, say in an hour, one tomorrow, and the third next Tuesday? The practical solution would be to make three separate sealings for three separate chipmunks.

"Psst-sst-sst-sst!" hissed the voice again, getting frustrated.

But Mibuki never strove for the practical solution when perfection was within reach. Let's say you had to make a trip into the desert. You needed to store two days worth of water into a sealing scroll. Right now, when you tried to summon the water out of the scroll, you would get all two days worth gushing out in a thick fountain until it was all gone, and you would be left with a lot of damp sand and an inert scroll. But how could you just remove a little bit at a time?

His first attempt had been to seal more water on top of an already water filled seal. Maybe with multiple seals he could do multiple releases. He filed it under 'almost a success.' He managed to hold the double seal for 0.3 seconds before the jutsu imploded, spraying water everywhere. Mom got really mad at him for soaking his room.

An orange sailed through the air, narrowly missing him. He absent mindedly picked it up off the floor and put it in a bin full of carrots.

His next attempt had been to do a partial unsummon to see if he could divide the stored water into two parts. He did get some liquid back, but it was fizzy and bubbly and it wasn't quite water. Being of an inquisitive mind, he decided to test the gas coming off the liquid. It was colorless and odorless. He had read somewhere that if you heat something up with an open flame, the color the flames change can give you a hint as to what the unknown substance is composed of. He collected some of the mystery gas in a small glass jar and applied a match.

There was a loud 'pop!' Intrigued, he tried again, using a lot more water to produce a lot more gas, and using a much bigger container. Hana called him Mister No Eyebrows for a month.

Mibuki looked up at a tinny little clinking sound. A young girl was putting a ten ryu coin into a gumball machine. She turned a small hand crank and there as a ringing sound as the machine dropped it's candy. The small girl then opened a little door at the bottom and a solitary gumball fell neatly out. Mibuki stared at the glass globe filled with gum, then at the little girl chewing happily. "Hmmm..." he thought.

The second orange hit him squarely in the back of the head. Mibuki stumbled a half step forward, then spun around to look behind him.

Jiraiya peeked out from behind a pile of pumpkins in the produce section. "Psst!" he hissed in an annoyed voice.

Mibuki picked up the orange and walked over. "What was that for?"

"Dude! What's the matter with you? I've been trying to get your attention for like an hour now!" Jiraiya whispered form the other side of the pile.

Mibuki shook his head. "I haven't been in the store for an hour."

Jiraiya sighed. "Fine... It was only ten minutes, I'm exaggerating. Are you happy now?"

Mibuki tilted his head and stared down at his friend. "Why didn't you just step over and say hello?"

* * *

Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation. Mibuki was a certified genius. He could sit and work on a problem for hours. However, once his brain started going in that mode, it took him quite a while to shift gears and find his way back to the real world. "I didn't come over and say hi, because I am hiding!"

"Oh." Mibuki thought about this for a moment. "Why are you hiding?"

Someone sized Mibuki by the collar and spun him around. "Mibuki Uchiha!" snapped Hishyota Uzumaki-Hyuga. "Where is my weaselly little brother? Don't lie, or I'll know!"

Mibuki couldn't help it. His eyes darted towards the pumpkin pile.

Hishyota snapped around just fast enough to see Jiraiya take off in a sprint. "This way! He's over here!" she bellowed, and ran after him. There was a quick patter of feet and seven of her shadow clones dodged and weaved through the market shelves in hot pursuit.

The shop bell rang as the door slammed open to accommodate the exodus. The bell rang again as the door slowly eased itself closed. Mibuki waited until the sounds of pursuit died down outside the store. He nudged a large pumpkin that had spilled down from the pile with his foot. "That was a pretty gutsy move there... What if she was using her byakugan and saw you?"

The pumpkin vanished in a puff of smoke revealing a crouching Jiraiya. He coughed and stood. "A little misdirection and a shadow clone beats a byakugan every time." He grinned. "Why waste time and chakra looking for what you already think you see?"

Mibuki nodded. He glanced back quickly at the gumball machine. The beginnings of an idea was still there, almost tickling his brain. He tried to force it to appear for a second or two, but the moment was gone. He sighed and put his notebook away. "What did your sister want?"

Jiraiya shrugged and sneered at the same time. "I dunno. She said something about Dad saying I had to help her get ready for the party." He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I had this killer idea that I needed your help with... So let's go!"

Mibuki hesitated. "Um... I'm supposed to be helping with the shopping..."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "That's funny. It looked like all you were doing was scribbling away in your seals notebook." He motioned with his hand. "Let's go."

Mibuki looked down. "We're really supposed to be staying together as a group," he muttered. "Dad doesn't like us to wander off."

Jiraiya gave him his most winning smile. "Come on... You know you don't want to be shopping! Trust me... My plan here will be a lot more interesting... and a lot more fun."

Mibuki exhaled slowly. He looked at his empty shopping basket, he looked at his closed notebook, and lastly he looked at his Jiraiya. "Okay, just let me tell my sister that we're going. Hana is not going to be happy with me though. She might even make a stink and say I can't go. Technically we're all supposed to be helping here. And... Well... Let's just say I haven't done much to make her feel predisposed to me today." He looked around quickly to see if he could spot her and then looked back to his friend.

Jiraiya was studying his fingernails casually. "Oh? Hana's here too?"

Mibuki gave him a puzzled frown. "Of course, it's the Uchiha clan shopping day."

Jiraiya hummed thoughtfully. "Well then, maybe we should go have a word with her!"

Mibuki raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What if she says no?"

Jiraiya's face broke into a slimy grin. "Oh... you just leave that to me."

* * *

Hana sorted through the apples and pretended not to notice the black looks and the whispered conversation between the two older ladies trying to pick out melons. She did not turn around when she heard one of them hiss something that sounded like "...filthy bunch of traitors and killers."

She definitely did not turn around when that particular woman thought she saw a huge tarantula on the melon she was squeezing. The woman shrieked loud enough to stun a bat and hurled the melon to the floor, where it exploded, showering both women with a fine spray of pulp.

She didn't turn around. She did smile though.

Her smile vanished when there was a timid tap at her shoulder, and she saw her brother and his stupid friend standing there. Mibuki grinned sheepishly at her. "Um... Hi O-nee-san... I was wondering..."

Hana turned away. "What do you want?" she asked gruffly.

Mibuki took a deep breath and started again. "Well, actually... Um, I was hoping too..."

Hana picked up an apple and pretended to study it. "Didn't Dad say that you had to help with the shopping today? So far, all I've seen you do is work on your stupid research projects and talk to the human cockroach there." She put the apple back. "Were you planning on helping out today or what?"

Mibuki looked back at Jiraiya with a helpless shrug. Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Amature," he muttered under his breath as he gently motioned him out of the way.

He sauntered over to the apple bins and casually leaned against them. Jiraiya leaned forward and gave Hana a greasy smile. "Hey babe!" he said, deepening his voice to seem older. "Mibuki and I were just going to hang out for a bit. Are you cool with that?" He smiled wider and waggled his eyebrows.

Hana's eyebrows shot up. "What..." Her voice was so chilly it made ice crystals form in the air. "What did you just call me?"

It didn't seem like it could be physically possible, but Jiraiya's grin grew even wider. "What? Babe? You are a babe... A total babe! Gods… I can't help but lie awake at night dreaming about you!" Hana glowered at him. Mibuki nervously stepped back away from his friend, but Jiraiya only crinkled his nose in amusement. "If you don't want me to call you a babe, can I call you something else maybe?"

"You can call me Uchiha-san, and you can get lost."

"Uchiha-san?" said Jiraiya with a wrinkled nose. "But that would be such an insufficient way to describe your charming femininity. I bet I could come up with a thousand better descriptors with just one breath!" Jiraiya started to count off on his fingers. "Beautiful, gorgeous, my princess, your worshipfulness... This is just off the top of my head, you understand?"

Hana stabbed a vengeful finger at his chest. "You... Leave... Now!"

Jiraiya chuckled and gently shook his head. "Oh no. No no no no... I am perfectly content waiting while Mibuki assists you in shopping." Hana gave him a curt nod and turned away. "I can just stand here... patiently waiting..." Jiraiya continued, "next to you... Up close and personal."

Hana stiffened. Her finger lashed out and pointed to the door. "Mibuki, get out of here," she said quietly.

"Are you sure Hot stuff?" Jiraiya sighed, winking at her. "I could just wait here... admiring the view..."

"Go!" she snarled at the pair of them.

Jiraiya gave a pained sigh and made a sweeping bow. "Well then, If you insist... I will take my leave, my dearest." He put his hand on his chest and smiled beatifically at her. "Adieu." Hana's reply was just a low growl.

Mibuki tugged on his friend's arm. "Tell Dad, I'll be back before dinner," he called.

As he was being pulled Jiraiya kept waving at Hana. "Goodbye my vision of loveliness! I'm sure we will rendezvous at some later time!" He chuckled as Mibuki led them away.

Hana turned and stared at an apple in the bin pretending it was Jiraiya's head. Then she spun and stomped away.

A few moments later the clerk who came by to clean up the smashed melon stopped and stared open mouthed at the apple display. In the center of the pile, all the apples had rotted into a slurry of brown mush.

* * *

"Dude! Are you completely insane?" asked Mibuki as he pulled his friend out of the store. "My sister was going to kill you!"

Jiraiya gave him a winning smile "What? Kill me? Never! The Uzumaki charm can melt the coldest heart." He looked back at the Akimichi market and sighed dramatically. "One day… she will be mine!"

Mibuki stopped. He turned and looked at his friend wide eyed. "So wait… Are you telling me that you were actually trying to hit on my sister?" he asked incredulously.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Pfft! No! That my friend was misdirection again! Did you notice how fast she told us to get lost? I got you out of there so quick… No muss, no fuss. Do you think we would be leaving the store right now if I hadn't been a complete sleaze-bag?" Jiraiya looked away quickly and cleared his throat. "So… Let's get going." He turned and started to walk to the far end of the plaza, towards the bathhouse.

Mibuki ran after him. "Wait! Where are we going? What do you need me for?"

Jiraiya smiled. "I need you to help me with my plan."

"What kind of plan?"

"The best kind!" said Jiraiya, grinning wider. "The kind that makes money."

* * *

The figure hesitated, unsure of what to do now that the targets were splitting up. It glanced up. On a roof across the way, a figure dressed in black held up two fingers on each hand. It waved one hand one way and the other in the opposite direction. The watcher at the store nodded and sped away.


	48. Chapter 19: Family and Friends: part1

**Chapter 19: Family and Friends**

Tsudemi was angry.

Which was to be completely expected. Being angry, after all, was her ground state of being. Mako folded his arms and leaned against the wall of the guard shack as he watched the scene unfold. There wasn't much else he could do. Tsudemi's temper had to be weathered, like a hurricane.

She yelled at her dad for being late and for not coming home last night and most of all, for how when he did come back to the village, he didn't come and find her right away.

Kiba apologized, said he was sorry, said he had to help the ANBU out and then how in a bit he'd have to go meet with the Hokage's inner council.

Tsudemi railed a bit more when she heard that he still had stuff to take care of before he came home proper, but eventually she calmed down and gave him a big hug. Kiba then introduced her to some genin girl from the Hidden Cloud. Two minutes, later she and Tsudemi were talking and laughing like old pals. It was always like that with Hidden Cloud Shinobi; once they found out who Tsudemi's mother was, it was like they had this instant bond.

Mako was glad for his friend. He was glad that Kiba came back, and that Tsudemi was all happy and everything to see him. He was glad that Tsudemi made friends with this new kunoichi. After they made their formal introductions to the genin, he was glad that Kiba picked Tsudemi up and swung her around and called her his little girl, and his precious pup and hugged her tight.

He was also more than a little bit jealous.

In theory he had it a thousand times better than Tsudemi. True, his mom wasn't around anymore, but at least she was alive somewhere. At least she could send him a letter once in awhile. And also true his dad wasn't around much either, but at least he was stable. Karui's death had destroyed Kiba-san. He was drunk for a year and a half. The only reason Tsudemi had anything to eat at all during that time was because the Hokage's wife made sure that they always had something to heat up for a quick meal in the fridge. When he finally sobered up, Kiba had lost the ability to work with other people. He couldn't handle a real mission anymore. He talked to his dead wife. He spent days in bed doing nothing but sleeping. He would disappear for days into the woods with his dogs, leaving Tsudemi to fend for herself. Eventually the Hokage made up this special long range patrol mission for him so he would have some way to earn something for his family.

Kiba was a complete mess.

But when he came back home, and when he was sober, he was genuinely happy to see his little girl.

Mako sighed and watched Kiba shower Tsudemi with affection. The dogs danced around them greeting Akakaru and generally raising a ruckus. Everyone was genuinely happy.

That never happened in the Aburame clan.

Don't get too close, the insects pheromones might interfere with each other. We'll separate here… If we stay together, we might frighten the other insects away. You are going to be a shinobi Mako; A shinobi's face must be a mask. He must never betray any emotion. That emotion could give an enemy every advantage he needs. Plus surges of emotion might agitate the insects. Do you know what happened to your Great-Uncle Murune? He got so upset after he failed the chunin exam that the kikaichu beetles panicked and started to burrow their way out of his body to escape. He had to be hospitalized for two weeks, and he was never able to use the kikaichu beetles again. They rejected him completely.

Mako idly let a wasp climb from one finger to the next, and thought about his mother. The Kamizuru clan was dying out. "Or," he chuckled idly to himself, "maybe they're not, because apparently… I'm one of them as well." His mother, Mei was young and pretty, and had seemed to like his father well enough. They were a good couple, everyone always said so. They had a perfect house and a perfect yard and then they had him, a perfect little baby.

And then she left.

Not all the inter-village relationships that came out the shinobi alliance were considered 'good' ones. Tsudemi's parents for example. They fought, screamed and hurled dishes at each other. The ANBU stopped by their house once a month on the complaints of their neighbors and the concerns that someone was about to get killed. One time, the ANBU arrived after the argument was over and had officially interrupted a very intimate makeup session. Most of the shinobi in the village laughed about it for weeks afterwards. No one laughed harder that Kiba and Karui. Yet despite all the fighting, Tsudemi's parents stayed together.

Unlike Mako's parents.

Maybe because it was an arranged marriage, maybe because she missed the Hidden Stone village too much, maybe because the Aburame clan were too cold and too impersonal, maybe because everything here was just a little too sterile, too boring… Too perfect.

Maybe it was because of him.

He tossed the wasp in his hands high into the air, where it joined the rest of the workers that he had 'borrowed' from the large paper nest that was dangling from the guard hut he was leaning against. It joined the others flying slow figure eights and loop-the-loops.

He liked wasps. They always stayed close to their nests. If they did leave, they never went away for long. Mako sighed to himself. He also especially liked wasps because, unlike the kikaichu beetles, the damn wasps would listen to him.

He looked up at Tsudemi's laugh. Apparently Kiba had just said something hilarious. The Cloud kunoichi was snickering as well. Kiba was definitely one of the cool dads. He never shied away from having fun or telling jokes or doing other wild things like sneaking them into the 'Forest of Death' training grounds so that they could see what it was like and get a head start on the competition.

He told the wasps to fly in a counterclockwise circle. As they did so, he sent a single one flying up as fast and as far as it could through the circle. Then he had it curve in a tight arc and dive back down through the hoop. Then he practiced it again, having each wasp break out of formation in series and trade places with the one returning from the dive. "This will be good practice," his father had told him. "You are going to have to practice hard if you want to master the kikaichu techniques and become a leader in the Aburame clan one day. Right now... I fear you have a long way to go."

Mako sighed and watched Kiba and Tsudemi give their goodbyes to the Cloud genin. As she left, the dogs leapt up and made their goodbyes as well. "I could get used to having one of the cool dads," Mako thought to himself. "Even if it meant that I had to drag him home, semiconscious, from a bar every now and then."

He couldn't see what his insects saw, not exactly. They had to come to him first. His dad could have his bugs spell out words in the air. Mako wasn't that good yet. Once an insect had direct contact with his skin, he could give it new orders, or they could report back what they saw. It was a weird feeling for him, connecting to the insect hive mind. Not weird bad, but weird like a thousand little thoughts tickling your brain all at the same time. It took a lot of practice to pick and choose amongst all the bug messages to get the ones that were important. That was another reason he liked wasps, they were very easy to read.

The wasps liked him too. Every now and then they would take the initiative to try to communicate back to him. Right now, wasp number six was trying to get his attention. She waggled in the air, going in a clockwise circle. He acknowledged her with a nod and held out his hand. The small swarm stopped their formation and returned to him, crawling up his wrists and arms. A few lodged themselves in his hair. Number Six was the last to land. She stopped on his thumb.

Mako jerked his head up in surprise and looked around surreptitiously. The crazy chunin girl was here! He shot a glance back to where Tsudemi was animatedly talking to Kiba while petting one of his dogs, and shook his head. They were still having their reunion. He wasn't going to bother them about this.

He thanked Number Six and she buzzed happily. Then he gave instructions to the swarm. Find and follow the chunin. He wasn't sure why he was following her or what he was going to do when he found her, but the Aburame clan was supposed to be skilled at gathering information. And at the moment he was sure he had nothing better to do.

* * *

Hishyota swore and scanned even farther out with her byakugan... still nothing. "Any sign of the little jerk yet?" she grumbled again. All of her clones answered the negative. She sighed. "When the heck did he give us the slip?" she muttered rhetorically, under her breath.

"It must have been back at the store," one of her shadow clones remarked thoughtfully. "Think about it… that clone we were chasing… well, at least one of us had eyes on him the whole time. So we know he couldn't have done the switch here in the plaza." Hishyota nodded once in agreement. Then she undid the shadow clone jutsu.

She didn't like it when her clones talked back to her like that. It creeped her out that they could come up with their own ideas and theories that were sometimes better than hers. To be perfectly honest, she didn't like the whole idea of the clones in the first place. Undoing them always sent a shiver down her spine. She always had this brief moment of panic... What if she really wasn't the original?

To be even more honest, she didn't like the idea of ninjutsu anyway. Just look at the amount of trouble it allowed her idiot brother to get into.

Hishyota sighed and started back to the store. She nodded at the handful of greetings she got as she walked down the street. Here and there some self important fool stopped her and chatted her up hoping to score some points with the eldest daughter of the Hokage and/or the head of the Hyuga clan.

Being famous was bad enough. Everyone in the village treated her like royalty. Okay, fair enough... You take the Hokage, marry him to the head of the richest, oldest clan in the HIdden Leaf village and of course any babies that pop out are going to be instant celebrities. She understood that. That didn't mean she liked it.

But being a shinobi was worse.

Oh, it wasn't so bad in the Leaf village. Practically everyone there was a shinobi, or related to one, or friends with one. Once you got outside the village gates and into the Fire country proper, well... That was a different story. How do you sit down and talk with someone who can vaporize you with a breath, or kill you with their mind, or summon a toad big enough to eat your whole house in one bite?

Very very politely. Certainly not like they were a regular person.

Hishyota wanted so very very badly to be that regular person. The double whammy of being famous inside the village and infamous outside of it was just too much for her. She prayed that one day she would wake up and be normal. She dreamed at night about being normal.

Dreaming about being normal was way better than any of the other dreams that she had.

Late at night as she lay in her bed, dreading the inevitable nightmare that would come, she wondered maybe if she was normal, all of the bad stuff wouldn't have happened.

That was why she was drawn to Hana Uchiha so much. Like her, Hana was born a celebrity. Like her, everyone pointed and whispered behind her back.

Unlike her, Hana embraced the role life had cast her into... Of course Hana didn't have the the nightmares she did... maybe… or at least, if she did, they never seemed to bother her.

The market door rang as she pushed it open. Choji-san looked up and waved, but never paused in his storytelling to Ichisui who stood there smiling eagerly and nodding in all the right places. You'd almost never notice the glazed look in his eyes. Hishyota waved back and walked over to the last place she saw her brother, the pumpkin display.

Nothing. She heard some noise the next aisle over and wandered over to investigate. One of the market employees was picking up apples from a display and throwing them in a rubbish bin. "Excuse me," she asked tiredly. "Have you by any chance seen an obnoxious brat, about eleven years old, with spiky black hair and Hyuga eyes in here?"

The clerk, some teenage girl from the Akimichi clan, glanced up. "Nope, I haven't seen anyone in this section for a while." She scooped up a double handful of apple mush and tossed it in the bin with a rattling thud.

Hishyota stepped back a bit so she wouldn't get any splashed on her. "What happened here?" she asked, pointing at the display

The Akimichi girl shrugged. "Apparently the whole apple display decided to all go rotten at the same time." She scooped up another handful and dumped it in the garbage. There was a rattle as they rolled around in the can. "Weird huh? I mean I just set them out this morning and they were all fresh!"

Hishyota tilted her head quizzically as another handful of mush went in. Instead of a splat, she heard a bounce and rolling sound. She surreptitiously turned on her byakugan and took a quick peek at the rubbish.

The apples were fine, someone had blasted them with a genjutsu to make them all appear rotten. There was only one person she knew of who was angry enough to zap an innocent pile of apples, one person who was good enough to cast an area effect genjutsu and hold it for this length of time. "Excuse me," she asked again, turning off her byakugan and trying to hide her amusement. "I'm sorry to keep bothering you, but if you haven't seen the boy I was talking about, did you by any chance see a girl about my age, dressed in black? She'd probably be wearing a cloak."

The Akimichi teen frowned, in obvious distaste. "You mean the Uchiha girl?" she pointed. "She's two aisles that way. I don't know why Uncle Choji even lets those little monsters into the store." She looked up quickly at Hishyota. "Hey you don't think that she did this... do you?"

Hishyota laughed. "Oh yeah," she said sarcastically, "I'll bet she also hid snakes and spiders in the rest of the produce." She shook her head scornfully and walked away in the direction the clerk indicated.

She found Hana staring intently at a bunch of broccoli. Hana glanced up her way, nodded once and went back to examining vegetables.

"So," said Hishyota, sliding up next to her. "What did those poor apples ever do to you?"

The latest bunch of broccoli apparently met Hana's standards of approval and was carefully laid in her basket. "I'm trying to decide," she said casually, "whether I should kill your brother fast and messily in public, as a warning to let everyone know not to mess with me, or whether I should make his death slow and painful so I can enjoy it more."

Hishyota nodded. "Slow and lingering. Definitely slow and lingering. You could sell tickets."

Hana looked up with a trace of a smile on her lips. "Really?"

"I'd buy one."

Hana flashed a very rare smile and then subjected the radishes to her penetrating stare. "So... What did Jiraiya do to you this time?"

Hishyota sighed. "You know how Mom is away? Well, he always seems to go a bit bonkers with the pranks and the scheming when she leaves. We were supposed to help get ready for the sleepover tonight, but he said that he had bigger plans." She shook her head. "Then the little freak managed to give me the slip."

Hana looked up. "Isn't he afraid that your dad would punish him?"

Hishyota snorted. "Dad's idea of a punishment for pranks is to say: 'That was really cool! Brilliant as always! Now don't do it again.'" She scratched her nose. "Now I'll just have to wait until mom gets back. Of course by then he'll have come up with some excuse like he was helping an old lady or buying toys for orphans or something."

"That's a lame excuse," said Hana.

Hishyota sighed. "My mom called him on it once. He managed to produce an eighty year old woman who swore up and down he spent the whole day weeding her garden, treating her bunions and doing her laundry."

Hana snickered. "How did he do that?"

Hishyota shrugged. "No one knows, and Jiraiya never reveals his secrets." She glanced over at Hana. "So... What did he do to make you carry out an apple massacre?"

Hana scowled. "Nothing."

Hishyota tilted her head. "He did nothing to you? Or he did something but it's nothing you want to talk about?" Hana's reply was to pull her hood up over her head. "I see," said Hishyota quietly.

"He said he and Mibuki were going to hang out for a bit," Hana muttered angrily. In front of her the display of radishes began to vibrate ominously. Tiny wisps of smoke began to hiss into the air.

Hishyota ignored the new genjutsu on the radishes and thought for a second. "So Mibuki went with him huh? Sounds like Jiraiya is going to try for one of his big schemes..." She tapped her fingers on the bins thinking. She turned suddenly to Hana. "Do you want to get even with the little twerp?" Hana's hood nodded once. Hishyota smiled. "Good, because we are going to get him busted."

* * *

"...So I open my eyes and Asuma-sensei and three other medical-nin are all there leaning over me. One of the Medical-nin gives me a poke and says gently 'Choji-kun? Are you okay? Do you know where you are? Do you know what day it is?' I looked up at Asuma -sensei and I blurt out 'Barbeque!' The Medical-nin looked really concerned at this but Asuma-sensei just waves them away saying. 'Don't worry, he's doing just fine.'" Choji smiled reminiscing. "I ate so much that day... and Asuma-sensei promised to pay for it all. By the time I was done he had to wash dishes to settle the bill." Choji chuckled. "We all laughed at him for a bit, and then we all pitched in to help him. Even Shikamaru washed a few dishes." Choji sighed. "Ahhh... those were good times."

Ichisui smiled and nodded again. His cheeks were starting to get sore, which was usually about when Choji-san started to wind down. Today though, something must have sparked a streak of nostalgia in him, for he was showing no signs of stopping.

"Using his shinobi skills, finely honed through years of training," Ichisui narrated in his head, "our hero prioritizes the needs for this mission, to formulate the best way to complete the mission and escape unseen." He quickly checked on his siblings.

Chiryo and Fugawari were done with their part of the shopping list. They stood next to him with full baskets with Chyrio growing more bored by the second. Fugawari was doing an anxious little jig, indicating that sometime in the next five minutes he was going to need a bathroom. They quickly became his first priority. Many trips to the market had taught Ichisui that there is nothing more dangerous than a bored six year old and a three year old with a full bladder, especially when they have chipmunks at their disposal.

Next on the threat triage was Mibuki. He was missing. That was worrisome. Undoubtedly he would turn up sooner or later, whether or not he turned up with his share of the shopping was another matter entirely. Someone would have to take care of that.

Normally, Hana wouldn't register on the triage. Hana could take care of herself. No matter what happened he could count in her to finish her part of the shopping. The one time Hana did make it onto the threat list, was when she was angry. Right now Hana and Hishyota were grumbling angrily to each other, plotting something. Ichisui quickly added them to the number three spot.

He smiled and nodded again at Choji-san. He had somehow segued into the story about the time he escaped from a hungry shark by drinking all the water in a water prison jutsu that he was trapped in.

He turned to look back. Hana and Hishyota were walking toward him with a full shopping basket and an expression of grim determination. "Oh dear," he thought, bumping the pair of them to threat level two, "this can't be good." There was a tug on his shirt and he looked down. Fugawari had his legs crossed and one hand pressed to his crotch. He took in a deep breath, ready to start a fuss, a telltale sign that he couldn't hold it anymore. Chyrio was idly tossing a chipmunk from hand to hand. He made a decision. This mission was a bust.

He turned to face Choji-san to make his apologies and try to extricate everyone out of the store with a minimum of fuss, chaos and puddles. He happened to glance behind him to measure the distance to the door just in case he had to grab Fugawari and run to the nearest public stall.

He froze.

Hishyoni Hyuga had limped into the Emporium Plaza. She was dusty, sweaty and disheveled, but Ichisui didn't see any of that. He just saw her.

She stopped at the fountain which bubbled in the center of the Plaza, cupped water in her hands and splashed it over her face. She took a second handful and dumped it over her head. She shook out her hair and water droplets scattered every which way, sparkling in the afternoon sun.

Ichisui realized that his mouth was hanging open and closed it with a click. Fugawari was pulling on him more insistently and whispering something up to him urgently, but he couldn't make out exactly what he was saying. Chyrio gave him a funny look and walked over as well. He looked at is siblings and tried to remember what was so crucial about them on his list of priorities from just a moment ago. He knew that it was something important, but his list had been replaced by 1) Hishyoni, 2) Hishyoni, and 3) Hishyoni.

He awoke from his reverie to a chipmunk being waved in front of his nose. "Are you listening?" screeched Chyrio, her voice getting dangerously loud, "Mister Whiskers says Fugawari has to go to the bathroom!"

Ichisui shook his head as if to clear it. "Right," he said quickly. He had his duties. He had his siblings to take care of. What was he thinking, he couldn't just leave them here. "We'll just hurry out…" He shot one last look at Hishyoni.

She was frowning and examining her arm. There was a tear in her shirt and he could see dried blood next to a scratch on her arm. She fingered the scrape and looked unhappily at the blood that stained her fingers. She sighed and pulled her shirt off over her head.

Underneath she was wearing a tight steel mesh halter with a white sports bra plainly visible through the links.

Wires crossed in Ichisui's head, and he felt himself grow weak at the knees. Some still working part of his brain gave the rest of him a nudge. "_You know medical ninjutsu_," it whispered in his ear. "_You could go over there and heal that scratch._"

* * *

Hana stopped and glared at Ichisui. He was staring slack jawed at something outside the window, while both Fugawari and Chyrio pulled and yelled at him. She cleared her throat really loudly and thrust her full shopping basket at him. "Here's my share of what Dad put on the shopping list," she said, giving the basket a little shake. She frowned as Ichisui ignored her. So she dropped the basket at his feet. "Me and Hishyota are going to…"

Ichisui ignored the basket. He picked up Fugawari, took one step and dropped him right in front of her. "Can you take care of Fugawari for me?" he asked in a dreamy sort of voice. "I… um… have to go check on… something." He took a step towards the door.

"Big brother!?" wailed Fugawari. "Where are you going?"

"Hey!" Hana barked out loudly. Thankfully Ichisui stopped walking. "You have the money to pay!"

Ichisui reached into his pocket and threw his wallet at her. "Here," he said slowly. Pay for the groceries. I'll be back in a second." The shop door rang as he left.

Hana suddenly found herself the center of attention. Chyrio spun and glared at her. "How come Ichisui gets to go off and do his own thing? I don't get to go looking for presents for my precious little babies all by myself! Dad says I have to stay with you! It's not fair!"

Fugawari tried to run forward and grab at her, but the pressure in his bladder slowed him to a pained hobble. "Sister! I really really have to pee!"

Hana turned to Hishyota to ask her for some assistance, but she found her friend's attention elsewhere. "What the heck is your brother doing?" asked Hishyota idly, wandering over to peer out the door.

Choji-san leaned over the counter and gave Hana a big friendly grin, as Chyrio and Fugawari hounded her. "So would you like me to add up the bill for you?"

Hana had had enough. "Quiet!" she roared at Chyrio and Fugawari. Thankfully they listened for once and she had enough time to deposit the three shopping baskets she had on Choji-san's counter. "Here, tally these up and I'll pay for them right after I take my little brother to the bathroom. Hishyota!" she called out to her friend who was staring out the window muttering under her breath. "Can you watch Chyrio for a second? I have to take Fugawari to go pee."

As she started to head towards the public restrooms, her little brother dug in his heels. "I want to use the boy's bathroom," stated Fugawari matter of factly, "I don't want to go into the girl's room."

Hana pulled him towards the door. "Too bad. I'm a girl, and you're coming with me, so we're going to the girl's room."

"I don't want to go to the girl's room!" Fugawari cried, his voice going up in pitch. "I want Ichisui to take me! I want to go to the boy's room!"

"He can't," said Hana firmly, dragging Fugawari to the door. "He's busy!"

"Doing what?" Fugawari cried.

"Apparently he's decided to go and talk to Hishyoni-chan… again," said Hishyota in a disgusted voice.

Even Hana couldn't resist that was a hurried patter of feet as everyone crowded around the windows. With baited breath they watched as Ichisui stopped before crossing the street to let a cart pass. He hesitated for a moment, and then steeled himself to continue walking towards her

"Why does he keep trying to talk to her? She doesn't like him!" asked Chyrio, holding up Mister Whiskers so he could get a better view.

"Because Ichisui is an idiot, and he's in love, and being in love makes you even more of an idiot. So basically it's because he's twice the idiot he normally is," snapped Hana coldly.

Chyrio looked at the scene and sniffed. "He's still not allowed to run off like that! I'm going to tell Daddy when we get home."

"Oh dear. I wonder what's going to happen to the poor boy this time." Everyone looked up to see Choji-san peering outside along with the rest of them. Choji looked down. "What? I like a good laugh as much as the next man."

They watched as Hishyoni used the fountain water to wash off her scratch. Her mesh armor had several broken links in the front that were obviously bothering her. She shrugged her way out of the halter top. Ichisui staggered. "I don't know what he sees in her," Hishyota grumbled. "She's such a bitch all the time."

"She is totally hot." They turned to look at Buronto, the deli clerk who had just joined them at the window. He looked back at them. "What? She is! I'd go over and talk to her."

"I heard he tried to give her flowers once and got bitten by bugs all over his face!" The Akimichi teen girl had joined them as well.

"And then there was the time he fell into the cow poop," said Chyrio giggling.

"Don't forget the time he tried to serenade her!" Hishyota chuckled.

"Oh that was a funny one," Choji muttered in an amused voice.

Fugawari tugged on Hana's hand "I'm sorry Hana… a little bit came out," he whispered.

Hana sighed and pulled herself away from the scene. "Will you come to the girl's room with no fuss?" Fugawari nodded once, still watching his older brother. "Fine, let's go." Hana took his hand, pushed all the onlookers out of the way, and opened the market door.

Once again the shop bell rang, a cheery little tinkle... almost as cheerful as Fugawari now that some of the pressure had been released. With a disgusted sigh, Hana lead the now fascinated Fugawari past the developing scene involving his older brother.

Just as they reached the public ladies room Fugawari hesitated. "Hana? Is Ichisui going to get hurt again?"

Hana gave her older brother one last murderous glare through the window."I hope so kid... I really hope so."


	49. Chapter 19: Family and Friends: part 2

Asuma Junior woke up late to the smell of food cooking. His late night patrol had ended at four A.M. He worked his tongue around his dry mouth and grimaced. As a new jonin he and his team got stuck with more than his fair share of crap missions. He stretched and tried to work the kinks out of his neck. That was how it worked though. As he advanced and got more name recognition, he'd get assigned better missions, and then, if he became in really high demand, he might even be able to pick and choose. He smiled to himself. Who knew, maybe in a couple of years he'd be chosen to lead a team of fresh faced genin from the academy.

He climbed out of his bed and did a quick series of calisthenics to work the soreness from his muscles and to wake himself up a little bit. When he was done he smelled himself and grimaced. He had gone to bed wearing the same clothes that he had worn on his patrol, and as a result, he now smelled pretty ripe. He stripped, showered, changed and went downstairs.

Kurenai greeted him with a huge smile. "Hi there sleepy head! You must be starving!" She slid a huge plate of food in front of him.

Asuma toyed with the idea of making some excuse and heading out the door, but his mother looked at him with such a proud happy grin on her face that he sat down. "You didn't have to do this Mom," he said picking up his chopsticks and trying a bite. "I could have gotten something on the way to pick up my next assignment."

Kurenai shook her head. "Nonsense! Your father was always starving when he came back from a mission, and you're just the same. Some quick, picked up meal from a hot food stall would never be enough." She looked up at him and smiled. "Besides I wanted to make you something special. Something to celebrate your tenth successful mission as a jonin."

Asuma quickly looked down and started shoveling food into his mouth. He couldn't sneak anything past his mother though. She knew him too well. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's nothing Mom. The food is really good. Could I have some tea please?"

Kurenai leaned forward on the table. "What is it?" she asked.

Asuma sighed. "This is my fourteenth mission Mom."

Kurenai smile slipped. "Oh… I must have… Well, all the more reason for us to celebrate now, yes?"

Asuma smiled back at her. "Of course it is." A few days ago, his mother had been on one of her downward swings then and hadn't even bothered to get out of bed.

The food was good. His mother's cheerful mood was even better. He had learned to cherish such moments. He was helping her clear the table and put the dishes in the sink, when he decided to take the opportunity to slip some of his extra pay into the engraved silver box that his mother used as the household cash reserve. He cracked open the lid and slipped an extra five thousand ryo inside. He was bringing the last of the bowls to the counter and congratulating himself on his stealth when his mother turned to him. "I don't need you to pay me rent you know. You're my son. I'm more than happy to let you stay here."

Asuma looked down. "I know Mom... I just... feel better knowing that I'm helping you out in some way."

She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "You are helping me out. Just by staying here." Asuma smiled. "In fact it would help me more if you would agree to take some assignment that would keep you in the village more." She sighed. "I wish you didn't have so many late night patrols. I worry about you so."

Asuma's smile stayed on his face but his eyebrows twitched. Not this conversation again. "It's fine Mom, every jonin has to go through this. In a year or so, I'll have made more of a name for myself and there will be a new crop of jonin so I'll be able to move up the ladder a little."

Kurenai smiled mysteriously and turned back to the sink. "Well, I still have half a mind to have a talk with Hinata. I'll bet that she could convince her husband to say a few words in a few ears. That should get you into some different assignments."

Asuma groaned inside. He knew his mother meant well, but these days she was so far removed from the pressure… so far removed from the jockeying for position, friendly, and yet still cut-throat competition of the Jonin ranks of Konoha. She'd been retired for so long that she really had no idea what it was like anymore. If word ever got around that his mother interceded on his behalf... He'd be done. "Mom it's fine. Really. I don't mind paying my dues." He really hated having to go over this with her every single time. He was going to make a name for himself as a shinobi and no one not even her was going to stop him. "Besides everyone says that the night patrols are good practice for when you start getting assigned to the infiltration and assault missions." He looked up at Kurenai defiantly.

And regretted it. She wouldn't look him in the eye. Her bottom lip was trembling. "I know," she said with a breathy sigh. "I just get so worried about you."

Asuma stepped closer and awkwardly gave his mother a hug. "I know Mom." He gave her a reassuring pat on her hair, and smiled. "Don't worry, everyone says I'm showing great promise. Uncle Konohamaru says I'm ten times the shinobi he was at my age."

Kurenai snorted. "That's because at your age, Konohamaru was only interested in girls."

Asuma gave a small laugh. "He still is Mom." He held his mother by her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Nothing is going to happen to me Mom. You don't have to worry."

Kurenai gave him a look. "Your father used to say the same thing to me before he went out on missions," she said in a cold voice. Asuma cringed.

Kurenai noticed his flinch and gave him a quick hug. "I'm sorry. Don't mind my ramblings, I just... a little bit anxious when you are out on a mission." She squeezed him a little tighter. "You're all I have left." She held him for a second and then quickly pushed him away. "I'm sure that you have much more important things to do that to listen to your old mother." She turned her back on him and busied herself about the sink.

Asuma turned to leave and hesitated. "So… What were you planning on doing today Mom?" He asked with an almost imperceptible quaver. Her answer would help him gauge where her current mood was. It would tell him whether or not she was headed back into a depression again.

"Oh, I don't know," she answered cheerfully. "There were some things that I wanted to pick up at the market. After that I thought I might stop by the Hatake house, see if Anko wanted to do anything.

Asuma held in his sigh of relief. "I'll be headed through the Emporium plaza today… Would it help if you gave me a shopping list?"

Kurenai shook her head. "Oh no. It's fine. I'd like to get some air."

Asuma smiled. Great news, she wanted to get out. "Okay. Bye Mom! I'll see you tonight." Kurenai gave him a little wave as he walked out the door.

Asuma exhaled and rolled his head to ease some of the tension out of his shoulders. As he had gotten older his mother had gotten gradually worse. When he was little, his mother had been 'super-mom'. In a way she had to be. She had to do missions and take care of him. It seemed like she was capable of anything. But now, here he was, at nineteen years of age, a jonin, a man.

It wasn't too hard for him to figure out that his mother was just counting down the seconds until he left her as well. He often found her trying to convince him to stay in little ways. She would try to be extra helpful, try to show him how easier his life would be if he would just bide his time and stay at home a little bit longer.

The worst part was, Kurenai always realized what she was unconsciously doing after the fact, and she managed to embarrass herself almost as much as she was embarrassing Asuma Jr.

Asuma took a deep breath and stared down at his boots as he walked. He often walked around the village, lost in thought, and he never worried about accidentally walking into someone. He was a big man, like his father had been. People instinctively got out of his way.

His Father…As usual, he thought about his childhood, and wondered how it might have been different if his father was still around.

Asuma Jr. hadn't had a bad childhood. It was just… different. Whereas most of his peers had two parents, he had many.

He had heard the stories from his mother. Neither the Sarutobi nor the Yuhi clan were that enthusiastic with the proposed marriage between his father and mother. The clans were both hoping for different pairings to solidify other alliances. There was just one little problem.

Kurenai was two months pregnant

Well! Neither clan was about to let that sort of scandal occur. So both Asuma Sr. and Kurenai found to their delight to be entered into a marriage contract and engaged to each other post haste.

Only Asuma Sr. never came back alive from his mission.

Both clans were very comfortable ignoring that little issue. "There will be no illegitimacies in our clan!" one of the elders in the Yuhi clan declared. However once that was all settled, everyone seemed more than content in ignoring Kurenai and him.

Thankfully it didn't matter much. His mother still had her position as one of the premier genjutsu users in Konoha, so her continued employment, and therefore money, wasn't that big an issue. Whenever she was away, little Asuma Jr. found himself with offers from any number of other families to come and stay with them for a while. The Nara's, The Akimichi's, the Uzumaki-Hyuga, the Hatake's, the Inuzuka, the Aburame. His mother and father had a lot of friends. There were a lot of shinobi they had worked with over the years and each of those families felt some sort of bond with little Asuma.

Except… Asuma found as he grew older, he wanted more of that clan contact. He had a surname. Sarutobi. But what did that mean? He could read the history books as well as anyone else. He had heard the stories of his father and grandfather from their friends and students, but what was the rest of his clan like? What were their lessons? Their rules? Their secret teachings?

When he was alive, Asuma Sarutobi Sr. was considered the 'black sheep' of the clan. He was boisterous and loud while they were reserved, physical where they were studious. It was no wonder that he and the clan had gone their separate ways.

It was no wonder that as he grew up, Asuma Jr. found himself gravitating more and more to the man many referred to as the 'new black sheep' of the Sarutobi clan.

* * *

Asuma politely knocked on the door and waited. He glanced down idly at the two sets of boots strewn casually by the entryway and shook his head in puritan disapproval. He whistled a quick tune as he counted down the seconds, and then he knocked a second time, louder than the first. A few minutes after the second knock the door slowly creaked open and Konohamaru leaned outside.

He squinted at the bright sunlight for a second. He ran some fingers through his mussed up hair and then focused on Asuma. "Hey!" he said with a goofy grin, "Asuma! What can I do for you?" He opened the door wide.

Asuma cleared his throat nervously and tried to resist the temptation to look inside his much older cousin's apartment. He failed. He made a quick note of the various articles of clothing making a trail into the bedroom. "You wanted me to get you for the jonin meeting at 2 P.M.?"

Konohamaru frowned groggily at him. "You're a little bit early aren't you?"

Asuma sighed and shook his head. He held out his arm and pointed to his wristwatch. 1:40 P.M.

Konohamaru's eyes snapped open. "Crap!" He dashed back into his apartment scrambling into his bedroom. "Sorry Honey," he said sweetly to someone who murmured a question. "I've got an important meeting I just have to get to. I really hate to do this to you but can you just let yourself out? Thanks." He spun around and dashed into the bathroom. A fraction of a second later the sink was running as he splashed himself with water and brushed his teeth.

Asuma heard movement in the bedroom. He turned and quickly pretended to be studying something on the other side of the street. The bedroom door opened and shut and then there was the padding of footsteps.

"Oh! Hello," said a surprised sultry voice. "Are you Konohamaru's roommate?"

Asuma turned trying to hide his embarrassment. A hastily dressed, very buxom kunoichi from the Hidden Stone village was looking him up and down. "I'm, uh, actually his cousin," he said, swallowing. "Sorry to... um... bother the pair of you but we… um... have a mandatory jonin meeting at two."

The kunoichi shook out her long brown hair and gave him a winning smile. "I don't mind one bit," she said, eyeing him up and down. "The men sure are handsome in your family." She leaned forward. Asuma very carefully studied her face and made sure he did not once look at her exposed cleavage. "You tell Konohamaru that I had a wonderful time," she purred, prodding him with one finger. "You tell him that I will gladly meet up with him the next time he comes to visit the Hidden Stone village, okay?" She winked once at Asuma and vanished out the door.

The water stopped running and Konohamaru hoped out. He was struggling to get out of his old boxers and into some clean ones and yet somehow he still managed to sprint into the bedroom. "Gods kid! Next time," he called out to Asuma as he scrambled to get dressed. "The next time I'm running this late, don't even bother to knock, just come right in and get me!"

Asuma grunted in a polite way. He had barged in on his 'Uncle' once. Konohamaru had been entertaining a female guest whose tastes ran to the… exotic. Asuma wished he could have scrubbed his eyeballs afterwards. Never again would he just barge in.

Konohamaru appeared from the bedroom fully dressed, hair combed, with his trademark blue scarf and easy smile in place. He nodded once to his nephew and then sauntered out into the street. Asuma sighed, pulled the door shut for him and followed.

They walked side by side for a bit. Konohamaru would smile and nod at each woman who crossed his path. Some of them gave him cold stares, some of them smiled back, but he greeted and tried to chat up each one as if she was a long lost friend.

"So," he said, as they turned onto a less crowded street. "What did you think of her? She was really something wasn't she?" Asuma shrugged. Konohamaru smiled dreamily and continued. "We were like ships crossing in the night. She was here for one day, dropping off some diplomatic nonsense to the Hokage's office. I offered to show her around. A night of dancing, a few drinks and presto!" He waggled his fingers at his younger cousin and grinned. "A night filled with magic. But now..." Konohamaru sighed. "We go our separate ways… I wonder if we'll ever meet again," he said downhearted.

"Passing not crossing," said Asuma.

"Huh?" asked Konohamaru.

"The phrase is 'ships passing in the night.' Not crossing."

Konohamaru dismissed this with a single wave. "Whatever. It doesn't matter." He stretched and grinned wide. "I will say this though... that Hidden Stone kunoichi gave a great…"

"STOP!" yelped Asuma. He held up one hand. "Do not finish that sentence Uncle. I do not want to know anything about what you did, or did not do last night."

Konohamaru looked hurt. "What? I was going to say she gives a great backrub. I can say backrub can't I? That won't offend your tender sensibilities.. will it?"

Asuma gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes... It's okay for you to talk about backrubs."

Konohamaru nodded. "Good, because hers were amazing. First she used one hand down low while the other one massaged and squeezed me just behind my head. Then she used both hands to stroke me up and down. Finally she started to work me really hard down at the base, and just when I thought I couldn't take it any more she…"

"Okay, stop," said Asuma coldly. "I don't want to hear anymore."

"What?" asked Konohamaru his face a mask of pure innocence. "I'm only talking about a backrub. Anything dirty you're inferring here is coming out of your perverted little mind, not mine." Asuma grumbled something incoherent in reply. "Besides," said Konohamaru grinning, going for one last little jab. "that's just me describing her backrubs… Imagine what she was like in bed!"

Asuma made a disgusted noise as Konohamaru sighed happily. "Ah, she's the girl of my dreams," he crowed.

Asuma slowed his pace and looked at him sideways. "She's the girl of your dreams? What happened to Kumiko from the Hidden Sand?"

Konohamaru shrugged. "Well, you know what they say, what happens in Suna stays in Suna."

Asuma kept up his stare. "Wasn't there also Asuka from the Hidden Rain Village?"

Konohamaru gave a wistful smile. "Ahh… When it was cold and wet outside she was always willing to take me somewhere warm and cozy… And believe me, in Amegakure it is always cold and rainy," he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Asuma's frown deepened, but he forced himself to press on. "Wasn't Umeko from the Hidden Cloud also supposed to be the girl of your dreams?"

Konohamaru shuffled through a little dance step as he walked. "Mmm.. She was electric on the dance floor and off."

Asuma sighed and rubbed his face. "Not to mention all those fine kunoichi from the Hidden Leaf who are all vying for your attention?"

Konohamaru shrugged. "I guess it just means I have really big dreams. Besides, can I help it if I'm so popular with the ladies?"

It was true. He was lean, handsome, a superb shinobi, and was also recognized (somewhat reluctantly, by the Sarutobi clan elders) as a member of one of the great clans of Konoha. He had an easy smile, a cheerful demeanor, and most importantly of all, a very laid back, casual attitude towards dating and relationships in general.

In a uptight village like the Hidden Leaf, where most of the village elders still treated asking someone out for ramen like the couple was moving in together, he was a breath of fresh air. He was the definition of cool. If you didn't want to go out with him, he'd smile and shrug, "Hey, that's okay." When you were out with him, there were no expectations. He just wanted to have fun and enjoy the evening with you. If you wanted to end the evening with a handshake, he'd smile and shrug, "Hey, that's okay." If you wanted to end the evening with an enthusiastic snog fest on your parent's front porch, well that was okay too. As the rumors began to spread, more often than not it was the kunoichi who were seeking out Konohamaru.

As Konohamaru entered his twenties, he began to acquire a bit of a 'bad boy' image amongst the elders of the various clans. This only served to capture the imaginations of many women. In a time when young women expected to have more of a personal say in their marriage prospects, (That is, it was a time when many young kunoichi of a marriageable age found themselves saying: "If the Hokage's wife can beat the living snot out of her father to be with the man she wants, why can't I?") many were overjoyed to hear the name of the darkly handsome, swaggering Konohamaru Sarutobi bandied about as one of their options. Several of the lesser houses were so glad to find a potential match that both they and the aforementioned young lady could agree on, (It was also a time when many clan elders found themselves making careful, albeit nervous note of what was referred to as: 'The Uzumaki-Hyuga marriage incident' and the length of time it took Hiashi Hyuga to recover from his injuries.) that they were practically throwing their eligible daughters at him. If all that wasn't enough, his growing reputation as the Don Juan of Konoha had piqued the interest of several of the more adventurous kunoichi from other lands.

There was even a rumor that the Lady of the Land of Flowers had approached the Sarutobi clan, tentatively asking about Konohamaru as a match for her eldest daughter. After all Konohamaru was the presumed successor to the Sixth Hokage. 'Presumed' mostly because Naruto-sama was getting so tired of the sheer number of complaints he was hearing from upset lords, clan heads, and elders that he was trying to browbeat Konohamaru into changing his public image.

Strangely enough, despite all the grumbling and disapproval from the older generation, none of the women he dated seemed to complain.

Now in his thirties, it was becoming clear that Konohamaru didn't really view dating as a means to an end. While some women gave up on him, others viewed this as a challenge and pursued him all the harder. Still others just sat back and enjoyed the ride, so to speak.

Six months ago, Konohamaru was sent on a goodwill visit to the Hidden Mist Village. He returned a week later all smiles and beaming over the wonderful time he had. His return was immediately followed by a particularly long letter complaining about his lack of restraint and decorum, and and several even longer love letters from various noble's daughters, that were hand delivered by an extremely upset and embarrassed ambassador of the Hidden Mist Village. It was said that the Sixth Hokage had read the letter and then had stood up in the middle of the council meeting and had publicly stated on the record: "Look Konohamaru, I'm not going to name you my successor until you clean up your act. I mean what the hell? You're thirty-two years old! Isn't it time you settled down? Or at least tried to date one woman at a time?"

Konohamaru had just grinned at him. "I always date one woman at a time these days Boss! Experience has shown me that if there's more than one involved, neither one of those lucky ladies gets the full effect that is Konohamaru Sarutobi!" He then proceeded to spend the rest of the meeting chatting up the Hidden Mist ambassador's aide. To everyone's chagrin, she went out with him that night.

Konohamaru smiled and gave Asuma a nudge. "So… something's got your undies all twisted up this morning. You usually could care less about who I'm seeing." He gave Asuma a sly grin. "Has someone set you up to give me the usual talk about settling down? It's Naruto-nichan again isn't it?" He studied Asuma for a second and his smile faded. "No… That's not it." He scratched his chin. "I don't think it has anything to do with me at all…"

Asuma shook his head. "It's nothing. I'll deal with it."

Konohamaru slapped him on the back. "If it was 'nothing', you wouldn't have to deal with it." He flashed a quick smile. "Seriously kid, what's bothering you. Is your Mom okay?"

Asuma smiled. "Mom's fine… It's just that…" He hesitated and looked at his cousin twelve years older than he was. Old enough that when they were little, Asuma always called him 'Uncle Konohamaru'. The nickname had stuck. "Well, I guess it is kind of about my mom," he confessed.

One of the things Asuma liked about Konohamaru was that he always knew when to tease and when not to tease. His face was serious as he nodded. "Go on."

Asuma took a deep breath and steadied himself. "I'm nineteen years old, I'm a jonin and I still live at home. I have my mom making my breakfast in the morning and doing my laundry." He sighed heavily. "Be honest Uncle... Is there something wrong with me?"

Konohamaru shrugged. "Do you want to live at home?"

"Well… I… That's…" stammered Asuma.

Konohamaru nodded again. "I know kid. You're kind of a weird situation. It's okay at home, and you feel like your mom needs you but at the same time you want your space." He sighed. "You know what the worst part about being young is? You always feel like you're falling behind everyone else." He glanced up at Asuma. "But do you know what? In this life, there is only one person that you are competing against. Do you know who that is?" Asuma shook his head. "Yourself. That is the only you have to beat." He smiled and began walking again. "You if you feel like you have to stay… Stay. If it's time to go, then don't let anyone else keep you there."

Asuma looked down. "Yeah but my mom…"

"Your mom loves you. For twenty years now she's been taking care of your sorry ass," Konohamaru said, grinning. "I'm sure that it's about time for her to have a break."

Asuma closed his eyes. "The last time she got depressed she stayed in bed for three days," he mumbled. "She's been getting worse. She needs me to take care of her."

Konohamaru shook his head. "Nope, that's not your job. If she's getting worse, it's your job to take her to the medical-nin. It's the doctor's job to make her better."

Asuma kicked at the street as he walked. "But what if she needs me and there's no one there to help?"

Konohamaru flung out one arm to stop him. "Oh, that's a different story... if your mom needs help, I expect you'll be there to help her. Just because you want your own space doesn't mean you're moving to the moon! You can still be her son and have your own life too. He smiled and gave Asuma a little pat. "In fact as of right now, I order you to help your mom when she needs it. If you didn't… We'd have to have a long painful talk," he said cracking his knuckles.

Asuma smiled a little. "What if I'm not ready to leave yet?"

Konohamaru started walking yet again. "If you're not ready, then you're not ready, and don't let anyone, especially not some jerk-off ,know-it-all like me tell you otherwise." He gave Asuma a smirk. "When the time is right and the stars align… Believe me you'll know."

They walked in silence while Asuma mulled his 'Uncle's' advice over. The road got busier and busier as they approached the Emporium. The street frontage changed from houses to small businesses to large stores. Asuma idly wondered what it would exactly be like to be out on his own. The shinobi life meant that many children had to grow up quick if they wanted to grow up at all. All of his teammates and most of his colleagues were living on their own. Some were even married and starting families of their own.

His thoughts burst like a soap bubble as Konohamaru nudged him. "Hey," his older cousin asked him in a conspiratorial tone, "as that charming young lady was saying her goodbyes and leaving my apartment this morning, she… um... didn't happen to talk to you did she?"

Asuma rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yes, she said if you were ever in the Hidden Stone Village that she'd like to see you again."

Konohamaru's face broke into a grin. "Hey that's great!" He paused. "Did she happen to say anything else?"

Asuma shook his head. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Absolutely sure?"

Asuma gave Konohamaru a very suspicious glance. "Why do you keep asking?"

Konohamaru sighed. "Well, I was kind of hoping... she might have introduced herself to you... or something."

Asuma shook his head. "Nope, she didn't mention it." He took three steps and then froze as the realization hit him. "Wait… Are you saying you didn't even know her name?" he asked incredulously.

Konohamaru looked away bashfully. "I know she told it to me at the beginning of the night. I'm pretty sure it began with an 'M' sound."

"You don't know her name," stated Asuma flatly.

"It was Michiko, I think. Or maybe Mia?" Konohamaru screwed up his face in thought. "Mookie?"

"I can't believe this. A minute ago you were telling me she was the girl of your dreams!"

Konohamaru gave him an affronted look. "Hey a lot happened since we introduced ourselves, okay? Drinks, dinner, dancing... more drinks." he waggled his fingers. "Various recreational activities…"

Asuma shook his head disgustedly. "How can you insist these relationships you're having are meaningful if you can't even remember her name?"

Konohamaru smirked evilly. "Well, I know for a fact that she remembered my name. She screamed it out last night at least four times."

Asuma was trying to think up the best way to admonish his Uncle for that last statement, when a voice called out over the hubbub of the marketplace in full swing. "Sarutobi-san!" it rang out.

Both Asuma and Konohamaru turned to look. Asuma stiffened as a cold shiver passed through him. Most ninja get very uncomfortable when hailed by name by the ANBU. She stood there glaring at the pair of them from behind her ceramic wolf mask.

Konohamaru grinned. "Now there's a name I won't forget any time soon," he murmured under his breath. "Ookami!" he said with a wave. "How have you been? It's been far too long."

The ANBU stared at him so intently that Asuma involuntarily took a step away from his cousin as not to be caught in any retribution. The ANBU took another step nearer "Konohamaru-san. There's an emergency meeting of the Hokage's council in a hour. You have been ordered to attend."

Konohamaru smiled dreamily at her. "An hour huh? Perfect! Since it looks like I'll have to skip the jonin meeting, I have some free time now. However shall we spend it? Can I treat you to lunch?"

The wolf mask tilted to one side. "Maybe you should spend it looking for your lady friend from the Hidden Stone Village? She's only now just leaving by the western gate."

"You're keeping tabs on me? I didn't know you cared!" Konohamaru asked gleefully.

Asuma could feel the wave of anger coming off the kunoichi. "It's part of my job to take note of all foreign shinobi within our village. What you choose to do with Midori Seikon in your free time is your business." She unclenched her fist and turned her back on them. "The Hokage himself asked me to find you and make absolutely sure you understood that you were required to attend this meeting. It is about a matter of dire importance." She vanished in a puff of smoke.

Asuma sidled back to his grinning cousin. "Uncle," he asked very quietly, "Who was that?"

"That, my boy, was the dream girl to end all dream girls."

"She sounded like she wanted to rip off your head."

Konohamaru shrugged. "Eh… It's just a game we play."

Asuma had seen firsthand some of the 'games' his Uncle played, but the kunoichi's unbridled animosity had felt… personal. "Do you… know her well?" Asuma asked hesitantly.

"We met during the Kurokaze attack. I've seen her about here and there." Konohamaru sighed. "She's beautiful, dark, mysterious and deadly. A wonderful combination."

"You saw her without her mask?" whispered Asuma.

Konohamaru nodded. "Once."

Asuma looked at his cousin again. "Did you ever… Date?"

Konohamaru smiled. "No… And that's the best part of her appeal. She rebuffs my every advance. She blocks me at every turn." He got a dreamy look in his eyes. "She's the tallest mountain, the holy grail, the unreachable star…" He sighed and started walking.

Asuma had to walk fast to catch up to him as he headed through the Emporium. "So what are you going to do now? Go find Midori?"

Konohamaru smiled and shook his head. "Naw…there's no rush. Thanks to Ookami, I can look her up the next time Naruto-nichan sends me to the Hidden Stone." He smiled at Asuma. "Well… I have an hour, and I smell. So right now, I'm going to take a bath." He smiled and smacked Asuma on the shoulder. "Sorry kid… Looks like your have to face the big bad jonin meeting without me." He stopped at the entrance to the bath house. "Later," he said waving, and walked inside.

Asuma turned away and started walked across the Emporium to get to the briefing building up near the Hokage Plaza. As he was crossing he noticed most of the crowds were surreptitiously watching a young teenage boy approaching a girl by the fountain. He was very hesitant, taking a few steps forward and then back. Asuma spotted a chunin in the crowd and sauntered up to him. "What's going on?" he asked quietly.

The chunin smirked but never took his eyes off the boy. "The Uchiha kid is going to try to ask out Neji Hyuga's daughter again! Everyone's waiting to see how he's going to mess it up this time!"

Asuma frowned at the silhouette of the Uchiha boy and felt a pulse of raw anger flow through him. He turned his back and hurried away so as not to be late to the jonin meeting. As he ran, he muttered a curse for the boy and his whole family.


	50. Chapter 19: Family and Friends: part 3

The wheelhouse ground to a stop yet again. There were three loud clomps as the driver climbed down and headed off into the bushes. Sakura hurled her magazine to the floor in frustration. "Gods dammit!" she snarled. "I don't have to stop this much for bathroom breaks, and I'm pregnant! What's the matter with our driver?"

Hinata looked up from the sudoku puzzle she was doing. "Well, he does seem to be drinking an awful lot of water. Maybe... he has a medical condition?"

"I'll give him medical condition," muttered Sakura angrily.

Hinata sighed. It was true, the carriage had not been the fastest mode of transport. Still, they had plenty of time to get there and they had made sure to bring plenty with them to keep themselves occupied.

Only… Sakura seemed to be getting... more than a little frustrated with their trip. "Is everything okay Sakura?" Hinata asked putting as much concern as she could into her voice.

Sakura opened her mouth to snap out a reply, but managed to take a deep breath and calm herself down. "No… I'm hot and I'm sore from sitting in this damn wheelhouse and I'm bored and I just want to be there already." She took another deep breath, and laughed a little. "I'm sorry," she said a little less harshly, "being like this," she patted her stomach, "tends to bring out my bring out my bad side." Sakura brushed her sweaty bangs out of her face and smiled at Hinata.

Hinata smiled too, glad her friend seemed to have calmed down a little. "Well, I can't do much about the heat, or you being sore, but maybe we can do something about the boredom. Do you want to... share stories?"

Sakura looked up with a frown on her face. "Share stories?"

Hinata colored slightly, instantly realizing her _faux pas_. Of course Sakura Uchiha would be apprehensive discussing her past. Especially the parts that involved her clan. "We don't have to if you don't want to. I only thought that… It might help pass the time." She turned back to her sudoku book and buried her face in it.

* * *

Sakura pulled the book down to get her friend's attention. "No, I didn't mean I didn't want to do it," she said quickly. "I'm just not... sure what you mean by 'sharing stories.' Do you just want to… talk?" Inside her head she gave a small groan. Hinata was head of the Hyuga clan, she argued with other clan chiefs and could hammer out contracts and trade deals with no hesitation or doubt. However, every now and then, when she was with her oldest friends, her bashfulness would raise it's head. Sakura always felt so guilty when she was the one that made it happen.

"Oh," Hinata paused and pulled her legs up onto the bench to make herself more comfortable. "Sharing stories is a game the children used to play growing up in the Hyuga compound. All the girls would sit in a circle and one by one someone would ask you a question." Hinata's eyes flicked to look outside the window for a second. "Usually it was an embarrassing one. Anyway, once asked you were honor bound to answer it truthfully."

Sakura felt herself smile, a little twitch of her lips. "I've played this before… And then when someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, you'd have the option to take a punishment, right?"

"A punishment?" the Head of the Hyuga clan asked with eyebrows raised.

"A dare." given Hinata's puzzled look Sakura clarified further. "Nothing too severe… usually something embarrassing, like standing outside the house in nothing but your underwear for five minutes."

Hinata looked slightly horrified. "That... would be one way to play... I suppose… The only recourse someone had in my version of the game when asked an embarrassing question was to ask an even more embarrassing one in retaliation."

Sakura picked up her magazine and used it to fan cool air into her face. "That was how I used to play when I was sleeping over at Ino's house. Of course the stories we told were all about how we were in love with Sasuke." She smiled. "It sounds like the perfect thing to play at a slumber party. Only without the braiding hair and the makeup and the pillow fights."

Hinata giggled. "That sounds like fun, but the Hyuga minders would have never allowed pillow fights. The other girls did braid each other's hair sometimes though."

Sakura thought about it a little bit more. She still felt too hot and sore and didn't really want to do anything. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Hinata was right, at the very least it might help pass the time. She shrugged. "Okay, let's try it. But I'm a bit surprised you suggested it. I mean... nothing personal, but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you would have enjoyed as a girl."

Hinata blushed again. She looked down. "Actually... um… I was never allowed to play. My father said that such games were beneath the head family and... well, to be honest... I never had that many friends back then to play with anyway." Hinata paused and looked up at Sakura with a small smile. "But now… all grown up, with no minders, and since we're friends, I thought that maybe we could…"

Sakura sighed. Refusing Hinata right now would be like kicking a puppy. She shook her head, but smiled. "Fine… but since you came up with the idea, can I ask the first question?"

A broad smile broke across Hinata's face. "Okay!" she said eagerly. "Ask me anything!"

Sakura leaned back and thought for a second. She wanted to start the game off with something tame. "You know, I once asked Naruto how he went about proposing to you… He got all embarrassed and mumbled something like 'I pulled out the ring and asked her… She said yes, what's to tell?' but it was always obvious he wasn't telling the whole story… So… How did it happen?"

Hinata froze and blushed bright red. She started to fidget with her fingers and Sakura instantly regretted asking it. She was about to retract the question, when Hinata took a deep breath and began. "It all started when Naruto asked me out to a very special very fancy dinner… It was the first day of the clan gathering and I had just had the most horrible day…"

Hinata continued her tale, and Sakura listened and gasped and laughed. Then Sakura launched into the next one, the story about she tried to protect Naruto and Sasuke from the sound ninjas during her first chunin exam, and how people kept showing up to help her…

* * *

They grew so engrossed, that they didn't realize that their driver had returned to the carriage. He climbed the steps and glanced upwards into the sky. The two messenger doves he had released circled once and then flew off in opposite directions, one towards the Leaf Village the other towards the Fan-fan resort. He nodded, his report successfully sent, and picked up the reins.

He clicked at the horses and the wheelhouse started to roll on. He smiled to himself as he listened to the two unsuspecting fools babble on inside, and took a long sip from his canteen. Travel always made him so thirsty.


	51. Chapter 20: Distant Drums part 1

**Chapter 20: Distant Drums**

"Look… It's not what you think. I've spent the whole morning with you and I didn't even sneak off once! I don't see what the big deal is… All I'm suggesting is that we just try to make the most of our time and… you know... split up? That way I can get half of mom's junk and you can get the other half, and then... maybe we can have some free time to do other stuff." Shikasu looked up at her with pleading eyes. "Doesn't that sound way better than having to keep an eye on me all day? Please Nee-san?"

Karua sighed inwardly with relief. Finally! The little jerk was starting to act like his normal self again. She kept her face stern and shook her head. "Look, as much as I would like to stop babysitting you right now, I promised Mom that I would not let you out of my sight. You're still being punished remember? And that means no arcade!"

Shikasu looked down. "I wasn't even thinking about going to the arcade."

Karua smiled evilly. She could read him like a book. "Liar."

Shikasu snorted a little giggle. "Okay, I wasn't thinking about going to the arcade... much. Really! I just wanted to help you get the shopping done quicker."

Karua rolled her eyes. "And the reason for you wanting to get the shopping done quicker is?"

Shikasu sighed. "My feet hurt. I'm bored. I don't like crowds. I've had just about enough togetherness time with my sister today. Pick one, any of them will do."

Karua shrugged. "Sorry, I know it's a drag little brother, but you're the one who tied Ichisui to the awning, and you're the one who's being punished." Karua pushed her way into the plaza.

Shikasu followed her wheedling his way through the throngs of people moving slowly, or just standing there staring at something happening in the center of the emporium. "I don't believe this…" he grumbled, "Look, I keep telling everyone that even if I was the one who wired your boyfriend to the awning, he's a chunin and he should know better than to be so lovestruck that he'd walk into a trap like that." He kicked at the street grouchily "He got what he deserved."

Ichisui… her boyfriend… It had been nice, that 'pretend' date with him yesterday...The thought started a quivery fluttering sensation deep inside her stomach, and distracted her enough that she stumbled over a loose paving stone. She didn't fall, thank the Gods, that would have been embarrassing. She just jostled someone in the crowd and quickly straightened muttering an apology. "I keep telling you… he's not my boyfriend okay? Ichisui is just a friend." Karua said grouchily, pushing her way out of the side street. "Why is it so crowded here? Seriously you'd think the circus is in town." She pulled out the list that Temari had given them and consulted it, partly to distract herself from that pointless daydream, and partly to figure out where they had to go next.

* * *

While his sister was doubly distracted by mooning over Ichisui Uchiha and their Mom's needlessly complex shopping list, Shikasu looked around the plaza trying to feign boredom. Dammit, this sucked. He didn't need to get away for too long, he just needed to find out where Inoji would be hanging out at this time of day and talk to her for five, maybe ten minutes tops.

He never thought it would be this hard to find her… I mean her family owned the whole Emporium plaza! He had sort of half expected she'd be right there… in the middle of things… kinda like in Shinobi Legends Four, when the NPCs you needed to talk to to be assigned your next quests would be standing there with big blinking question marks marking them.

Shikasu shook his head. Sometimes he was an idiot.

The problem now was he'd have to evade his sister who, being a typical pain, was listening to everything Mom told her. He'd need another distraction… a really good one. One that preferably wouldn't get him into too much more trouble.

A whispered chuckle muttered through the crowd. Shikasu ignored it, he had much more important things to worry about, like escaping. A boy's face peeked out from behind a row of trash barrels, took a careful survey and vanished again. Shikasu tilted his head. He had recognized that face from somewhere. He saw a hand pop up and watched as four small insects flew off and began to circle the plaza. It was the insects that finally clued him in. It was the Aburame kid who hung out with Inoji Akimichi. Shikasu grinned. It wasn't quite as good a big question mark… but it would do.

Now all he needed was a distraction. The crowd whispered a second time, and once again the Aburame kid eased around the trash cans to take a look. "What the heck is everyone so fascinated by?" Shikasu thought rubbernecking around. He settled his gaze on two figures fighting by the fountain. He smiled, but in his head he was whooping with glee. "Oh… the Gods must love me today! I couldn't have asked for anything better!" he thought cheerfully.

He walked back to where Karua was struggling with her mother's list of gifts for friends and relatives back in Suna. She looked up at him crossly. "Do you have any idea what this says under the order of the glave? It looks like Mom said she wants a red gribble refiner. What the heck is a gribble refiner?"

Shikasu shrugged. "You use it to refine your gribble, of course." Karua stuck out her tongue at him and went back to puzzling over their mother's handwriting. He smiled and counted to ten before he spoke again. "Are you sure you don't want me to take care of half the shopping?" he asked in a bored voice. "It would free up your time for... other... more important things."

Karua didn't even look up. "I'm sure. Mom told me to keep you from doing anything fun and or suspicious so that's what I'm going to do." A laugh ran through the crowd.

Shikasu studied his fingernails. "Okay if you're absolutely sure." There was another snicker. This time Shikasu joined in. "But I really think you should prioritize better."

Karua looked up absentmindedly. "What are you talking about?"

Shikasu shrugged. "Your 'not-boyfriend," he said nonchalantly.

Karua looked puzzled. "What about him?"

Shikasu gave her a dazzling smile. "Well, it looks like he's about to be disemboweled. But I could be wrong, she could be trying to give him quick death."

"What?" Karua asked sharply. Shikasu pointed. Crawling backwards in the dust was Ichisui. His escape was blocked when his back was pressed up against the fountain and he cowered behind his hands. Standing above him, a very angry Hishyoni Hyuga was swinging a katana. "Crap!" swore Karua. She threw the shopping list as Shikasu. "I don't want to see you leave this spot!" She snarled at him as she charged across the plaza.

Shikasu smiled and loosened the straps that held Mister Rubber-bones on his back. "Don't worry," he mumbled. "You'll never see me go."

* * *

Ichisui stared up at the furious Hishyoni and watched her katana buzz angrily through the air. He tried to quickly come up with a witty remark (As suggested in Chapter 3 of _The Art of Getting any Woman you Want: Letting your words do the hard work for you_) that would ease the situation and prevent himself from coming to grievous bodily harm.

In his head, he quickly started a list. "Stop!" had its appeal and had the added advantage of being as concise as you could make it. "No! Wait!" ranked up there pretty high as well. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" was coming in at number three.

Unfortunately what popped out of his mouth was "Wow… That could have gone better."

He wouldn't have believed it was physically possible, but Hishyoni got even more angry. Time seemed to slow down as her sword flashed forward in a short vicious arc. _Oh Gods,_ he thought to himself, _I'm going to die… And as far as last words go, those are incredibly lame._

It really could have gone better. It had taken him a good fifteen minutes to gather up his courage to even approach her. He had paced back and forth between the fountain and the market...deftly approaching her only to cower away at the last second. He would turn and hang his head, knowing that even trying to talk to her was a fool's errand, but then he would inevitably glance back at her. He would catch sight of the sunlight glistening on her skin and his blood pressure would spin again.

He made yet another approach. There were five meters between them, then four. At three meters someone crossing the plaza shoved into him with their shoulder. "Watch where you're going Uchiha!" they snapped in a rough voice. Ichisui gave a quick subservient bow and mumbled an apology.

Hishyoni didn't turn around at the outburst. She was too busy trying to examine her arm. It was obvious that the scratch was bothering her. It started high up on her anterior deltoid, went around the arm slicing into the triceps and then ended midway into her latissimus dorsi.

She had managed to wash off the shoulder and arm but cleaning the cut on her back was giving her issues. He was two meters away. Ichisui opened up his mouth to speak, but she bent down to cup more water in her hands and his words dried up as he watched the muscles writhe underneath the strap of her jog bra.

He quietly, nervously took a few more steps. He held out his right hand and charged it with healing energies. She didn't hear him. She was distracted muttering to her herself angrily. He stopped a single pace away and swallowed. The noise in the crowd seemed to die down. "Um... Hishyoni?" he asked quietly, "If you want, I can…"

He had surprised her and she spun. His right hand, which had been hovering about ten centimeters behind her back was now holding something warm and soft. Both Hishyoni and Ichisui stared dumbly at each other and looked down. The universe around them froze in slow crystallizing realization. Ichisui studied his hand groping Hishyoni's chest for a second. Then he swallowed again and looked up at Hishyoni.

He opened his mouth to apologize.

"I…" was all that he managed to say before she kicked him in the stomach.

He went down with a gasp. He was trying to suck in air, when he caught sight of another flash of movement. He rolled to one side, dodging an axe kick that could have easily fractured his skull. He was still trying to breath as he scrambled away from her kicks and sweeps. He could hear the dull titter of laughter spring up from the crowd of onlookers. Again and again she smashed into the pavement, missing him by only the barest margin.

Ichisui managed to finally get a breath into his lungs. He used that small bit of added energy to give a mighty shove with his feet and launch himself outside of melee combat range. _Good,_ he thought, trying to climb back up to his feet. He took a few labored breaths. _Maybe I can explain myself._

The madness never left Hishyoni's eyes. A scroll blurred open in front of her. There was a summoning explosion, and he was ducking and weaving away from a hail of kunai. He dodged out of the way but immediately following them was a flying side kick. The kick caught Ichisui squarely in the chest and hurled him back against the fountain.

The summoning scroll was still open. Hishyoni lips were twisted and her teeth bared in a murderous wordless snarl. There was a second summoning explosion and a katana appeared in her hands. She weaved the blade through the first steps of the famed Hokushin sword kata and it buzzed through the air menacingly.

This particular kata ended with a two handed strike to the opponent's head and Hishyota showed every indication of following through. Ichisui felt his sharingan activate as his body involuntarily tried to save itself. The world slowed to a crawl, but lying trapped against the concrete fountain, it was impossible for him to get out of the way of the blow.

Yeah… It definitely could have gone better than this...

* * *

There were idiots all through the plaza… and every last one of them was staring right at her. Some of them were even laughing. She hated being laughed at. Hishyoni Hyuga hated a great many things: like that disappointed look her father got on his face when her chakra control slipped during jukken practice, or when her fellow clansmen pointed out her lack of skill and idly wondered if it was because she had 'too much' of her mother's blood in her, and then there was the rage that boiled up inside of her every time someone outshined her performance in the academy, or a mission.

But most of all… she hated being made to look like a fool.

On a good day Hishyoni though of Ichisui as a cute idiot. On a bad day he was the most annoying pest in the world. By the time she left the house this morning, she was already having a bad day. After letting herself get riled up and taking it all out on the Inuzuka kid she felt a thousand times worse. She was annoyed with herself and irritated with the world.

And now Ichisui Uchiha made another boneheaded mistake right in the middle of the goddamned Konoha Emporium… at two in the afternoon… on market day. The jerk was no doubt doing what he was always doing… mooning over her in some stupidly embarrassing way… only this time, his hands ended up on her breasts.

Yeah okay… She was a Hyuga. The whole bosom… coming early… size thing... was apparently genetic. She'd gotten enough comments her final year in the academy to be sensitive about it, thank you very much. Without even thinking about it, she kicked him.

And people started to laugh… and she saw red. Again and again she struck out at him. This wasn't the first time that he'd done something stupid to call attention to her. Except... usually... it was just him that everyone ended up laughing at.

He scrambled out of her way, and naturally she went for her ranged attack. With a well practiced pull, one of her summoning scrolls unraveled and she launched a wave of kunai at him. That attack had the added bonus of frightening the idiots watching enough that several of them turned and ran. _Good,_ she thought. _Maybe this will make more of them get the hell out of here!_ She reached for the next nearest seal… her favorite sword.

She was just going to scare him… not hurt him… Well, maybe just a little... but then "Well… That could have gone better," Ichisui had mumbled stupidly… that was when she had lost it completely. There was another chuckle from the watching crowd. Anger exploded white hot in her midsection. At that moment she felt the humiliation burning hot all over her skin. She just wanted to teach him a lesson, teach him to never bother her again. Teach the whole world to never bother her again. She swung the katana in a overhand arc. Ichisui flinched and raised his hands.

The blade froze like it hit a brick wall. Every one of her muscles was locked tight, straining against each other, screaming in agony. She couldn't move. Some sort of paralysis jutsu. She struggled against it and growled in frustration. "Let me go!"

"I really don't think that's such a good idea right now," drawled a female voice behind her. "Ichisui can be a bit… troublesome at times but he certainly doesn't deserve to be cut up into little bits… So let's make sure you put that sword down."

Hishyoni's hand opened by itself, and the blade clattered to the street. Again the crowd laughed. Hishyoni tried to lunge forward, but the rest of the jutsu held her fast. "You might think you've won, making me drop my katana, but I'm going to kill him," she said coldly to the voice behind her. "This is the Nara clan's Shadow Possession jutsu… you can't hold it forever… and when you have let go of this jutsu, I'm going to try again."

"I could tell that," the voice said dryly, and sighed. "And that's why you're not going to be moving until you calm down. I'm actually hoping that if we can all talk about this like rational human beings, then we can sort all of this out without too much bloodshed."

"Talk?" snapped Hishyoni. "I have nothing I want to say to him!"

"Oh?" asked the voice dryly with a hint of amusement. "Have you ever even tried talking to him? Or have you just been too busy treating him like dirt?"

'Treating him like dirt'? Just who the hells was this woman? No one in Kohona cared whether or not the Uchiha were treated like dirt! "That little pervert has been after me since forever," Hishyoni said, flicking her eyes toward Ichisui. "He's always asking me out, or bringing me flowers, or trying to sing me stupid songs that he's written. He just won't get the message that I am not interested!" She took a deep breath and lowered her voice to a growl. "I'm not going to waste my breath on some sort of freak who thinks nothing of sneaking up and grabbing people when they feel like it!" She moved her eyes around trying to catch a glimpse of the woman who was talking. "I don't put up with that sort of thing. So yes… I'm going to end him."

The other voice paused thoughtfully. "So basically, what you're saying is that you've never actually taken the to sit down and talk to Ichisu... you're just going to jump to the conclusion that he's some kind of raving sex maniac who can wait to get his hands on the first woman he comes across." The other woman made a short harsh laugh. Hishyoni felt her insides twist again. "Yeah… you know him sooooo well…" Hishyoni's body shifted of its own accord and stood up out of its fighting stance. Her feet started to take steps involuntarily, and she could hear the other woman doing the same. "Have you ever just stopped to think for a second that maybe… maybe you're not the center of the universe and that there could be some perfectly reasonable explanation for his actions?"

The owner of the voice finally stepped into view. She was actually another teenager, roughly the same age as Hishyoni. She didn't look much like a Nara at all. She was tall, towering over Hishyoni, thin, had brown-blonde hair done up in two ponytails and piercing green eyes. She looked like the sort of tall, leggy blonde that boys were always drooling over. Hishyoni hated girls like that.

She also looked kind of familiar. The girl gave Hishyoni a stare. "So... Is it going to be lets play nice and talk things over, or do you want to stay there pretending to be a statue for a while longer? If you can stay calm and give me a minute, I promise you we'll figure out what really happened here."

"What gives you the right to stick you nose in my problems?" asked Hishyoni coldly.

The tall girl rolled her eyes. "I'm the one who has you caught in my shadow possession jutsu. If you don't want to behave, I can hold you with it easily for another half hour or so until some ANBU get here and then we can have this discussion. It'll be a total drag, but I'll do it." The girl turned to Ichisui. "What happened?" she asked him.

Hishyoni snorted. "Give me a break… you think that little creep has any excuses?" She pitched her voice loud enough so the whole crowd could hear. The anger still burned hot within her. It was clear that she wasn't going to get any sort of physical revenge so she lashed out at Ichisui the only way she still could. "I'm telling you he's been stalking me forever! He's knows he's a freak! He knows he's a monster! He knows he doesn't have half a chance with any self-respecting girl from this village... It's just my bad luck that he latched on to me!"

Hishyoni glanced over at Ichisui. He seemed have just lost his breath again. He was also staring up at her with a hurt look in his eyes. _Good,_ she thought with a vein of nastiness, _serves the little turd right for embarrassing me like that_.

She snorted derision at Ichisui, and spoke again for the benefit of the crowd. "What girl would want to date someone like him? Just look at his family! You'd be lucky he didn't murder your parents if you invited him over for dinner!" She shot a look back at the other girl. She really did look familiar... Then she finally placed her face. She was a Nara, in fact she was the daughter of General Shikamaru and the sister of the Kazekage. She had spent some time in the academy with her, but not for all six years. The Nara girl kept bouncing back and forth between the Leaf and the Sand. That was why she didn't recognize her at first!

It also explained things. The girl was a foreigner. Hishyoni decided she'd fill this wannabe Leaf Kunoichi in on why you should stay away from the Uchiha clan. She gave the taller girl a cold smile. "Look little Miss Suna… The only reason why the Uchiha are still here in the village is because the Hokage lets them stay. So my guess is, since the little creep figured out that he had no chance with me, or anyone else in this village, he finally decided to come up to me and grab what he could." She squinted up at the tall girl. "Why do you care about an Uchiha pervert anyway? You're not ANBU. You have no right to stop me from kicking his ass. Why don't you just run along back to the desert and let me teach him a lesson?"

The Nara girl stared down at Hishyoni, her green eyes turning frosty. "You won't be teaching him any lessons," she said in clipped even tones, "Because if I find out that my boyfriend here has been... doing perverted stuff with any other girl… I'll kill him myself." She raised one eyebrow and stared at Hishyoni.

Boyfriend?! Hishyoni looked at the girl, looked at Ichisui, and looked back at the girl. She felt her mouth swing open in surprise.

* * *

Karua watched the realization dawn over Hishyoni's face and gave a little self-satisfied nod. _That should show you, you psychotic little bitch,_ she snarled inside her head. The Hyuga girl was one of those almost supernaturally pretty girls with an absolutely knock out figure, who pretended to deplore all the attention that the boys always showered on her. Normally Karua would content despising someone like that from afar. But that tirade of Hishyoni Hyuga's had snapped something in her head. Her logical caution went away and left behind it an ironclad resolve to prove Hishyoni wrong.

She released the shadow possession jutsu and left the Hyuga girl stupidly standing there in stunned silence. She crouched down next to Ichisui and smiled as he stared up at her. The melancholy look that had been on his face during Hishyoni's tirade, was replaced by a mixture of shock and wonder. Karua had a sudden warm feeling of triumph and superiority flush through her. _Well… he wanted to pretend that we were boyfriend and girlfriend in front of Hishyoni… and now we're doing it._ She felt calm and strong, completely in control of the whole situation. Like nothing could go wrong or oppose her. _This must be how Mom feels, when she does something completely politically insane and all everyone can do is watch because they can't believe she just did it,_ she thought to herself.

Karua leaned in closer to Ichisui. "Hi handsome!" she said brightly, running a hand through his hair. Running high on her elation, she made spur of the moment decision to push things even further. She lifted his chin and gave him a quick, but not completely dispassionate kiss, square on the lips.

There was a stunned whisper going around what was left of the gathered crowd. Karua felt her smile grow as he blushed hotly. _That should clarify any doubts she might have… In fact that should prove it to them all… Ichisui Uchiha isn't a joke,_ she thought hoping that everyone was taking careful notice.

"I hope you're feeling a little bit better now?" she asked him sweetly. Ichisui's eyes flicked to Hishyoni and then back to Karua, he nodded. He looked slightly stunned, like someone had clubbed him over the head. "Good." Karua turned and gave Hishyoni a humorless smile. "Now Ichisui, I want you to tell the 'nice' girl here exactly what it was you were trying to do, before she tried to disembowel you."

* * *

The figures following the Nara children stopped and stared. The stalkers of the Uchiha's did the same. Stealthily the leaders of both groups met together to hold a muted conference.


	52. Chapter 20: Distant Drums part 2

Hizashi sat in his room, writing. He was working on his haikus, mostly because his mother had told him to stay here until Kusumina showed up. His parents always grew so excited when he managed to finish one. Mostly, he suspected, they were just encouraging him to try to find something to do with his life that was a little less dangerous than being a shinobi.

He had discovered his father's office when he was two. He used to love sneaking in there so much. He would sit behind his father's desk, touch the softness of the brushes, listen to the rustle of the new fresh paper, check to make sure the ink wasn't too dry and then he would begin to painting large swirls and dots and lines on the paper. Neji would find his desk a complete mess and laugh. Then he would take his son's works and very carefully hang up to dry. He would even proudly show them to Aunt Hinata and the Hokage. Eventually he got Hizashi his own desk

Hizashi had shifted from painting to writing when he was about four. His first piece was a short story about him and his family going to a park. His mother and father sat on a bench holding hands. He had played on the swings, and slid down the slide. He had Hishyoni spend her time in the park talking to her friends, Even back then he knew she thought she was 'too old' to play. Then they met a dog. It was a nice dog. The end.

His mother had it bound between two stiff sheets of leather. If anyone asked her, she probably still had it buried in some storage box so that at with a few minutes of searching, she could dig it out and let anyone who wanted to read it.

Anyone but him.

He used to sing and hum as he wrote away. He would often find his father just sitting there at the big desk, watching him, smiling, as he worked. Hizashi would often pause and ask his father what he was thinking. Neji would always just nod his head and say, "I'm just proud of you my son." Hizashi would inevitably ask him why. "Writing is the whole basis of civilization Hizashi," Neji would tell him. "History, business, culture, art… all pillars that a village needs in order to retain it's humanity, it's soul." Neji would smile deeper and tousle his hair. "Maybe someday you will you will be a famous writer."

Hizashi had looked up. "But Father, when I grow up I want to be a shinobi!"

Neji would grin. "Perhaps you could be both. Sasuke Sarutobi was renowned as both a poet and a shinobi. His grandson, The Third Hokage, wrote several of the texts used in the Academy."

"Didn't Jiraiya the Sannin write too?" Hizashi had asked, excited at the possibility of combining his dreams. "Uncle Naruto talks about him sometimes. What sort of books did he write?"

He never did find out. His father had a coughing fit and quickly changed the subject.

Hizashi sighed and rubbed his hand. That was all a long time ago, back when he could still see. So much had changed since then. He didn't write with his brushes anymore. It was too hard. He couldn't tell when the ink ran out, and getting the strokes the right length was next to impossible. These days his words were cut into a soft clay tablet. His brush was a wooden stylus. As he was writing he could gently run his fingers over the surface of the clay, feeling where the strokes ended and began.

These days, his father mostly complimented him on his writing. He still complimented him on his shinobi skills as well… But Hizashi could hear the brittleness in his voice.

Hizashi put down his stylus and read his latest Haiku aloud. "They fear the darkness, But I dwell here every day. It is not so bad." It was not his best work.

Still, he knew that his mother would praise it, she wouldn't admit that it made her sad. That in itself was okay. He was feeling a little sad right now himself, and poetry was just painting with words.

He smiled. 'Painting with words' He liked that phrase and wondered if he could work it into another haiku. He got up and took five paces to the window, and placed his hand on the sill. He smiled again. Good. It was warm, that meant the day was still sunny and the clay would dry quickly.

He ran his fingers over the window sill and counted the tablets. There were fifteen of them so far. He had been so excited at the prospect of going over to his cousin's house. Now he was getting a little bit anxious. What was taking Kusumina so long?

His mother had breathed a sigh of relief when Naruto-sama had sent word that Kusumina would be by to pick him up. Even so, she had waited as long as she could. Tenten had anxiously kissed him before speeding off on her mission. "Now Hizashi, you stay here. Why don't you work on your writing until Kusumina comes to get you?"

He had nodded with a smile. "I will write you some haikus. Would you like that Mother?" He hoped that would ease her worry.

He could tell it did. He could hear the smile in her voice. "That's my boy," she said giving him a hug. "Remember to listen to Kusumina and Naruto-sama while I'm away… I'll be back in a few days. Please remember to stay inside… wait right here for Kusumina, okay?"

He nodded and held his breath until he heard his mother's footsteps leave the house. Once he was alone, he had pulled out his tablets and began to write.

He debated about trying to start haiku number sixteen, but nothing was readily coming to mind. He was excited to be leaving the yard. It didn't happen that often. His parents always made sure that he had someone with him.

In the years since he had lost his eyes, Hizashi's world had been slowly contracting until it now it mostly consisted of his parents' house and courtyard. It hadn't always been that way. Once when he was just starting to get used to using his staff for guiding his way around, his parents had been convinced to let him run a few small errands in the village.

He had to go to three stores all by himself. The market, the pharmacy and the news kiosk. The market went fine. He was singing to himself as he picked up the fish for that night's dinner. He heard some children playing and laughing cheerfully as he left the store and he greeted them politely and asked the correct way to the pharmacy.

He must have miscounted his steps however, because the door he ended up at was the wrong one. The people at the public bath were nice enough though and they quickly directed him over to the right building. Once he found the pharmacy, it was no problem to have Ino-san fill his order.

He knew the news kiosk was going to be much harder than anything else he had tried before. It was located in the center of the three way crossroads of the Avenue of Merchants, the Avenue of the Western Gate, and the Cliffside Avenue, three of Konoha's busiest streets. The place was a mess of foot traffic, wagon traffic, rickshaws, palanquins and animals. Many shinobi preferred to use the rooftops rather than make their way through the quagmire, much to the chagrin of the residents. The clock tower was just striking 2PM, one of the busiest times, when Hizashi took a deep breath and humming loudly to himself, stepped off the curb.

There were a few shouts of surprise, followed by an outburst of swear words, but Hizashi just kept up his brisk pace. There was a dull thump, the frantic clucking of chickens and the panicked "baa"-ing of sheep, but none of it really concerned him. He eventually found the other curb and proudly stepped up to the kiosk entrance and purchased the magazines his father had requested.

When he got back home, his parents nervously congratulated him and said he had done a fantastic job running their errands.

"Can I go again tomorrow?" he had asked eagerly.

There was a long drawn out pause. He knew that type of pause by now. It meant that his mother and father were sharing some non verbal communication. "We'll see," his mother had said lamely. Hizashi definitely could tell something was amiss by this time. When something was wrong they would always start to talk to him like he was three years old. They would speak with soft gentle voices and insist everything was fine.

He had thought his little adventure gone rather well. He had no idea what was wrong. It bothered him so much that later that night he sought out his sister. It was Hishyoni who had told him the truth.

His father had been watching him the entire time with his byakugan. His father had seen the group of children mocking him at the entrance to the market. He had seen how they laughed as they purposefully directed him to the wrong store. Neji had seen the bathhouse manager's assistants chuckle at the little lost blind boy trying to buy herbs at the bath.

Hishyoni stood there and described in a calm cool voice how his parents had nearly had a heart attack when crossing the street, he had stepped directly in front of a poultry cart, which then had to swerve out of the way, hitting a wagon-load of sheep. She told him flat out that he had been a complete idiot stepping out into traffic like that. She asked did he have a death wish? Singing to himself while crossing the street? All he had now were his ears, what the heck was he thinking, taking them out of the equation as well?

His sister had told him what he did wrong, while his parents evaded. The next day his sister was sent out for the shopping while his mother and father each came up a long list of activities that were guaranteed to keep him busy at home. If he insisted on going out somewhere, they always made sure that one of them was along to accompany him. They began to coddle him even more, if that was possible. He got the message. Eventually he just gave up asking.

He remembered the lesson though. His sister, with all her flaws and all her resentment, was the only person in his family he could count on to tell him what he needed to do.

Oh... and there was one other lesson he learned that day. He couldn't afford to sing or hum anymore. It made it to easy to miss what you might hear.

He heard the softest little slide with a catch in the middle. That would be the back door. The track was slightly bent and the runners would stick. He thought he heard the floorboards creak as if someone took a tentative step inside the house. "Kusumina-chan is that you?" he called out loudly. Finally she was here! He felt his excitement growing again. He quickly touched each clay tablet, and stacked the dry ones in a pile on his work table. He heard the door gently slide shut again. "I'll be there in just a minute." He yelled downstairs. "Don't go anywhere! I just need to get my bag."

He took four paces to the bed and slid down the side until he found the end. A few quick pats located the medium sized haversack that his mother had packed his sleepover things in. Hizashi slid the bag over one shoulder and smiled. It had used to be his father's travel bag when he was away on a mission. He always felt more like a shinobi with it on.

Five paces to his bedroom door. Eight paces down the hall to the stairs. Twelve stairs to the ground floor. He turned and grinned down the hallway. "Thank you for waiting Kusumina-chan," he said happily, eager to get going. "I just need to get my staff, it's over here in the front hallway, then I'll be ready to go." Hizashi turned and started the sixteen steps into the front entryway.

And froze. An icy cold crystal of horror began to grow in his chest. His cousin Kusumina was the perfect picture of politeness and decorum… 'A proper Hyuga princess,' Hishyoni would say in a voice dripping with irony. Kusumina would have never used the back door. She would never be that informal. She would have come straight to the front door and announced herself. Then she would have waited patiently outside to be welcomed into his home.

He hadn't heard her voice at all.

He placed one hand on the wall to steady himself as his unease grew. He hadn't heard anything since the back door was very quietly shut. He strained his ears to focus on the corridor behind him. He heard nothing. No footsteps, no breathing, not even the rustle of fabric that all people make while trying to remain 'still'. His ears told him that the house was empty, he was all alone. Yet the hairs on his neck had begun to stand up as if someone was watching him.

"Hishyoni?" he asked timidly. "Is that you my sister? Please... don't scare me." Hizashi swallowed. His sister had a foul temper, and she could be cruel at times but she had this in her favor: She never played pranks on people.

He tried to take a step, but his feet refused to move out of fear that was quickly becoming sheer terror. His skin was crawling, screaming that someone was standing there, very quietly watching him. "Please," he whimpered. "Who ever you are… Don't tease me like this. Just say something, anything!"

He yelped in a mixture of fear and surprise when he finally did hear something. The whisper of steel on leather. He knew that sound. He had heard it often enough from his sister. It was the sound of a kunai being pulled from a leg holster.

He shrank back against the wall, all of his suspicions realized. The floorboards creaked softly as the intruder took another, impossibly silent step forward.

Hizashi wanted to collapse on the floor, he wanted to curl up and press both hands to his mouth to stop the sobs. Instead he called out for help. "Hishyoni," he whispered.

Of course she didn't answer. She wasn't there. There was another creak as the person took another step. In his head, he heard his sister sneer at him. _You really are useless aren't you? You can't see… You can't fight… There's only one thing left for you to do now…_

The floorboards creaked a third time. This time he also heard something a foot had carelessly kicked, go skittering down the tiles. There was the rustle of cloth as a blow was prepared.

Hizashi sobbed and sprang forward, running as fast as he could for the front door.

_Not bad for someone who's worthless,_ said his internal Hishyoni in a snarky voice. _You're just forgetting one little thing. A kunai isn't only a hand weapon, a kunai can be thrown._ There was the fast zip of cloth rubbing together and the snap of a loose sleeve.

Hizashi threw himself to the floor, skinning his hands and knees in the process. He heard the knife chop into a wooden door frame and vibrate there. As quickly as he could he bounded back up and sprinted for the front door.

He ran right through it. Paper tore and wooden slats splintered. He let out a terrified wail as he forced himself through the hole he made, ignoring the cuts he was getting on his face and his else buzzed through the air behind him and he heard the paper crackle. He didn't slow down.

He tripped over the door jam and fell again. This time he tumbled down the steps and into the courtyard.

His hands stung. He must have gotten some dirt or grit in the wounds on his hands. He lay there for a second to catch his breath. He was crying, wishing that there was somebody… anybody there to help him.

And then he heard the footsteps. Well, not footsteps per say, but he heard the floorboards of the house squealing as someone jogged down the hall. Through his panic he had the cold realization that they were coming closer, coming towards him. His mouth opened and a choked moan of terror came out.

Amidst the whimpering inside his head, he heard Hishyoni's echoing laugh, harsh and impersonal. _What are you going to do now little brother? You did a terrible job evading that first attack... If you were a real shinobi you could set up an ambush. If you could see, maybe you could find yourself a decent hiding spot, but right now? You're worthless. The only thing you can try to do right now is... run._

There was a grinding rattle as the remnants of the front door were pushed open. Hizashi gulped in a deep breath and threw himself forward, fleeing for the front gate. There was just one small problem. He wasn't quite sure where the main gate was.

He hadn't been out by himself in a very very long time. If he did go out, he always had someone else's arm to hang on to. He wished he'd spent a little more time trying it on his own now.

He ran, fingers outstretched, looking for the inner courtyard wall. Every now and then he would stumble against something strewn on the uneven ground. He heard the whispering whine of shuriken sailing through the air. Once again he tried to throw himself to the ground, only this time he tripped and instead of a controlled dive, he spun wildly. The shuriken buzzed around him and he heard two hits on the wall he was looking for, a little bit ahead of him. He ignored his bruises and crawled to his feet, trying to remember if the main gate was to the right or the left.

He heard the rasp of metal on leather and the clink of iron ringing together. There were more shuriken on the way, slowly being pulled out of a holster one by one. Hizashi knew enough about shinobi to suspect that this attacker was probably just toying with him.

_Damn straight he is, little brother,_ said his sister's voice coldly in his mind, _and what could a worthless little squirt like you do about it? Scream for help?_

Hizashi quickly decided that that was a very good idea. "Help! Help help help!" he yelled at the top of his voice.

"Hizashi-kun, is that you?" called a familiar voice. It was Kusumina. He heard the front gate latch spring, and its hinges squeak.

And then he heard the now familiar hiss of weaponry flying through the air. "Look out!" Hizashi shouted. Again he dodged, only this time as he fell, he knocked his shoulder against something hard.

He heard Kusumina gasp with surprise. There was the ring of steel on steel as she deflected the flying shuriken. Her heard her feet shifting into a juken stance. "Stop where you are!" she commanded in an imperious tone.

There was a short pause and then the rattle of cloth in a fast wind. Kusumina hissed something under her breath. "Byakugan!" she called out and threw her kunai. Hizashi heard it clatter off the roof.

His cousin waited for a bit and then stepped over to him. Her warm hands pulled him up. "Hizashi-kun? Are you hurt? Did he injure you?"

Hizashi shook his head. "Don't worry about me," he said wincing as she pulled on his arm. "You have to go after him! He came into our house!"

He heard the rustle of her hair as Kusumina shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "You're hurt. I'm not going to leave you, especially when you've had such a fright." Her fingers felt his bruised shoulder. "We can't do anything about him now. But don't worry," she said trying to sound gentle, but her heard the iron in her voice. "Who ever that was, he'll be caught and punished!"

"How are you going to catch him? He's long gone!" Hizashi said with a wince as she prodded his injuries.

"I'm not going to catch him… the ANBU will."

Hizashi froze. The ANBU. If Mother and Father heard that someone had attacked him and the ANBU had to get involved… "Maybe… maybe we should just... let it go," he said hesitantly. "I bet they learned their lesson."

He heard the rustle of Kusumina's kimono as she jerked in surprise. "What? What on earth are you talking about?" she asked a fierce note of protectiveness in her voice. "The nephew of the Head of the Hyuga clan has been attacked! This is serious!"

Hizashi cleared his throat quickly. "I know… I… I just don't want people to talk…about it."

There was a pause from Kusumina. Many in the Hyuga clan looked on his blindness as a mark of humiliation for his father and a loss of face for rest of the Hyuga clan. The last thing Hizashi ever wanted was for the whole tragedy of his blindness to be brought up to the forefront of everyone's mind again.

Thankfully, his cousin was well versed in clan politics. He could count on Kusumina to understand the... delicacy of this situation. "Don't worry Hizashi," his cousin said softly, "It will be just fine... I know just who to call in the ANBU."


	53. Chapter 20: Distant Drums part 3

Jiraiya impatiently paced back and forth in the alleyway, alternating between whistling and chewing on his thumbnail. "So… Is it going to work?" He asked for the hundredth time.

It probably would have annoyed a lesser man, but Mibuki Uchiha was used to much greater annoyances, like finding rogue chipmunks in his underwear drawer every morning. He checked the kite strings, tightened the sticks and adjusted the tail. Then he made sure all the sealing tags were in the right places. "It should work. In theory. I'd feel better about it if we could do a trial run or two."

Jiraiya shook his head. Mibuki Uchiha was a certified genius when it came to the technical stuff like seals, and machinery, and devices. He's just keep tinkering with things until they worked. The only problem was, he wanted to keep tinkering with them until they were perfect… which in his mind meant forever. "Sorry... the time window on this is too tight… We've only got a little more than half an hour to set everything up." He stopped for a second. A slow smile spread across his face as he had another idea. "Do you know what else this thing needs? Something to keep everyone out of the pool. Do you think we could rig that up on short notice?"

Mibuki stared at him. His mouth twitched in a little smile. "I've got just the thing," he said, reaching into his equipment pouch. He pulled out his ever present roll of sealing tags and began to leaf through them. He peeled off seven and stuck them to the middle of the kite.

Jiraiya looked over his shoulder with interest. "Which ones are those?"

Mibuki smiled. "Rats."

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows. "Rats?"

Mibuki nodded. "Big ones… I was saving them for Hana, but…"

Jiraiya puffed up with pride. "Mibuki my friend… Sometimes you are such a genius that you even amaze me."

Mibuki shook his head. "I still don't see how you're going to make any money off of this."

Jiraiya rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Don't you worry, turning a profit is my department. You just need to make sure that things work as advertised." the Uzumaki-Hyuga boy stood a little straighter, slicked back his unruly black hair, and straightened his tunic. "Now if you'll excuse me… The marks…" He stopped and chuckled, "I mean, our esteemed customers are getting restless." He turned away from Mibuki and strode proudly over to medium sized group of teenage boys. "Gentlemen!" he called out proudly. "I am terribly sorry to have kept you waiting. I was just going over some last minute adjustments with my associate here before we begin the main event."

One of the larger boys in the group, Osamu, unknowingly declared himself the official spokesperson by folding his arms and glaring at him. "You said you'd be showing us something that was amazing." He tried to hunch up his shoulders to make himself appear bigger.

Jiraiya wormed his way up to him and gave Osamu a silky smile. "My dear Osamu, what will be unveiled this very afternoon is the culmination of weeks of hard work and laborious invention. I personally guarantee that the wonders you will witness you will treasure amongst your fondest memories for the rest of your existence."

Osamu yawned. "This had better be good Uzumaki... so far all I've seen is a bunch of buildings." There was titter amongst the other boys.

Jiraiya grinned and raised a finger expectantly. "Ah? But which buildings?"

Osamu frowned. He quickly looked back at his group of friends. "I don't know… Like every building in the Konoha Emporium."

Jiraiya used that finger to tap the side of his nose. "How correct you are my good man! How correct you are!" He leaned forward expectantly and smiled. "There is, however, one specific building that I am referring to… Can anyone make a guess which one? Anyone?" He looked around the group expectantly. The other boys all looked at one another. Eventually Jiraiya let out a large sigh. With a strained smile he continued. "I'm referring to the holy grail, the inner bastion of every red blooded boy from Konoha's dreams. The one place that any of us has never managed to witness in all it's glory!" The threw up his arms in excitement and grinned at the heavens in forced rapture.

He was answered by an echoing silence. Eventually he tilted his head down to peek at the group. They boys were all staring at his dramatic soliloquy, dumbfounded. Jiraiya dropped his arms and rubbed his face with one hand. "I'm talking about the public baths," he said wearily.

"Oh," said Osamu. "Why should we care about the public baths?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Jiraiya gushed cheerfully, jumping right back into over-enthusiastic salesman mode without missing a beat. "Today, at precisely two o'clock PM they opened the outdoor hot springs pool." He grinned salaciously "And today… It's ladies only."

He paused and let that sink in. "I would further like to add that exhausted research on my part has revealed that at 2:30 PM the village is expected to see the return of seven C-ranked missions, 3 B-ranked missions, and the entire shift of the wall guard will change." He dropped his voice to conspiratorial whisper. "How many of those lovely ladies do you think will be eager for a nice relaxing soak?"

There was a murmur amongst the gathered boys. Osamu however, shrugged. "Yeah, okay… I get what you're saying now, but I mean… So what? We've all tried peeking in the hot springs at some point or another. Looking into the onsen is like looking into a fog bank. You can't see anything in there!"

Jiraiya leaned back and smiled proudly. "Too true… Too true. But what would you say if I told you that the fantastic team of Uzumaki-Hyuga and Uchiha had developed some clever way to give every last one of you fine fellows a crystal clear view?"

The boys perked up. "How?" someone from the back of the crowd shouted.

Jiraiya waggled his finger. "Now now now… That would be telling. But I promise you this gentlemen, you will want to stick around. At precisely three PM, you will witness delights no boy in Konoha has ever seen before." The group trembled and rumbled with excitement. "And all it will cost you," said Jiraiya, raising his voice to be heard. He paused and did a quick head count, "Is three hundred ryo... each."

The murmurs abruptly stopped. Jiraiya smiled meekly in the center of all the stares. "What? You didn't think I was doing all of this out of the goodness of my own heart did you?"

"Yes!" said Osamu grouchily. "Usually, you give away the first one for free and then start charging us for all the others."

"Right!" agreed a boy at the back. "Like that rollercoaster you made!"

"Or the lunch swapping service!" called out a different voice.

"Or the toad wrestling competition," grumbled Osamu.

Jiraiya looked at him askance. "The toad wrestling was never free."

"Was too!" said Osamu pointedly. "The first two wrestlers got a free chance to win the prize money. Everyone else had to pay 100 ryo to try to win the pot."

"Really?" said Jiraiya. He looked a little pleased with himself. "Huh... I was smarter back then than I thought." He shook his head quickly and looked back at the boys. "But that doesn't matter. This will be a huge one time only deal. All we'll have is just a few moments to drink in the view, and then we'll all have to get the hell out of here. Think guys… After we pull this off, they'll put a roof over the hot springs or hire guards or something. We won't ever be able to do this again." He paused and looked each boy in the eye. "This is a genuine once in a lifetime opportunity here gentlemen… You just have to ask yourself one question… Are you in or are you out?"

There was a shuffling of feet and nervous glances. One of the boys surreptitiously put his hands in his pockets and took a small step forward. A line quickly formed. Jiraiya grinned.

Osamu stood at the back and pointedly folded his arms. Jiraiya gave him a amicable nod. "I notice you're not joining the line my friend."

"I don't see the point," he said stiffly.

Jiraiya shrugged. "It's your loss."

"Actually, I don't see the point in paying you," Osamu drawled loudly. The line slowed to a halt as the other boys all looked up at Osamu. He smiled at them. "I mean as long as someone pays you, you're still going to have to do this right? Make all the mist go away?" He looked up at Jiraiya, a proud smirk on his face. "All I have to do is sit and wait, and I get all the benefits without paying you anything."

Jiraiya closed his eyes. "I hardly think that's fair."

Osamu grinned. "True… But what are you going to do about it?

Jiraiya paused for a minute and then shrugged. "Nothing much. I'll just have to think of someway to give the advantage back to my paying customers." He turned to the boys in line and gave them a huge smile. "This just in! With the purchase of every admission for this truly mind blowing occasion, I'll give you this special offer." He strode back to where Mibuki was fiddling with the kite and grabbed a large paper bag and began to rummage around inside it."If you pay 300 ryo for a ticket, I'll throw in one of these for a discount price," He pulled out a small collapsible telescope. "Why settle for a seat in the bleachers, when you could have a front row view." He smiled at the boys. "Yours for only 100 ryo." His eyes flickered once to Osamu. "Of course, you could just purchase this fine visual aid alone… but I'm afraid the selling price for it then would be a steep six hundred ryo." he shook his head sadly. "Practically daylight robbery… what is this village coming to?"

The line started moving again. Osamu shot Jiraiya a disgusted look and stepped to the back of the line. When his turn came he handed Jiraiya 400 ryo. "Here... you jerk." he said, grouchily accepting his cheap plastic telescope.

Jiraiya gave him a smile and a pat on the back. "It was an infinite pleasure doing business with you."

* * *

Mako was grumbling to himself as he felt the kid approach. This intelligence gathering thing was harder than it looked. He snorted with frustration. His wasps noticed everything… and he meant everything!

From how sweaty the crazy chunin girl who was trying to kill that guy who grabbed her chest was, to how fast that other kunoichi trying to push her way towards them was moving, to what kinds of perfume several of the spectators were wearing, to which trees were shielding the wind the best, to the location of every dead rat within five hundred meters. How the heck was he supposed to figure out what was important and what wasn't? Somehow, his dad made everything look so easy.

"Enjoying the show?" The kid said behind him. Mako had known he was coming. His wasps had pointed him out, thank goodness. If they hadn't… well, that would have just been too embarrassing.

"I'd like it better if I actually had half a clue what I was watching," Mako replied dryly. "I don't suppose you know who that crazy chunin girl is, do you?"

He sat next to him behind the trash bins. "That my friend, is the girl my sister's 'not boyfriend' happens to be madly in love with."

Mako sat quietly for a second. He turned that phrase about and around in his head a few times. "I have no idea what that means," he admitted.

The boy next to him shrugged. "If it makes you feel any better, neither do I." He held out his hand. "I'm Shikasu Nara. You joined our soccer game the other day."

Mako ignored the hand and instead focused on the scene in front of him. That other kunoichi, a tall blonde girl, had just entered the fray and caught the weapons wielding girl in some sort of shadow binding jutsu. "So… What do you want Shikasu?" he asked.

Shikasu put his hand down and leaned back against the wall. "I'd like to have a chance to talk to... someone."

Mako snorted. "You are talking to someone."

Shikasu smiled. "No offence Aburame-san, but it isn't you I was hoping to talk to." He looked up at the wasps flying in a pattern over head. "How do you do that anyway? Are you binding them with chakra of something?"

Mako shook his head. "You just have to ask them nicely enough." He pointed out to the middle of the plaza. A double of Shikasu was slouching there, grinning at the scene in front of him. "How did you make that clone? The wasps keep telling me it's made of wood."

Shikasu nodded with pride. "It is made of wood. That's my puppet. I also used to make him eat my vegetables, right up until my mom caught me."

Mako studied it for a while. "It's prettly good. It would fool a lot of people."

"Thanks."

"So…Who are you looking to talk to?" asked Mako carefully. "Is it Inoji?"

Shikasu broke into a grin. "You got it in one!" His grin faded as Mako ignored him and continued to study the scene in front of him. "Is there some sort of problem?"

A wasp landed on Mako's finger. He listened to it's report and nodded, sending it buzzing back into the air. "Inoji's a good friend of mine," he said delicately.

"Oh," Shikasu looked over his shoulder, studying the boy. "I can see why… She seems really nice."

Mako nodded. "A lot of people make fun of her at school," he said in a quiet, steady voice, hoping the kid would get the message.

"Ah." Shikasu held up his hands. "I promise you I'll do nothing of the sort." He sighed. "Look… I'm just trying to figure something out okay? My dad used to be friends with her mom and dad. They were on the same team together. Only now… They're not friends and… Nobody wants to talk about it okay?" He put his hands down and began to drum his fingers on his knee. "It's weird… no… it's beyond weird! I mean it's obvious something happened, and nobody wants to talk about it." He exhaled long and slow. "I'm just hoping Inoji might know something I don't… plus… you know… she just seems… kind of cool… Do you know if she plays video games at all?" He looked up to find Mako giving him a long, slow, examination. "What?"

There was a small groan from the crowd, followed by an interested murmur. They both turned and looked up over the trash cans. Apparently the new tall girl had managed to stop the fighting. The crazy chunin girl was now angrily shouting at the boy she had been trying to maul.

"Well, that was a disappointment." muttered Shikasu.

"What was?" Mako asked him.

"Eh, just my sister ruining everyone else's fun. Woah…" Shikasu's eyes widened as the tall girl leaned in and kissed the boy. "I wonder what mom would give me in exchange for finding out about this," he muttered. "'Not-boyfriend' my ass."

Mako shook his head again. "I still have no idea what you're talking about."

Shikasu gave him a quick smile. "Sorry, I'm just talking to myself. It's a bad habit you pick up when you're a puppeteer… you know?" He cleared his throat. "So… um… Do you know where I can find Inoji?"

Mako pondered for a second and shrugged. "She's helping out her mom at the store." He looked over at Shikasu. "She'll be working until six, and then she's coming to hang out with us."

Shikasu smiled. "Cool! Uh, where's she work?"

Mako shook his head. "The pharmacy! Duh! The one her mom owns?" he said in disbelief.

"Don't like, the Akimichi own the whole plaza?"

Mako snorted. "Yes, But they rent out most of the store fronts… the only ones they really own are the market, the cafe and the pharmacy."

"Oh… that makes sense… Thanks a bunch." The Nara kid shot one last look at his sister and his puppet and moved to leave.

"Hey wait!" Mako called out as Shikasu rose. "I don't suppose you'd know the name of that girl there do you? The one your sister's 'not-boyfriend' is in love with?"

Shikasu smiled "Of course... her name is Hishyoni Hyuga. Don't mess with her," he advised with a grin. "She's mean as hell and completely crazy."

Mako nodded to him as he ran off to the pharmacy. "We already knew that," he whispered.


	54. Chapter 20: Distant Drums part 4

Ookami reached under her wolf mask and rubbed her eyes. She'd called in a class one emergency for this? Somewhere behind her she just knew that her partner Tsuyoki was smirking behind his bull mask. She readjusted the eyeholes and looked over at Kusumina, who had one arm around an ashen faced Hizashi.

Kusumina looked down. "I'm sorry if it is a bother Ookami-san, I just... didn't know who else to call."

Ookami sighed and rubbed her hands together. It might not have been a class one emergency, but she could see how her niece would have freaked out. "It's fine Kusumina... I'm not upset at you. It's just... this day I have been having... It hasn't been that relaxing." That was what she said. What she was wondering was what the hell else this day could possibly drop in her lap.

First there were the mad rumors that were running through the barracks as she left last night. As a lieutenant commander in the ANBU corps. It was part of her job to act as a go between the grunts and the upper echelons in order to squash whatever lunacy the rookies had come up with this week… The rumor that the Black Wind had slowly been reviving itself was the sort of thing exasperated parents tell their children to get them to eat their vegetables.

Except... when she had asked for the official line on the new missions, she hadn't been given a straight answer. When she reported this rumor circulating the mess and the barracks, her commander gave her a look and said, "Deny everything." As she left his office, she saw the messenger hawk quickly leaving his window and sailing off to Captain Kakashi's window. Whatever was really happening, someone really wanted it kept secret. Only the Hokage and his inner council were privy to all the top secret things going on.

Normally, when something like this occurred, she would stop at her sister's house for a quick cup of tea and a chat. As the Hokage, Naruto-kun kept many secrets. As his wife, Hinata-chan could find out most of them.

Except… Hinata was now on her way to the annual clan meeting along with ninety percent of the other Hyuga. Pfft. She didn't miss those one bit. She had too much bad history there.

That report on her desk this morning hadn't helped her already souring mood. True… She had ordered the rookie, Kuma to observe Midori Seikon while she was in the Hidden Leaf village. I mean, even though the various shinobi villages were all at peace now and friends and allies and everything didn't mean that a certain amount of good natured amiable espionage wasn't going on. So as a basic precaution Kuma was assigned to tail Midori while she was here. He had to write up daily detailed reports of everyone she met, everything she did, everything she said… It was a typical crap assignment for a rookie. Test him out on something not too critical. See how he does…

Well, either Kuma took his job way too literally, or he was some kind of closet voyeur. Ookami had blushed reading the obscenely detailed one hundred and twenty seven page report, and checked repeatedly to make sure no one was reading over her shoulder. Then she quickly stuffed back inside the interdepartmental manila envelope and put it hastily in her out tray.

Ookami now had the perfect blackmail material to use on Konohamaru Sarutobi. That is, if the little jerk had an ounce of honor in his body and hadn't already gone around telling everyone who asked what he had been up to last night. She had eyed it suspiciously, half expecting it to burst into flame on her desk. "The worst part," Ookami thought to herself, "is that I can name about twenty women off the top of my head who would read this, squeal dreamily, and think what a lucky girl Midori was."

Then there was that whole deal with Kiba-san and the tags. Those summoning tags that were not quite summoning tags. That whole mystery was being compounded by the hiring of an idiot smuggler who was practically begging to get caught, by a mystery man who apparently had a Hyuga as a bodyguard.

Finally there was that last part… About being willing to pay extra for young shinobi. Ookami shivered. She'd been an ANBU since she was seventeen. There wasn't a lot out there that could scare her any more. "Give us the children." That Kurokaze shinobi had slobbered out. "We will have the children. They are ours." She shivered again.

And now… There was this. If this was played the wrong way, it could very well be a political nightmare. She could read the headlines now: "Attempted Kidnapping at Hyuga Household! Konoha ANBU Baffled!" Yeah... that would do wonders for her reputation within the Hyuga clan.

Of course it had to be Kuma, who she had sent out to do a thorough search of the scene to get him out of her hair, who called out and started waving her over.

She turned to her niece and second cousin. Kusumina at least seemed to be dealing with things okay. "You and Hizashi stay here. We've got everything under control." She tried to make her voice as gentle as possible for Hizashi's sake. "I just need to... talk to that other ANBU for a second, okay?" Kusumina nodded an acknowledgement, and Ookami quickly rose to a standing position.

She trudged back over past Tsuyoki. He fell into step beside her. She could tell he was snickering at her behind his mask. She ignored him. Unfortunately that only seemed to make him more amused. "So… Did the kids give you enough clues yet to bust this case wide open?" he asked in a low rumble.

"Nope. Did you happen to discover anything?"

He shook his head, his long auburn curls lashing behind his mask. "Naw. If you ask me, this whole thing reminds me of the time when I was seven, and my brothers and I found my mom's stash of ninja tools. When she got home, the house looked like a war zone. We tried to convince her that the Hidden Waterfall village had invaded our living room." He gave a low, throaty chuckle. "Man… She whipped seven kinds of hell out of us that day."

Ookami smiled at the story, but shook her head. "Kusumina wouldn't do anything like that. She's too much the good girl." The pair of them walked up to the ANBU rookie. Ookami squinted at him and then sighed. "Okay Kuma, what is it?" she asked.

He saluted. "Sir. I wish to report that we have recovered all the weaponry used in the incident. Sir!" He held his salute textbook perfect. His back was ramrod straight.

Ookami stared. "And?"

Kuma seemed a little taken aback. "And… what Sir?"

Ookami sighed. "And was that the only reason why you called me over here, or was there some actual bit of information you wanted to tell me?"

Kuma saluted again. "Sir! Most of the recovered weapons are typical ninja tools, but one of them is different! I thought this could be an important clue Sir!" He pointed proudly at the pile of weaponry. One of the kunai was indeed different. It was high quality steel with a watered edge.

Ookami nodded. "Right… Well… Good job."

Kuma saluted again. "Sir!"

Ookami waved vaguely at Kusumina and Hizashi. "Do me a favor Kuma? Could you go bring the kids over here? We might as well ask them about the kunai."

Kuma banged out a crisp salute, spun on his heel and marched off towards Kusumina and Hizashi. Ookami sighed with relief as Kuma left.

Tsuyoki watched him leave. "Wow… He sure is… eager."

"You have no idea," muttered Ookami. The pair of them glanced over the shuriken and kunai and then watched as Kuma marched over to the two children and ordered them to get up and march to his commanding officer. Ookami reached up and rubbed her eyes again, while Tsuyoki snickered. He stopped as Kusumina helped Hizashi to his feet and then let him take her arm as she walked him over.

"Hey," her partner asked quietly, "I didn't want to ask in front of him earlier, but the kid... he's blind isn't he?"

Ookami nodded once. "Yeah."

Tsuyoki watched as Hizashi stumbled over a rock and pulled on Kusumina's arm to right himself. He was obviously pondering something, but wasn't sure if asking the question was going to be a good idea or not. His shoulders always hunched when he did that. Ookami sighed. "Tsuyoki?"

"Yeah?"

"How long have we been partners for?"

He shrugged. "Six… Seven years maybe? I don't know… Why?"

Ookami smiled. "It's been eight years. I hope you remember your wedding anniversary better than that."

Tsuyoki chuckled. "Well, that's why my wife is always making me sleep on the couch… Why do you ask?"

"I can tell you want to ask me something but you want to avoid looking dumb." Tsuyoki glanced away guiltily. "Just ask the damn question, I'm not going to get offended however stupid it may be." She nudged the recovered kunai about with her foot.

Tsuyoki took a deep breath. "Okay if you insist."

Ookami nodded. "I do."

"Well, the kid's a Hyuga right? And he's lost both eyes right? I mean, I can see the scars. I mean, we've been doing eye replacements for years now… So I know the Hyuga eyes are exempt from the organ donor pool…The whole byakugan thing… So... um, is there like a private Hyuga byakugan donation pool? Do his parents just not want him to have normal eyes? Is this like... one of those... Hyuga things?"

Ookami sighed. "You want to know why, in this day and age, is Hizashi still blind?"

Tsuyoki nodded. "Yeah… Well, If you don't mind telling me that is."

Ookami nodded coldly. "Hizashi didn't loose his eyes in an accident. They were stolen from him... During the Kurokaze attack"

Tsuyoki glanced quickly at Ookami and then looked back at the boy. "Oh no."

"Oh yes," Ookami said dropping her voice low. "Some asshole took advantage of all the chaos and confusion to make off with the dojutsu of the Hyuga clan. They pulled the byakugan out of a six year old boy and irrevocably damaged his optic nerve. Even if he could get some donor eyes, he's got nothing to attach it to."

Tsuyoki shook his head sadly. "That's... Just awful."

Ookami glanced up at him. "Not half as awful as what's going to happen to the thief when the Hyuga clan catches up to him," she muttered. Suddenly she was all smiles again, welcoming her niece and cousin. "Hey, I'm really sorry to bother you about this," she said sweetly, "But we just need to go over everything you just told me one more time okay?" Kusumina wearily nodded."Now… Kusumina… You heard your cousin calling for help, and when you went in to assist him you saw a man throwing shuriken around correct?"

Kusumina started to nod, and then shook her head. "Well, first he was throwing them at Hizashi-kun, and then he started throwing them at me. So I pulled out my kunai and blocked them. I turned on my byakugan and challenged him, and then he ran away."

"Did you manage to attack him at all?"

Kusumina shrugged. "Sort of. I threw my kunai but it missed."

Ookami nodded to the pile of recovered weapons. "Can you identify it in this pile?"

Kusumina smiled. "Hey you found it!" she said, reaching for the watered steel kunai. "Father gave it to me for a birthday present two years ago."

"Don't touch it!" barked Tsuyoki. Kusumina jumped and froze. "Sorry," he said in a much more calm voice. "I shouldn't have yelled. We have to test it for traces of evidence. Sorry… It's standard operating procedure"

"Okay," said Kusumina, taking a shuffled step back. "But I doubt you will find much. I didn't even come close to hitting him."

"Did you see him do anything else? Did you hear his voice?" asked Ookami. "Can you think of anything that might help us identify him?"

Kusumina frowned in thought. "Like what?"

Ookami shrugged. "His clothes, his face? Was he tall? Was he short?"

Kusumina sucked air in through her teeth. "He was medium height."

Ookami sighed. She wasn't going to solve the case with the description 'medium height, but it was a start she guessed. "Taller than me? Shorter than me?"

Kusumina squinted at her aunt. "Maybe a little taller." She closed her eyes to concentrate. "His clothes were nothing out of the ordinary. He had no headband, no insignia. He was wearing standard boots. He had a shuriken holster on his right side."

"Did you see any part of his face?"

Kusumina looked at her younger cousin for a moment, and then turned to her aunt. "No… he... had a black scarf wrapped around his face."

Hizashi flinched. Ookami wanted to but held herself calm. ANBU training to the rescue. Kusumina saw everyone's reaction. "He wasn't a…" she cleared her throat and started again. "He was just an ordinary shinobi. I saw chakra circulatory system with my byakugan. He had normal amounts of energy in his body."

Tsuyoki chuckled nervously. "Well, I'm glad to hear that." He squatted down and, using his own kunai, he began to nudge the recovered weapons into a large plastic evidence bag. "The last thing we need is a mystery super strong shinobi running around breaking into other people's houses. He stopped suddenly and peered at a shuriken. "Huh."

"'Huh' what? Did you find something?" asked Ookami.

Tsuyoki shrugged. "He didn't take very good care of his tools, I can tell you that. They're all rusty like they've been in storage for years. They could all use a good sharpening. Cast iron never holds an edge for very long." He squinted and took a closer look at a kunai. "And it looks like they were all cast in the Hidden Sand village… They've got the maker's stamp on them see?"

Ookami frowned and looked down at her notebook. "So let's see… We don't have a description to go on. All we know is that our mystery man likes to dress nondescript, cover his face up, and use the cheapest tools money can buy. When he trespasses into a house, he doesn't manage to steal anything obvious… and get chased off by pair of kids." She sighed. "I'm tempted to rule this a break in. This guy was probably just some punk looking for something to steal really quickly. He just happened to be surprised by you two, he panicked and ran off." She looked over at her partner. "How does that work for you?"

Tsuyoki nodded his head. "Sounds plausible to me." Ookami sighed. She was half annoyed that this stupid little thing had taken up so much of her time, and half relieved that this incident hadn't followed today's pattern of developing into an ominous portent.

Ookami stood up from her kneeling position and brushed herself off. "Okay… So, unless the pair of you remember anything else. I think it's about time we were on our…"

"I… I remember something else," whispered Hizashi.

Ookami squatted back down again. When she first arrived at the scene, he'd just been sitting there shaking as Kusumina tried to comfort him. At least the kid was talking now. "Take your time Hizashi," she said sweetly. "What was it you wanted to say?"

Hizashi nodded, his head bent downward. "He was... quiet," he mumbled.

"Quiet? Like he was being sneaky?" she asked patiently.

Hizashi shook his head. "No… It was weird. He was quiet... like no noise… Nothing. I mean the floor creaked when he stepped on it, and his clothes would rub together when he moved. But other than that, he had no footsteps, no words, no breathing, it's like he wasn't even there!"

Tsuyoki shifted uncomfortably. "Look kid… Is it possible that in all the excitement you just didn't hear anything?"

Hizashi shook his head. "I'm sure. I... I have to listen better than most people okay?" He tilted his head up towards them. "I can hear that you've got three ANBU still walking around the yard and you've got four in the house."

Tsuyoki smiled. "Three in the house, one of them is on the roof, but that's not too bad."

Hizashi shook his head. "No. He just went in my parents' window on the second floor. The shutter is squeaky."

Tsuyoki turned to Ookami. "The kid's not bad with his ears."

Ookami smiled behind her mask. "It's to be expected. Hizashi wants to be a shinobi someday so he trains really hard."

Hizashi beamed at her compliment. He lifted his head up. "Right. But this guy was really quiet. Like more quiet than my dad could be." He looked at the ANBU proudly. "I mean, aside from stuff he was touching... It's like he wasn't making any noise at all."

Tsuyoki and Ookami shared a glance. It was Tsuyoki who turned to Kusumina. "What did you say he was wearing again?"

Kusumina looked back and forth between the two ANBU, sensing their renewed concern. "He was wearing a baggy black shirt, baggy black pants, and a mask… Why?"

"You said you saw his chakra network correct?" asked Ookami. "Could you tell if he was a shinobi or not? Did he have a large amount of chakra?"

Kusumina gave a worried shrug. "He looked like a shinobi, I guess. I would say he had about an average chunin level of chakra maybe?"

Ookami and Tsuyoki shared another glance. "He could have been masking it I suppose," muttered Tsuyoki. Ookami nodded.

She made a quick decision, and she turned and whistled loudly. A command to be ready for action. In a fraction of a second all eight members of her ANBU investigation squad appeared, seven of them in a ready combat crouch, the eighth, Kuma, saluting stiffly. "I need the eight of you to guard the kids real quick," she said suppressing a groan at Kuma. "I'll be right back."

"Excuse me? Ookami-san?" Kusumina started politely. Ookami waved her down.

"Stay with the ANBU. I'll explain in a moment." She pulled Tsuyoki off to a quiet spot of the yard that allowed good surrounding views. "So… Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Tsuyoki nodded once. "The silent killing jutsu?" he asked. Ookami nodded. "Well," he said jokingly. "Do you know any jonin from the Hidden Mist village in town who have a bad habit of breaking into people's houses?"

Ookami glared at him. "The silent killing jutsu is an assassination jutsu. He wouldn't be trying to break into the house, he was trying to kill someone."

Tsuyoki sucked air in through his teeth. "I don't know... I mean he still made noise… The really good assassins from the Mist don't make any sound at all, squeaky floors or no… Plus, they usually run around half naked so their clothes rubbing together don't give them away. This guy was dressed normal... On top of all that he had the crappiest weapons available. I'd think an assassin would want better ones than that."

Ookami waved his arguments away. "Whatever. I'm beginning to get the feeling that this probably just wasn't a break in." She shot a look at her partner. "Do you agree?"

Tsuyoki shrugged. "It is a little weird, but I'm not so sure we can say anything beyond it's a break in."

Ookami shook her head. "Look, I'm thinking we take the kids in. Just to make sure they aren't targets or anything. I mean we've got the Hokage's kid and the family of the Head of the Hyuga clan involved here."

Tsuyoki thought about it. "Yeah, I guess it can't hurt to bring them somewhere safer. Where were you thinking of?"

"The station? The Hokage's office? I don't really think it matters. All I know is I'd just feel better with a lot of warm bodies around…" Ookami stopped. There was a sudden prickling on the back of her neck.

Tsuyoki picked up on his partner's hesitation instantly. His stance went from relaxed to tense. His hand casually drifted towards his shuriken holster. "What is it?" he hissed.

Behind her mask Ookami's byakugan snapped on. "We're being watched," she muttered.

* * *

The watcher lurked in the shadow of a chimney across the street. He was bored. This whole assignment bored him. It was so dull, that he looked forward to the smallest little thing that would end the monotony. A lock of his bright red hair fell out from underneath his hood. He frowned at it and tucked it back.

He should have been more upset by this latest screw up, he supposed, but youth will always be careless. He knew the trainee he had sent in to map this particular house was particularly impulsive. It was so very predictable that something would go awry. That made for a much more entertaining show.

He sighed very quietly through his nose and watched the Leaf ANBU scurry about the yard like ants. The young blind boy's description had matched one of the targets his unit had been given. That was why the newest member of his team, that young recruit formerly from the Hidden Mist village, had been so unsure of what to do. He was supposed to just scout the house and leave. Instead… He took a chance to gain the glory of capturing the target by himself... Now there was chaos. It was something different at least.

"I suppose it doesn't matter much," the lurker thought to himself. "The plan is almost at fruition anyway." He smiled. "A little extra confusion might almost be a good thing."

A good thing… He chuckled. He had always found chaos and confusion to be much more interesting that a well carried out plan. He shifted his head and studied the girl. She was definitely not the older sister described to him by the master. However, she had shown some skill as a shinobi. "And who might you be?" he whispered. "An unexpected variable?" He idly wondered if he should add her to his list. He watched her, interested for a moment or two until the pin dropped and he recognized her as being on the target list of team four.

He shrugged, and mentally waved good bye to the added bounty. "You must always expect the unexpected in battle," he whispered to himself.

He bided his time studying the ANBU as they went about searching for clues. He wondered if any of them might make a worthy adversary… something to pass the time away. It was obvious that they were treating this like it was an ordinary crime. He felt relief and some pride for his team, for the backup deception had obviously worked.

He blinked slowly and began to memorize faces. The wolf masked ANBU was the leader of this group. He wrote her off as being as dull and uninteresting as the rest of her compatriots. He rested his head in one palm as he watched them go about their business, and finish up. The lock of bright red hair fell forward again. He idly shoved it back with one finger

He jerked his head up as she suddenly summoned all the ANBU to her and placed them in a defensive circle around the children. "Oh, now this is interesting," he murmured to himself. "She was just speaking to the Hyuga boy." Something he said must have spooked her, although what he could have noticed that would have been useful, being blind, was beyond him.

All the ANBU were on high alert now. The wolf mask pulled the bull mask ANBU over to one side where they began a heated conversation. He was curious to see what their actions might be. After all where the children ended up would affect his mission later.

He blinked in surprise and ducked. The bull mask ANBU had spun on his heel and hurled a kunai at him so fast it seemed to sizzle in the air. It rang off the stone of the chimney and clattered at his feet. Both the wolf mask and the bull were sprinting up and over the wall heading straight towards him.

He felt his lips part in a smile. Well… This might turn out to be an interesting assignment after all.

* * *

Ookami and Tsuyoki saw the figure rise up from the shadow of the chimney and give them a mocking bow. He then stepped off the side of the roof, and vanished.

"Can you find him?" asked Tsuyoki, a little winded from the mad sprint.

Ookami shook her head, but kept on scanning with her byakugan just in case there was some residual chakra trail. "No… He's gone. Did you see him move? Gods he's fast. No way that's just some ordinary street crook."

Tsuyoki coughed and spat. "Crap."

"Why the hell did you throw that kunai? We should have tried to corner and capture him!"

"Sorry," Tsuyoki stood up and retrieved his kunai. "I was aiming to wound him. I had no idea he would be able to dodge that." He looked back at his partner. "Did you have the byakugan on him? Do you think that could have been our mystery man?"

"I doubt it. That man there had no detectable chakra signature."

Tsuyoki jerked his head around. "What?"

"You heard me."

"How is that possible? He's obviously a shinobi!"

Ookami nodded. "Yeah… and apparently he can mask his chakra so well that it doesn't show up at all. That's how I spotted him... he's a damned man shaped black hole hanging out on a roof."

Tsuyoki picked up his kunai and returned it to its sheath. "Neat trick… I wonder who the hell he is?"

Ookami shrugged. "Well, I can't find out now." She glanced back down at her niece and cousin. Ookami pulled a small scroll out of her belt and summoned a pair of birds. the pigeons wheeled in the air and flew towards ANBU headquarters. "Let's hurry up and get the kids out of here. I've requested that HQ send us some reinforcements that will meet us on the way." Ookami took another long look at the deceptively normal Konoha surroundings and then glanced back at the children in the yard below. "I've got a really bad feeling about this."


	55. Chapter 21: The Storm Breaks: part 1

**Chapter 21: The Storm Breaks**

Inoji hummed happily to herself as she used the mortar and pestle to grind up the willow bark. No matter what mundane tasks her mother had put her to this afternoon, she found she just couldn't stop smiling. Tsudemi and Mako had asked her to hang out with them tonight! And her mother had actually said yes!

"Now... I've just had a very... nice talk with that Inuzuka girl," her mother had began, once her friends (Friends! They were hanging out! That made it practically official!)... had left. "and she's barely managed to convince me that it might not be such a bad thing for you to… to branch out in your friendships… So yes you may go play with your friends after you are all set here at the store." Her mother had then given her a stern lecture about exactly what was and was not considered proper behavior. Ino had made it very clear that she was allowing this outing this evening as a test to see if Inoji was mature enough to avoid any trouble when she was out with these children. Inoji had practically fallen over with excitement, but had straightened up when Ino had cleared her throat and given her a stern look.

"But," her mother had warned with a narrowing of her eyes, "at the first inkling that there might be any... trouble... I want you heading right back home. Do you understand?" Even with all the caveats and qualifiers Inoji had been so excited that she had run up and hugged her. This was rapidly turning into the best day ever.

A quick series of taps clicked through the back storeroom. Inoji turned from her work, and looked up at the storeroom door, expecting to see her mother standing there, ready to hand her a new order. Instead, the doorway was empty. "Mom?" she called just in case Ino had nipped around the corner

"Yes dear? Did you need something?" her mother called back from deep in the store.

Inoji blinked in surprise. "Uh… Never mind... It's nothing I guess." She went back to the mortar and scooped the powdered willow bark onto the scales. She made careful note of the weight and poured it all into a mixing flask. She brought out the starch and carefully measured out ten times as much as the willow powder. The tapping came again, more insistent this time. She looked up again. "Mom is that you?"

"Is what 'me' dear?" Ino called back, slightly more annoyed this time.

"I, um, thought I... heard something. It's like this little tapping noise. That's not you is it Mom?"

She heard her mother's frustrated sigh. "No dear, I am currently very busy doing the books for the month. I am most certainly not tapping anything." Maintaining the inventory books always made her mother very grumpy. Careful notes had to be kept as to what medicines the pharmacy was making, so that they could always be sure they had enough raw materials on hand. Her mother was irritable, because after she finished the books she'd have to inevitably meet with the representative of the Yamanaka clan to draw up the contracts for next month's herb shipments. She always got grumpy when dealing with her old clan. Inoji knew better than to ask why… Asking her mother questions about her past was a sure way to get assigned more work.

Inoji went back to the mixing flask and carefully stirred the powders together. When they were well and truly mixed she reached under the counter and got out the pill press. She was just about to pour the first measured amount in when she heard the tapping again.

She set the powder down carefully and turned. The tapping continued this time until she could track its source. Someone was just barely peeking over the edge of the high up windows lining the store room. As she tilted back her head and tried to make them out, a single hand reached up and gave her a tentative wave.

Okay… this was unusual… She couldn't recognize the the waver from the small slice of face she could see, so there was a chance that the person trying to contact her was a stranger. Strangers were people to be avoided at all costs… but strangers were also, as far as she understood things from that lesson taught in her early days at the Academy, unsavory looking men in long coats who would hang around playgrounds and offer children candy.

This person peeping in at her was A) obviously about her age, and B) had yet to produce any candy. Plus, she thought squinting up at them… They kinda looked familiar… There was something about their eyes…

The head bobbed up and down just at the edge of the window and waved a little more frantically, as if they were slipping. Inoji was still very unsure about things at this point, but, just to be polite, gave a small wave back. Her mother was very insistent that she always be polite.

The hand gave her a thumbs up and quickly moved through a series of pantomime signs. First it pointed to her, then it stuck down two fingers and mimed someone walking. Then it held itself out flat and swung out to one side and back, like a door opening and closing. Then the hand pointed to the door.

"He… or she… or whoever is attached to that hand wants me to leave," Inoji thought with a nervous shiver. "Definitely not proper behavior… sneaking away without telling someone where I'm going. Normally at this point she would have called this to the attention of her mother, because the last thing she ever wanted to do was to get into trouble.

Which always seemed to get her into a completely different sort of trouble… with her peers. The other students in the Academy noticed how cautious she was and always poked fun at her because of it. They made fun of her for other reasons too… But the one that really drove people away was that they all thought she was such a goody two shoes… And they were right. she was always doing what was expected of her, always the one the teachers would look to when they asked the whole class to reveal who had pulled a prank. She was always the perfect daughter. But not tonight… It was a new era. Tonight she was going to be hanging out Tsudemi and Mako.

The little slice of face bounced up and the hand waved again. _But… maybe, _Whispered a voice inside her head. _Maybe they want to talk to you? Maybe they'll want to be your friends too? _

What would Tsudemi and Mako do? They'd take a chance and meet this person. They weren't afraid of anything. They took their chances, and even though the other kids didn't like either the Inuzuka girl or the Aburame boy, they were admired for their courage.

Inoji took a deep breath. "Starting now," she muttered under her breath, "I'm going to have to learn to take chances." She nodded once, strode to the storeroom door and pulled it wide.

"Where do you think your going?" asked her mother, without even looking up from her ledger.

Inoji froze. "I… um… I just wanted to get some fresh air… outside... for a bit, please?" she stammered out.

Ino glanced up quickly with a frown. "Did you finish the stocks of dried willow bark pills yet?" Inoji looked down and gave a slight shake of her head. "There will be plenty of time for fresh air after you get that aspirin made." Ino gave a quick wave of her pen towards the storeroom door.

Looking down Inoji nodded once and slowly walked back into the room. "So much for taking chances, but at least I tried," she thought to herself.

She'd made another three pills when there was another tapping at the window. The mystery hand was back. It made a shrugging gesture in the air. Inoji interpreted it to mean 'What happened?'

Inoji pointed to herself once and then to the floor. She then made a very exaggerated shrug. She gave the mystery hand a sad smile as if to say "Sorry, I have to stay right here."

There was a pause. A few heartbeats later the hand reappeared, holding up the index finger. It waved again, and then it vanished. "One?" she wondered aloud. "One what?"

She was answered a few minutes later when she heard the message slot on the store door swing back and forth. He mother gave an exasperated sigh and slowly got up to retrieve the mail. There was a rustling of paper.

"Inoji!" her mother called, "I'm going to need you to make an urgent delivery!" There was a pause as her mother continued reading the note. "It's an order for Gai-sensei at the Health food store a few doors down. Apparently he ate too much of that extra spicy curry again and needs something to settle his digestion.

Inoji was smiling a little nervously as she stepped out of the back room and took off her apron. "What do you want me to bring him Mother?"

Ino still reading the note, grimaced. "Apparently the strongest anti-diarrhea medicine we have, given this description… Or failing that, a cork." Her mother began to mutter to herself as she headed into the back and began to search amongst the prepared remedies.

A face quickly popped in the glass of the front door. She looked wide eyed and her heart thumped in her chest. It was Shikasu Nara. He was the one who was trying to get her attention!

He gave her a little wave and a thumbs up, and stood there expectantly. Inoji couldn't move. She couldn't talk. She could barely even think. He gave her a questioning look and then flinched, startled by something behind her back. He quickly pointed to his chest and then made showing motions around the side of the building. Then he vanished before she could even recover.

She was still staring there when her mother came out of the storeroom holding a small paper sack. "Okay, you should tell Gai-sensei to take two of these little cups with water every four hours." She held out the sack and frowned. "You should probably also tell him to eat nothing but plain rice for at least thirty six hours." She rattled the bag. "Inoji?" she prompted. Ino studied her daughter and leaned forward. "Are you feeling okay?" She placed a hand on her forehead. "Your face is a little flushed."

Inoji blinked and reached out for the bag. "Oh! I'm fine Mom. I just got… distracted for a second."

Ino gave her daughter a worried frown. "I know that you are all excited about going out with your friends tonight, but remember you're still working right now. You have an important job and you have to keep your focus."

Inoji gave her a smile. "I'm fine Mother… I'll pay attention. I promise."

* * *

Ino nodded once and handed her daughter the bag. She watched as Inoji distractedly walked out of the door. Ino sighed and shook her head. She tried her best... really, she did… But did Inoji ever listen? No. She was just a dreamy and flightly as ever. "What am I going to do with that girl?" she muttered under her breath.

Ino sighed and sat down heavily on her stool behind the counter. All she wanted was for her daughter not to repeat the same mistakes she did… Was that too much to ask?

In this coarse day and age where people like Konohamaru Sarutobi were openly acting in such a… lewd manner… How did one go about teaching a young girl that all those old fashioned rules governing behavior and relationships were made for a reason… how do you explain to your own child your greatest shame?

Ino reached out for her half completed inventory book, paused and violently shoved it off the edge of the counter, where it landed on the floor with a crash.

She bit her lip and held her breath until she was sure she had her anger back under control. Then slowly, she rose from her stool and went to retrieve the book. Damn the Yamanaka clan. Damn her parents. And damn Shikamaru Nara… Gods damn them all...

* * *

Inoji shuffled up to the corner of the pharmacy. She nervously smoothed down her kimono and took a deep breath. She knew it made her look fat, almost everything did… but her mother insisted that she wear one… 'just like a proper lady'... She did her best to push all her anxieties away, closed her eyes and stepped around into the side alley.

She opened them, and there he was, leaning against the wall, hands stuffed in his pockets, looking all cool. She watched him swallow quickly as she approached. "Hey," he said giving her a nod. "Uh… I wanted to say thanks for making up the extra man in the soccer game yesterday. You played really well." Inoji immediately looked down and felt her face grow hot." There was a long pause. "S-so..." Shikasu said his smile wavering , "how's it going?"

Things were going terrible. She knew she was messing everything up… but she wasn't about to tell him that. "I'm... okay," she mumbled. "I... um have to make a delivery. It's pretty close by."

Shikasu pushed himself off of the wall and stood up straight. He gave her a sheepish grin. "Um... actually you don't... You see Gai-sensei is just fine." He scratched at his ear. "I... um really wanted to talk to you so I ended up taking some liberties." He glanced up. "I just needed to talk to you for a bit."

"Oh!" said Inoji. She looked up in shock. He shouldn't be doing that for her sake! She couldn't believe anyone would do that for her sake! "Aren't you worried you'll get into trouble?"

Shikasu smirked. "Heh. I'm already in trouble. My ground state of being is 'in trouble'. Technically I'm grounded for the whole week for setting a booby trap for my sister's 'not boyfriend'. Although, personally I think I have plenty of evidence suggesting that he might actually be more of a 'secret boyfriend'." He shook his head. " The real question now… is which one would distract Mom more?" he muttered.

"Huh?" said Inoji, completely confused.

Shikasu raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious…? I'm grounded. If I want to get my video game privileges back before next month, I'll have to distract my Mom with something even bigger. My sister and this possible boyfriend of hers exactly fit the bill." He gave a small smirk. "It should be fun to watch him run when Mom comes after him."

Inoji only understood part of that. "Your parents let you play video games?" she asked with a tilt to her head.

Shikasu exhaled. "Wow... I'm making a mess of this… Okay... You know what? Let's start over." He turned away from Inoji. A second later he made a great showy pantomime of just happening to notice Inoji, and waving. Inoji giggled behind her hand. "Hi Inoji!" he said smiling. "It's nice to see you. I'd like to talk to you for a bit."

Inoji looked down and scuffed the alley with her foot. "I'd like to," she squeaked. "But I… I can't talk now. I really have to get going on the delivery."

Shikasu scowled. "I just told you. I sent in the fake request. Gai-sensei is fine."

Inoji had just opened her mouth to answer when the door to the pharmacy banged open. "Inoji!" called Ino sharply. 'Where are you?"

Shikasu jumped and flattened himself against the wall. Inoji stepped back and stuck her head around the corner. "I'm right here Mom." She said quietly.

"What are you doing there?"

"I... thought I saw a cat. So I went to pet it, but it ran away, and I thought it might be hurt so I followed it for a bit and then I noticed that my shoe was coming loose so I..."

"Inoji," said Ino, exasperated. "You have a delivery to make... Please take care of it."

Inoji looked down meekly. "Yes Mother."

"And don't touch any stray animals. They might carry diseases." The door to the pharmacy closed shut.

Inoji stepped back to where Shikasu was still pressed up against the wall. "My mother likes to check up on me," she said in a quiet voice. "I have to go to Gai-sensei's or else I'll get in trouble."

Shikasu took a step away from the wall and nervously brushed his hands off on his pants. "Huh, well... that's an interesting tactic your mother has there."

Inoji nodded uncomfortably. "Sometimes she even does a mind scan to make sure I'm not lying," she said quietly

Shikasu pursed his lips. "Scary. Okay... well then. I'll have to remember that for next time." He smiled up at her. "Would it be a problem if I walked with you for a bit? We can talk while you're heading on your way."

Inoji was holding her breath. Next time?! What did he mean by next time? She suddenly noticed that Shikasu was staring at her, and that she happened to be feeling a little faint. "No. That should be fine," she said, letting the air out in a huge gasp. She gripped the paper bag and started walking.

Shikasu gave a little half smile. "Cool," he said and followed her.

* * *

She walked beside him in silence. Occasionally one of them would steal a little glance at the other. He would always smile at her, and she would always look quickly away. Shikasu was slowly coming to the realization that he was completely unprepared to talk to this girl. Talking to her was going to be completely unlike talking to his sister. If he said the wrong thing here, Inoji would probably freak out completely and that would be the end of this mission to find out what exactly happened between his family and hers… On the other hand, unlike Karua, it was infinitely less likely that she would bop him over the head if he said something stupid, so that was a bonus.

He was about to try to start up some small talk, when he noticed that she was also trying to find something to talk about herself… ever the perfect gentleman, he let her go first. "So... Did you leave your puppet at home today?" she asked with a cough and a blush.

Shikasu looked up at her with what he hoped as a kindly smile. "Actually Mister Rubber-bones is working right now."

"Working? How?"

He grinned and and felt his chest puff out. "He's trying to keep me from getting into even more trouble than I already am. " He sighed. Damnit… this garbage again… He didn't want to waste his time going over every thing about his puppet to yet another Leaf kid… he didn't know why they found it so fascinating.

He decided that in order to save time, he'd be better off just going for it and telling her everything. "Look, I'm really sorry. Right now, I want nothing more than to sit down and talk to you, but... I just don't know where to start and it's going to have to be a long discussion, and," he frowned, "I'm working against the clock, you know, and unfortunately I don't have the time to talk right now... " He looked up at her. "Do you understand?

"Yes," said Inoji shyly, probably not understanding in the slightest, but obviously trying her best to, despite being very overwhelmed… Wow… talking to this girl was difficult.

Shikasu nodded. "Good... So... um... is there some better time when we could talk? Maybe later today?"

Inoji stopped, torn. "Well, I kind of promised Tsudemi and Mako that I would hang out with them tonight." Shikasu chewed his lip and nodded thoughtfully. Damnit this wasn't going to work… It had to be today. He wasn't going to be able to worm his way out the house again… not until his grounding wore off.

Inoji seemed to cough a little and then a torrent of words all came gushing out of her mouth. "But I'm sure that they wouldn't mind if you came along too!" she said eagerly, looking down and trying to smile at him at the same time.

"Mako and Tsudemi? Those are the Aburame and Inuzuka kids you were with yesterday? In the soccer game?"

Inoji smiled. "Yes. They are very nice people once you get to know them."

Shikasu nodded thoughtfully. Yeah he'd heard stories about them, but if Inoji thought they were okay… "I met Mako earlier. He was the one who told me where to find you. He seemed... cool." He hesitated cautiously. "Where are you guys going to meet?"

Inoji looked down again. "Here... At the Pharmacy… at six."

Shikasu drummed his fingers against his leg in a nervous sort of way. "Okay, I'll do my best to be here." He paused, debating whether or not to just ask flat out if she knew what happened. He really wanted to know, but if it was something embarrassing rather than say it out loud, in public, Inoji might explode. In the end he decided that subtlety might be a better route. "Hey," he said turning slightly. "Do your parents ever talk about... You know... My dad being on their old team?"

Inoji smiled. "Oh yeah. All the time. My dad loves to talk about the old days."

Shikasu grinned. "Cool. Okay. See you at six." He gave her a little wave before speeding off.

This might actually work… true, he'd have to figure to some way to sneak out of the house, but that was nothing he hadn't done before… Heck with Mister Rubber Bones, he could practically fool anyone!

* * *

Inoji smiled the whole way to Gai-sensei's. She found him down the aisle that had polarizing crystals and dried cactus flowers, he was doing one armed pushups on the floor.

"One thousand twenty two... One thousand twenty three... one thousand twenty four..." He happened to look up as he was switching arms, and gave her a wide grin. "Ahh Inoji-chan! It is wonderful to see you on such a glorious day! To what do I owe the pleasure? Six, seven, eight, nine..."

Inoji smiled. Normally she would have been a little bit nervous, but not now. She already knew what was going to happen. "I have a delivery for you Gai-sensei," she said, bowing and presenting the bag.

Gai lifted an eyebrow and leaped to his feet. He gingerly opened the bag and peeked inside. He quickly looked up at Inoji and then back down into the bag again. "Why are you giving me a large bottle of kaolinite and pectin solution?"

Despite her newfound confidence, Inoji managed to blush anyway. "Well… Um… You requested it," She pulled out the prescription slip and showed it to him. He read the sheet of paper and her mother scrawled notes and exploded with laughter.

"Oh ho ho ho ho! I'm so sorry Inoji-chan, but it looks as if someone is playing a cruel joke on the pair of us." He stood straighter, grinned again, and slapped his chest. "I have the iron clad stomach of a thirty year old… No! A twenty year old! I can go out drinking and eating curry all night long and still wake up in the morning as fresh as a daisy!" He leaned closer, his teeth sparkled under the fluorescent lighting. "And would you like to know my secret?" he asked in what he probably thought was a whisper.

Inoji was raised to be very polite to her elders, even the ones that were a little bit strange. She nodded.

Gai-sensei gave a triumphant shout and did a series of back flips to the counter. He rummaged around behind it for a moment and then emerged holding a small box covered in green foil. Grinning like a madman he did a quick one handed cartwheel and landed in front of her. "You Inoji-chan, are being given a great privilege. I shall permit you to be the first shinobi in the Leaf village, other than myself and my adorable student Lee of course, to try these." He opened the box with great reverence. Inside were rows of small bricks, each wrapped in green foil and emblazoned with Gai's smiling face. "Might Gai's Mighty Bars!" He said proudly, waving the box under her nose. "The new and improved version! They are full of everything a busy shinobi on the go needs to complete his day! They are bursting with vitamins and protein and rare herbs! Guaranteed to revitalize the body and the soul and ignite the blazing power of youth that resides within us all!" He stood there in his triumphant pose for a second and then held out the box again. "Here," he said giving it a little shake, "try one! I insist!"

Inoji slowly reached into the box and pulled out one of the bars. It was soft and doughy to the touch. Under Gai-sensei's excited grin, she peeled off the wrapper. The bar itself looked rather grey and lumpy. She looked up at Gai-sensei who smiled at her and nodded encouragingly. She closed her eyes and took a bite.

"Well?" asked Gai eagerly as she chewed.

Inoji struggled to swallow. The bars tasted like bits of torn up cardboard held together with glue, if the glue was made from fish paste that is. She smiled weakly. "They certainly taste very healthy. I'm sure their small size will come in handy if one was to pack them for missions."

Gai pumped his fist in the air. "Excellent! Yes! I knew this batch would taste better than the last one. Lee could barely keep that one down!" He held the box out to her again. "Here take another for your mother, oh and a second for yourself as well!"

Inoji very slowly raised her hand and took two more bars out of the box. "Thank you very much," she said softly. "You are too kind."

"Think nothing of it, " said Gai cheerfully. "It's my gift to you to make up for all the trouble you had to go through to bring me that medicine…" He sighed happily and hugged the box of bars to his chest. "I am so glad you like them Inoji-chan!"

Inoji smiled politely and forced her mouth to take a second bite of the bar. She begrudgingly chewed. She made a short bow to Gai-sensei and left his store.

She glanced behind her as she walked back through the plaza. Gai-sensei was at his shop window. When he saw her turn he waved excitedly and gave her a big thumbs up sign. Inoji smiled and took a third bite, so as not to disappoint Gai-sensei. If there was one thing she had been raised to do, it was to be polite.

* * *

Ichisui stood between Karua and Hishyoni and tried to mumble his way through his story. He was fully aware that something momentous had just happened here, but try as he might he couldn't quite decide what it was.

First there had been Hishyoni. Then there had been Hishyoni in her sports bra. And after that well… she had tried to kill him.

Then there was Karua… Karua had, quite thankfully, stepped in and saved his life, which was great. It was exactly the thing he would have expected a friend to do, but… Then she had kissed him… In front of everyone. His whole face still tingled when he thought about how her lips had touched his. There was some deep part inside himself that again wondered what it would be like to have Karua as a girlfriend… to kiss her for real. To kiss her every day...

Which was a completely ridiculous fantasy of course… As Hishyoni Hyuga had so deftly pointed out during her enraged, yet predominantly accurate outburst… Most Konoha girls would never be interested in him.

Even now, this whole time, while he was babbling away trying to explain to Hishyoni everything that had happened, Karua kept looking over at him. She smiled at him in a demure way, her face a blend of joy and pride and vulnerability. Ichisui found it surprisingly attractive.

_That,_ he thought to himself, _Is exactly how a loving girlfriend should look. She's really getting into this whole pretend dating thing… too bad it's pretend._

Every once in awhile Karua would turn slightly to glance at Hishyoni. When she did her grin got a little... well, smug. And Ichisui would bring his mind back to the task at hand… making Hishyoni jealous…

Hishyoni had, well... she'd definitely reacted. At first she was obviously shocked, then for a flash she just looked... well, pensive. Finally she went back to her ground state of staring at her feet in angry silence. The problem was 'angry Hishyoni', even with her open declaration of revulsion to all things Uchiha, was still capable of distracting the hell out of him.

Once, when he was thirteen his 'uncle' Naruto had loaned him a copy of 'The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja'. He loved it and swore to dedicate his life to emulating the Ninja of the story. It influenced him so much that he wanted to keep reading the rest of the legendary Jiraiya's works... Only no one would let him.

In desperation, he snuck a peek in Kakashi-sensei's copy of 'Make out violence.' He'd only managed to read a few pages before his mother had caught him, but it was enough to leave him with the gnawing question of why the hero of the story was so distracted by the evil kunoichi's 'heaving bosom'. He thought it strange that Jiraiya the sannin would go into a page and a half of detail about said bosom. It just didn't seem to make sense at the time. It seemed like such a silly thing for the hero to get so worked up about it, that the kunoichi could easily defeat him in battle, tie him up, and drag him back to her lair to be tortured.

Hishyoni was still in her sports bra. Her bosom was definitely heaving.

"...and so... Um... Well... I was just going to offer to heal your scratch, and I had my hand out, but then you turned around so fast... And I kind of... bumped into you completely by accident," Ichisui mumbled, trying his hardest not to stare.

There was a very long silence. Karua pointedly cleared her throat once. Hishyoni kept staring down. "Well," Karua said, with a touch of sharpness creeping into her voice. "Don't you have anything to say to Ichisui?"

Hishyoni sighed. "Yeah," she stated gruffly. "You're a complete moron. What the hell were you thinking sneaking up on me like that?"

Ichisui felt his body flinch. "Sorry," he said quietly.

Karua smiled with her mouth, but her eyes remained hard as she stared at the other kunoichi. "That might be one way to put it. Personally, I like to tell myself that he has such a noble soul that he always tries to do the right thing." She turned and gave Ichisui a reassuring smile. "The problem is sometimes he does it without thinking first." Her green eyes snapped back to Hishyoni. "I think he might deserve something a little bit nicer from you than calling him a moron. Don't you?"

Hishyoni gritted her teeth. "Fine..." She scowled and looked up at Ichisui. "It was an accident. I shouldn't have tried to kill you."

Ichisui couldn't help it. He started to smile. This was the first kind word she had for him in three years. Maybe things were finally on the way to being patched up between them?"Thank you," he said with heartfelt emotion. "Your apology means so much..."

"It wasn't an apology!" snapped Hishyoni. "I was just admitting I was overreacting," she muttered angrily.

Ichisui looked over at the smiling Karua and nodded his thanks. "Fair enough... Well I thank you anyway." He quickly glanced back at Hishyoni, and took the plunge. "Um… I... don't suppose you'd still want me to heal that scratch, would you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Ichisui saw Karua stiffen. A series of emotions flashed across her face before she settled on a confident smile.

"I don't think... " started Hishyoni.

Karua gave a high, brittle laugh. "Just make sure you don't get beat up again handsome," she said with a quick smile. She nervously rubbed her palms on her pants. "Well… If you'll excuse me I have to... go make sure my little brother isn't getting into any trouble." She chuckled anxiously. "We're supposed to be picking up a few things for my mother."

Karua reached out to Ichisui, hesitated and then gave him a half hug. "I'll just... um... see you later okay?" She gave Hishyoni a short bow and then quickly walked off.

Hishyoni was staring at Ichisui, her eyebrows creased in a frown. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked coldly.

Ichisui took a half step back, afraid that she was going to hit him again. "I thought I just told you... I saw you were hurt and I thought that maybe I could..."

Hishyoni angrily shook her head. "Not then... Just now! What do you think you're doing?"

Ichisui took another step back. "Your cut... I just thought that..."

Hishyoni let out an exasperated sigh. "Gods, you really are a moron. I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about what you just did to your girlfriend!"

"My?... Oh, you mean Karua? She's... Um... What am I doing?" asked Ichisui in a state of total confusion.

"I refuse to believe that you are this stupid. And since I know that the great Ichisui Uchiha is not this stupid, I'm going to tell you right now that I don't want to be part of this stupid game you're playing." Ichisui gave her a blank look. Hishyoni took a deep breath and rubbed her face. "I... Look, just heal the stupid scratch okay?"

She turned her shoulder and took a step towards him. Ichisui carefully, gingerly held up his hand and let the healing energies flow. They stood there uncomfortably for a minute. Finally Ichisui had to break the silence. "So... um... what am I doing?" he asked quietly.

"I can't believe this," she muttered.

"Believe what?" Ichisui moved his hand slightly and watched the subdermis in her latissimus dorsai slowly knit itself back together

"I can't believe I'm giving you of all people relationship advice!" Hishyoni spat. She started to turn and winced.

"Hold still!" snapped Ichisui. "Please," he added more calmly. "I'm trying to set the chakra sutures. They won't hold in the right spot if you keep moving."

Hishyoni let out her breath through clenched teeth. "Look, you had a crush on me...right?"

Ichisui jumped. "Well... I... guess... I sort of did," he said with a bright red face. "How did you know?"

Hishyoni's eyebrows shot up. "How did I know?" she asked incredulously. "The entire village knew! It wasn't like you were being subtle!"

"But I thought no one was really..."

"Everyone was talking about it! Everyone thought it was hilarious!" She motioned with her arm. "Why do you think everyone is watching us now waiting to see what new wacky hijinks you will come up with to woo me next?"

Ichisui spun his head, looking around the plaza. There was a sudden flurry of activity as everyone tried their best to look innocent. "Oh," said Ichisui in a very small voice. "Could you turn a bit more to the side please?"

"Oh… My… Gods... Now... Finally, you get it! Everyone thought it was so funny, me being chased around town by the freak of the Leaf Village. Har-de-har-har. Do you have any idea how annoying that was?"

Freak… again she called him a freak… she didn't say it in anger this time, she said it very calmly and matter of factly… as if it wasn't a matter up for debate. Ichisui forced his mouth to stay shut by concentrating on his work. Eventually Hishyoni spoke again. "But that's not my main point."

"Oh?" he said quietly, carefully keeping his emotions under control. "Then what is your main point?"

Hishyoni turned. "Look, my point is that you just abandoned your girlfriend to go help some girl that everyone thinks you have a crush on! How do you think that's going to make her feel?"

It wasn't very often that Ichisui lost his optimistic outlook on life, but at that very moment, he felt a very uncharacteristic surge of hatred pulse through him. "I don't see why she should care one way or another," he said coldly. "After all, you have made it quite clear that you don't think anyone should ever be interested in me at all… I wonder what changed your mind?"

Hishyoni stiffened. Ichisui finished suturing her up without another word.

"There," he finally said pulling his hand away. "You are all set. Now you'll be sore for a day or so, but it should go away after forty eight hours. If the soreness persists, it could be a sign of infection and you should get someone else to take a look at it." He paused, as if he were going to say something else, but instead he turned to leave.

Hishyoni sighed. "Ichisui... wait..." she said, resigned. He didn't find out what she was going to say next, because right then, the ANBU surrounded them.


	56. Chapter 21: The Storm Breaks: part 2

Another stiff breeze blew down on Mako. It knocked the wasps around and they all buzzed angrily trying to stay in their search pattern. This latest gust apparently was too much for Number Eleven who was spinning down to him in a tumbling dive. He caught her in his cupped hands and gently blew on her to warm her up. She preened happily for a moment, grateful to be out of the wind.

After giving her a minute he asked her for a report. He lifted his eyebrows in surprise and snuck a quick peek over the tops of the trash cans. So... the crazy chunin and the 'not boyfriend' were wanted by the ANBU. He had no problem imagining that. "She deserves to be locked up for sure," he muttered.

Another round of quick study ruined that theory. The ANBU were also guarding two kids. He recognized the description of the girl. She was that jerk Jiraiya's twin sister, Kusumina her name was. She was an okay kid, but then again… compared to Jiraiya, practically everyone was. The other kid... well, he'd never seen him before, which was weird because he was pretty remarkable looking. He had a scarred up face and was holding a long staff. Mako made a mental note to ask the swarm for a closer flyby of this kid. If he was connected to the crazy chunin kunoichi, it might be worth gathering intel on him too. Wasp Number Eleven acknowledged the command and asked if he wanted her to continue her report. Mako told her to go ahead.

The wasp reported that the swarm had witnessed the Nara kid meeting up with Inoji outside a big stone and wood object. Number Eleven then paused delicately and asked if the Nara kid was a member of The Hive.

According to wasps everything in the world fit into one of four categories. It was either part of The Hive, a predator, an object, or food.

Mako was always part of The Hive… or any hive for that matter. Any bee, wasp, or hornet would just fly right up and accept him. After a little bit of talking on his part he could usually convince that particular nest that his friends were part of The Hive as well. This usually took some heavy duty persuading as far as Akakaru was concerned, the dumb mutt had a terrible habit of chasing small buzzing things. She was usually classified as a predator.

A predator was always something bad. For The Hive, a fight or flight response was always elicited by a predator designation. An object was just stuff. Uninteresting and dull, you could ignore it or go around it. Of course, an object could suddenly became a predator if it moved too suddenly. Anything alive could either be declared an object or predator depending on its actions. And then there was food. Food was simply the greatest thing ever.

Mako thought about the Shikasu kid for a second and then shrugged. "I don't know yet," he told Wasp number eleven. "He might be part of The Hive, he might just be an object. I don't really know him well enough to make that decision yet. Why? What did he do?"

The wasp replied that The Nara boy had buzzed up to Inoji of The Hive and together they had danced with each other (talked) for a while before he buzzed away again. A few other minor questions convinced Mako that their meeting had gone well. Wasp number eleven told him that Inoji seemed happy (_Dancing like she was telling The Hive where to find a dead rat carcass_ was the phrase Number Eleven actually used... Translating from wasp was less of a science and more of an art form.)

Mako nodded with approval and tentatively added Shikasu to The Hive. The kid did seem okay… of course, if he did turn out to be a royal jerk, he could always be stung later.

There was another cool breeze that gusted down the alley. Number Eleven started to get agitated and buzzed threateningly at the chill. She said she had an important issue to bring up. When Mako told her to go ahead, She let loose with a barrage of questions. She asked what the big floaty thing buzzing around in the sky was. She said it was annoying and couldn't fly straight. She said it was too windy and was making everything too cold. She asked if it was a predator. Then she asked if she and her sisters could go sting it until it went away.

Mako looked up. There was a large homemade kite dancing over the plaza. He followed the string back to where a group of kids were standing on an adjoining roof. They were all very eagerly watching the kite.

He smiled at Number Eleven. "That's just a flying object. You can ignore it." The wasp acknowledged the order but complained some more about the kite being too big and too chilly and that maybe they should just try stinging it anyway just to see if they could make it go be cold and windy somewhere else.

Mako laughed. "No, don't waste your time and energy. Go and scout the new kid." He held her and gave her the image of the boy holding the staff. "Try your best to find out who he is."

The wasp acknowledged the order and then sat there rubbing its antennae for a moment. That was the insect equivalent of a polite cough. Mako looked down at the insect. "Was there something else?" he asked Number Eleven.

He stared at the wasp, confused. She had wanted to know if the Nara kid who was made of wood was also part of The Hive.

He almost took Number Eleven and tossed her into the air, telling her to quit asking silly questions and get going and do her job. But something about the way she circumspectly asked that bizarre question made him hesitate.

"Wait," thought Mako, "You know the wooden Nara boy is, well… Made of wood right? You do know that all wood is an object right?"

The wasp quietly answered in the affirmative. "Then why are you asking?" thought Mako, quite confused.

The wasp did a tiny little dance. "Because... there is a predator hunting it," she buzzed.

* * *

Hana was really pissed. So was Fugawari… in a very literal sense. The boy had fussed and whined his way to the public girl's toilet. "But I don't wanna go in there!" he simpered, "It's only for girls!" When Hana dragged him in anyway, he had screamed, yelled and tried to escape four times. Finally she managed to corner him, toss him into a stall, shove her way in behind him, and lock the door.

She turned to pick him up. Fugawari was standing there with an embarrassed frown on his face and a spreading wet spot on the front of his trousers.

Hana counted under her breath while she washed out his pants in the sink. It didn't help her fury. She made the mistake of looking up in the mirror, and blasted it with the image of a screaming, vengeful banshee clawing it's way through the air towards the person standing there. She felt a little sorry for the next person who tried to wash their hands at this particular sink, especially if they did it late at night. Still, dumping all that wrath into the genjutsu did make her feel better.

She stood there for ten minutes trying to dry his pants over the air dryer. That whole time, Fugawari, who so didn't want to be seen in the girls bathroom when he had to pee, seemed quite happy running around in it pantsless.

The bathroom door opened. Fugawari squealed in terror and ran into a stall where he locked himself in.

"Hey," said Hishyota, padding into the girls' room. "Did you know your little brother is running around in here naked?" The door swung open again and a scowling Chyrio followed her.

"He's only half naked," grunted Hana. She continued to wave his trousers in front of the air dryer.

"He should really keep his pants on," scolded Chyrio. "Mister Whiskers has very delicate sensibilities."

Hishyota leaned against one of the sinks. "What's taking you so long? You missed the big show."

"Apparently wetting yourself is preferable to being a boy in the girls' room." The air dryer stopped automatically. Fugawari's pants had gone from wet to merely damp, but that seemed to be about as good as they were going to get.

Hishyonta snickered. "I've seen a few bathrooms like that... So, do you want to hear what you missed?"

Hana frowned angrily. "I only have one question. Is Ichisui dead or just horribly maimed?" She turned and yelled to the stall door. "Fugawari! Get out here! I need you to put on your pants!"

"I'm not coming out until everyone goes away!" he squeaked back. "You'll all see me naked if I do!"

"We've already seen you naked!" yelled Hana. "Just get out here!" She turned back to Hishyota. "So what happened?"

Before she could answer, a squirming Mister Whiskers wriggled his way out of Chyrio's grasp and plopped to the floor. "No!" she yelled. "Bad chipmunk!" With practiced hands she speedily scooped him up and waggled a finger in his face. "The bathroom floor is all dirty. Now we have to give you a bath again." She sighed and carried him over to a sink.

"Squeak!" wailed Mister Whiskers, trying to squirm away from the running water.

Hishyota shook her head. She turned back to Hana. "What was your question again?"

Hana raised her voice over the rush of water and chipmunk protests. "I just asked what happened?"

Hishyota grinned. "Apparently, your older brother and my cousin have been taken in by the ANBU for questioning," she said smugly.

A smile twitched on Hana's lips. "Really?" The bathroom stall door opened a tiny crack as Fugawari peeped out. Hana spun. "Fugawari! Get out here and put your pants on!" she shouted at the gap..

"No!" screamed Fugawari as the door slammed shut once again

Hana sighed, "Look, just keep telling me what happened, I'll be listening." She purposefully marched over to the door and forced it open. Fuguwari shrieked.

Hishyota nodded and spoke over the noise. "Well Ichisui finally got up the courage to go over and talk to her, only he accidentally touched her boobs. That's when Hishyoni tried to kill him."

"Did she hurt him at all?" asked Hana over the noise of a struggling Fugawari.

"She only kicked him a couple of times. Anyway, just as she pulls out this katana and makes like she's going to cut him in half, Karua Nara comes barrelling in out of nowhere, stops her, kisses your brother, and makes everyone apologize and be friends... Only then I guess someone called the cops because all of a sudden there were ANBU everywhere." Hishyota gave an evil smile. "And then I just had to run off and find you because this is the perfect opportunity to go and bust our brothers."

"I thought he was already busted," said Hana in a gruff voice as she pulled up Fugawari's pants. "Getting surrounded by ANBU is the definition of busted."

Hishyota shook her head. "Not Ichisui... our other brothers. Jiraiya and Mibuki. I saw them as I was coming in here." She leaned forward and whispered, "They're flying a kite."

"So?" Hana put a sulking Fugawari down.

"Flying a kite over the hot springs," added Hishyota.

"Onee-san? My pants are all wet." Fugawari said with a grumpy face.

Hana snorted. "I'm soooo sorry… but if you don't like wet pants, next time don't pee in them." She turned back to Hishyota. "I still don't get it. So... they're flying a kite over the hot springs? Big deal."

"They are standing on a rooftop with a bunch of other boys holding telescopes. Our charming little brothers are doing their best to hold the kite steady over the hot springs."

Hana raised an eyebrow. "They are trying to peep into the onsen?" Hishyota nodded. Hana smiled with understanding. "Well then it's almost our civic duty to report them isn't it?"

"Stay still Mister Whiskers!" admonished Chyrio, as she held the writhing chipmunk over the air dryer.

Hana grabbed Fugawari's hand. "Hurry it up Chyrio, we've got to go talk to the ANBU."

"In a minute!" Chyrio called back. "I can't take Mister Whiskers outside all wet like this. He'll catch a cold!"

"Ooh! Can I play ANBU?" asked Fugawari excitedly.

"In just a bit Fugawari," said Hishyota with a grin. "We've got to take care of something really important first." The air dryer died down, and she turned and started walking towards the door. "So I had this idea that we could try..." She stopped when she realized that Hana was still in the bathroom. "Hana?" she called back.

"Wait," Hana started in a puzzled voice, "Did I hear you right? Did you just say that... Karua Nara... kissed my brother?"

* * *

Shikasu was so on top of the world. He was so going to find out what the heck it was that made his Dad's team break up so many years ago. That had been nagging him ever since he played Shinobi Legends Four. I mean, during the Fourth War mission, they were practically invincible. The Ino-Shika-Cho combo they had was fantastic! Ino-san would mind transfer with the bad guys, his dad's Shadow Possesion jutsu would hold them while she released her jutsu and then Choji-san used his Multi Size jutsu to smash them into the middle of next week! It was an unbeatable combo attack!

And then, when you completed their final mission, the following text would scroll up the screen: _The Ino-Shika-Cho formation had never been so strong, nor would it ever be again... For after the war, each would go their separate ways..._

No matter how much he pestered his dad, Shikamaru just wouldn't say why.

Well, all that was going to change tonight. Tonight he was finally going to get some answers! How dare they break up his favorite video game team, in his favorite video game!"

Oh yeah... He was also going to hang out with Inoji as well. That would be… pretty cool.

Of course in order to do this he was going to have to sneak out of the house, All while under the watchful eye of his mother. His smile slipped a bit at that thought, but quickly came back. Shikasu was confident he could come up with something. It would be tricky though. He'd have to come up with some way to escape detection from both his mom and... "Oh Crap!" he grunted to himself. "It's my sister!"

Shikasu quickly slapped himself against a handy wall and peeked around the corner. "Dammit... I took too long," he muttered. Karua had finished dealing with her 'not boyfriend' and was walking back to Mister Rubber Bones. He was lucky. Karua was really distracted about... something, otherwise she would have noticed right away the differences between the disguised puppet and him.

However, the main problem was, she was not distracted enough that she would not notice her brother running full tilt towards an exact duplicate of himself.

Shikasu sighed and loosened up his fingers. Chakra strings would never work. There were too many people walking in between him and his puppet. Fortunately he had another method that would work. The only problem was, while he could keep the chakra strings going all day, while this jutsu tended to wear off in half an hour or so. Shikasu sighed and stretched out his shadow. It was a total drag, but it couldn't be helped.

* * *

Kuma sighed and held the perimeter. Lieutenant Ookami had ordered him and his fellow ANBU to guard the two children and to keep a constant lookout for suspicious people. It was his duty to protect the Leaf Village and to obey the orders of his superior.

So far, he felt like he had been doing a truly rotten job. No matter how hard he tried Ookami-sempai seemed to be disappointed with him at every turn. All he was asking for was just a tiny chance to prove himself. It was his first month on the job and so far it was turning into a disaster.

In civilian life he had come from a long line of courier-nin. Once he graduated from the academy, everyone had expected him to follow in the family tradition. He could still see the look of disgust on their faces when he told them he had received an offer from the elite ANBU corps. He had always wanted an adventure, he had always wanted to be one of Konoha's unsung heroes.

He sighed, he could almost hear his grandfather now, snickering behind his tangled beard. "I told you so! The ANBU life is eighty percent filling out paperwork, ten percent wandering around, nine percent being bored, and one percent abject terror!" the old man would taunt. "One day, you'll wish you listened to your mother and became a courier-nin!" He frowned behind the mask and tried to focus on his duty.

There was a tug on his sleeve. A small girl in pigtails holding a distressed rodent was trying to get his attention. "Excuse me mister," she asked in a cute voice, "Are you an ANBU?"

Kuma's feet stomped together and he stood at attention. "Why yes citizen! I am one of Konoha's intrepid ANBU corps! How can I assist you this fine day?"

An incredulous frown creased the girl's face for a second, but then she smiled brightly again. "Oh thank goodness, Mister Whiskers and I want to report a bunch of suspicious people doing... something suspicious." She waved the rodent in front of his nose.

"Squeak," cried the rodent.

"What?" he said sharply, leaning back from the beady eyed animal. He turned quickly to look. "Where?" The girl pointed. Kuma focused his eyes on a nearby roof. Sure enough there were a group of boys up there, flying what looked to be a kite. Kuma exhaled disappointedly. "Well… I thank you for your concern, good citizen, but they appear to be just flying a kite."

"You don't think they're suspicious enough? They have telescopes."

Kuma studied the boys. "Hmmm... You appear to be correct. However, even if those boys are up to some mischief, I'm afraid my duties insist that I must remain here." He nodded at the little girl. "Your pet hamster is adorable by the way."

The girl gave him a look that could have peeled paint. "He's not a hamster, he's a chipmunk!" and she walked off in a huff.

Kuma continued his duties. Every now and then he would shoot a glance at the strange little girl with the chipmunk. She had walked back to another group of children and was talking to them, occasionally pointing back at him. One of the other children, a preteen girl wearing a dark cloak stood there staring at him. He felt a momentary wave of dizziness, but it passed quickly.

When he went back to scanning his surroundings, he had a deep sense of unease. There was danger nearby... he could feel it. His blood was almost singing with the call to action. Wherever these villains were hiding, he would be ready for them. He twitched a little as someone came running towards him, but he forced himself to relax. It was just the little girl again. "What can I do for you this time citizen?" he asked as his eyes darted around.

The girl pointed up to the roof again. "I think I see bad guy ninjas up on the rooftop with the boys."

He looked up. His vision blurred for a second and then snapped back into focus. There were at least six platoons of heavily armed shinobi waiting up on that roof! Truly Konoha was being invaded by dastardly foes! Foes who could only be stopped by the valiant ANBU corps! Behind his mask Kuma grinned. "Thank you citizen!" he said happily. "We'll take it from here!"

He raised one arm. "In pursuit!" he bellowed and took off running. As he sped by, he saw the rest of the ANBU looking at him and then looking back at Lieutenant Ookami. Kuma's smile grew as he heard the running footsteps join him. For him, it was a dream come true. He was leading a valiant charge against the enemy.

* * *

Hishyota whooped and bounced with excitement. "Oh my Gods Hana! You rule! You put the whammy on an ANBU! I never thought we'd be able to pull that one off." She clapped Hana on the back. "Our brothers are as good as busted now!"

Hana frowned. "I don't know..."

Hishyota looked back. "What do you mean you don't know? You got him good!"

"That guy was a little bit weird."

"Weird how?"

Hana watched the ANBU run off. "He was... entirely too eager… That was way too easy."


	57. Chapter 21: The Storm Breaks: part 3

He sat there watching the scene below and licked his teeth. This was entirely too much.

After he had been spotted by the Wolf masked kunoichi, he had continued watching the targets nominally, in theory just to gather intel, but really more for the sense of superiority it gave him over the pathetic weaklings in the ANBU corps here. It had been child's play to stay out of sight even though they were so obviously searching for him.

However, a few short moments ago, the main ANBU squad guarding his target had split in two. His eyes narrowed eagerly. Four on four. It would be close to an even fight. Well, even in numbers perhaps... as far as strength was concerned, it would be no contest.

He closed his eyes and let his mind drift. Of all the wondrous new abilities the Master had given to him, this long distance communication was the most annoying. It always interrupted you when you wanted peace and quiet. Ironically when you absolutely depending on it, it had a horrible habit of not working. Thankfully, he was getting a clear signal right now.

He smiled as he found four of his fellow squad captains. "Hello my new friends," he cheerfully thought to each of them. He could feel them in his mind like a bright burning itch, just as they now felt him. He was a bit surprised to find them so very close by.

He opened his eyes and surveyed the plaza again, more carefully this time. "Well, well well," he muttered as he picked all of their assigned targets out of the crowd. "Here is where all the little boys and girls been hiding… There you all are… wandering around down there playing your little games and having your little dramas. And above you I sit... watching." A cold chuckle escaped his lips. "This must be the universe's' way of telling us we need a change of plan."

He pulsed the signal in his mind to summon his co-captains again, more insistently this time and leaned back against a handy stone chimney to wait. One by one the team captains appeared. "Aku," one of them murmured with a high pitched giggle, "Why did you call me away from my mission?" His pale blue eyes darted this way and that, never staying still for long.

_Aku…What a stupid name..._ the red haired man thought in an amused way… They'd all been assigned a code name for the God's sake… like they were swaggering anti-heroes in some old time gangster flick… _How positively romantic._

This new captain stepped towards the chimney, stuck out a stick thin arm, and casually tore a stone off the top. He ground it to powder in one hand. "Do you know how much I hate to be interrupted when I'm working?" He hissed his voice suddenly turning cold.

Aku snorted. "Of course I do Ao... believe me… I wouldn't have bothered talking to you at all unless it was something relevant to our task." he waved a hand down at the street. "I happened to notice that each of our respective targets happens to be milling about below... I suggest we pool our resources."

"I do not believe Shukun-sama would approve of this Aku," Shiro's musical voice rang clear over the rooftop. At the mention of the master, she delicately brushed the bone white hair back from her ears. "He specifically told us that we were to hold off on any action until the proper moment."

Aku scratched at his nose. "He also gave us free reign to take initiative if we saw an opportunity." He casually pointed to the plaza below. "Why look there!" he said sarcastically. "A majority of our targets in an open space with a minimal guard. I would call that an opportunity if I ever saw one."

"Except, that wasn't the job given to us Aku. We were instructed to remain hidden," snapped Ao. His fingers drummed nervously against each other. "And I always finish the job I have..." his angry growl faded off into a high pitched titter. "Unless, of course the Master instructs me otherwise."

"I agree with Ao," Shiro chimed in. "This was not Shukun-sama's plan." She smiled haughtily at him. "Two of us disagree with you."

Aku sighed. "And now what? We're going to vote? Come now, haven't any of you any ambition at all?" He shook his head. "Where's the fun if everything goes according to plan?" He turned to the fourth team leader. "Murasaki, you've been strangely quiet this whole time. Where do you stand?"

Murasaki slowly lifted her head. Yellow eyes gleamed from a face lined with purple scales. "This mission has been dull," her raspy voice was thick with sibilants. "Some violence would be most welcome."

Shiro glared at her with distaste. "Bloodthirsty monster. You would put your own cravings ahead of Shukun-sama's commands?"

Murasaki hissed out a laugh. "You speak to me of cravings? I wonder why you insist on obeying those commands so loyally? Do you hope to earn a place warming the master's bed?"

Shiro blushed a delicate pink. "Hold your tongue!"

"Now now children," said Aku, standing up and brushing off his pants. "Let's not fight, we are, in theory, supposed to be on the same team after all." He gave a casual glance to the surrounding shinobi. "Two votes yes, and two votes no." He tucked back the lock of red hair that was constantly falling out of his hood. "If we're going to get anything done, we will need a tiebreaker... Shiro, since you are so insistent on following the master's orders, will you contact him and ask for his... esteemed opinion?"

The pale skinned woman scowled at him. "You presume to give me orders?"

Aku's lips twitched in a smile. "I merely suggest that you would be the best one to communicate with the master, because your mental jutsu is superior in this group."

Shiro gave him a cold stare but eventually nodded. As she entered the trance to communicate long distance, Ao sidled up next to him. "I haven't known you for very long, but part of me thinks I should kill you right now," he giggled, fingering a kunai, "It will save us a lot of trouble from you and your maverick ways." His voice dropped to a growl. "But another part of me wants to wait. It will be that much more satisfying to let your mistakes and insults build up. Then I can redeem them all in one glorious release," he sighed happily and gave Aku a hungry smile.

Aku stared steadily into Ao's eyes… not threatened in the slightest. Ao giggled nervously and after a bit looked away. Aku slowly untied his shirt and swung it wide. Every inch of his compact, muscular frame was covered with seals and inscriptions. Some sat dark and oppressive, some radiated a cold power, still others twisted and gleamed oily on his skin as if they were alive. "You wish to plunge your knife in, my friend?" he asked in a cold voice. "Go ahead... strike... I swear to you I shall not move one millimeter." Aku took a step closer and smiled confidently. "But make sure your first blow strikes true. I have a bad habit of thinking ill thoughts about people who've tried to kill me." He winked at Ao and whispered, "It's funny, but bad things usually happen to those very same people."

Ao eyed Aku. His hand clenched around the handle of the kunai and for a second Aku thought he would attack. "Well," Ao snickered, "I guess it wait until later then." He tucked the knife away.

Aku started to fasten up his shirt. Murasaki reached out a purple tinged hand and ran her pointed nails down his chest. Her dark pupils bored into him. "Do you always undress when threatened with death?" Amusement tinged her voice.

_Now this... this...could turn into something that would be more than _mildly _interesting,_ thought Aku. He smiled at her. "Can you think of a better time?" Murasaki snickered and pulled away her hand.

He had just finished closing his shirt when Shiro sagged and came out of her trance. "I have spoken with Shukun-sama," she said in a dispassionate voice. "And while he does not want to deviate from the original plan, he agrees with Aku that this opportunity is too good to be wasted." She shot Aku a cold look. "If you agree to follow the spirit of his original orders, he will allow you some freedom within the following revisions to the list of short term goals he wants to accomplish."

Aku smiled triumphantly. Finally, something interesting was going to happen… and once all that lovely chaos unfolded, who knew where they all would end up?

Once again he brushed back that lock of red hair. "I bow to the wisdom of the master." He smirked at Shiro. "So tell me… What is this new plan he wants us to undertake?"

* * *

Karua managed to take ten steps away from Ichisui, before she had to stop. She had to take three deep breaths and squeeze her nails into her palms for good measure, just to regain her focus.

"This is totally unlike me." She thought to herself. "I never take a ride on the emotional roller coaster." Three minutes ago, she had felt invincible. She was on top of the world, and everything she did was just...magically clicking into place. Two minutes ago, she felt… well… kind of like she'd just been punched in the stomach… hard.

If she were a 'typical Konoha girl' who had actually, you know, been officially interested in Ichisui, she probably would be devastated… run off crying... locked herself in her room crying… eaten a tub of ice cream maybe... But of course, a 'typical Konoha girl' wouldn't have gone through the emotional conditioning training… hell these days most 'typical Suna girls' didn't go through the emotional conditioning training anymore… Of course most kunoichi didn't have Temari no Sabaku for a mother.

Karua sighed, still feeling… like the world wasn't fair. "I basically just saved his life, and the stupid jerk turns around and goes straight back to Hishyoni," she whispered to herself.

That was perfectly understandable of course. I mean, she and Ichisui only agreed to do this whole 'pretend dating' thing for the sole purpose of him getting closer to Hishyoni… But was it too much to ask for him to at least say thank you? That was an awfully big sword Hishyoni was waving around there at the end.

One minute ago, she turned from them, smiled bravely and started to walk away. She was trudging back to where Shikasu was waiting, idly replaying the recent events in her mind, when it hit her and she had to stop. "Oh my Gods," she whispered, a sinking pit opening up in her stomach. "I just kissed Ichisui Uchiha… in public… in front of everyone."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, hard. A juicy little rumor like this one would positively fly through Konoha in under half an hour. Friends would giggle, strangers would point. She really hoped that the rest of the Nara clan wouldn't broach the subject with her parents before she had a chance to. Her parents… "Oh Gods… Mother will definitely have plenty to say to me when she hears about this," she mumbled. She quickly turned with the intention of going back and saying something, anything to Ichisui.

Ichisui was surrounded by ANBU. It looked like they were giving him and Hishyoni a stern talking to. Of course, they were fighting in the plaza. What did she expect would happen? There was going to be no talking to him now.

She forced herself to start walking again. Shikasu was just stiffly standing there with a stupid grin on his face. She just knew he was going to open his big mouth with some smart-ass comment.

She jabbed a finger at him. Don't!" she ordered. "Don't say a single word… Okay?" she snapped. Shikasu closed his mouth and shrugged. "Good," said Karua turning away angrily. "I don't need to hear any comments right now." Thankfully he paid attention to her mood for once and slowly walked a few steps behind her in complete silence.

A strong down gust buffeted her. She glanced up to check the weather. "That's odd," she thought, "The wind seems to be coming from that kite." She glanced back down at Shikasu. "Can you walk a little faster?" she called out, annoyed at everything in the world right now, "I want to finish all this up."

She didn't see the two figures dressed all in black, flash by overhead.

* * *

Mako chewed his fingernails and listened nervously as one by one the wasps reported in. There were four shinobi (predators) dressed all in black following the decoy Shikasu. There was a team of four more of the unknown shinobi watching the group of ANBU. There was a third group of ninjas in black observing a group of girls who had just come out of the girls bathroom, and there was a fourth group that had split its attention between the group of girls and a group of boys flying the now infamous wasp bothering kite.

Sixteen shinobi… Sixteen shinobi had infiltrated Konoha.

This was definitely not good.

The wasps reported that a young girl had just approached the group of ANBU spoken to them and then half the squad had quickly run off to the roof full of kite flyers. One member from each group of black Ninja quickly gathered together for a short conversation, and then went back to their respective teams. The black ninja teams conferred, and then split so they made a wide semicircle. He didn't have to be an intelligence gathering genius to read that formation. Ambush.

Holy shit… This was really really not good.

Mako quickly started to call in his wasps. The last few reported that the black ninjas were beginning to ready weapons. He didn't even wait for them to get back in the nest, as the last one landed and gripped his hair, he started to run. Whatever was going to happen, he did not want to get caught in it.

* * *

Karrin looked up from her books with a suspicious frown on her face. "Kiyo? Is that you?" she called waving a hand under her nose. She stood up from the main counter, away from the remnants of her lunch, and quickly peeked in the back room. Kiyo was sleeping silently again after his bottle, but that didn't mean he hadn't done anything else after her bottle either.

Karrin crept next to the crib as quietly as she could, leaned over and inhaled for a long time. She stood up puzzled. "No he's clean," she muttered. "Where is that coming from?" She went back to the front and took a quick stock of her lunch.

"No, that's clean too," She muttered picking up a piece of cold tempura and chewing on it thoughtfully. It wasn't a strong smell, but it was... bad. It was a mixture of all sorts of foul things: death, filth, burning, the sharp chemical tang of ozone, and spoiled meat. It hadn't been here a minute ago, so where could it possibly have come from?

Karrin closed her eyes to concentrate and inhaled slowly. There! It is was coming from three separate people about the emporium. It was their chakra she was smelling.

She shivered at the foul nature of it. "That is particularly nasty, I really hope they don't make a stop in here." She thought about calling the ANBU for a moment... after all, anyone whose chakra smelled like that couldn't be up to any good, but then she dismissed it. The smell wasn't too strong. She barely even noticed it with her nose. Whoever they were they wouldn't be much of a threat to...

Karrin gasped. She flailed for the set of kunai she kept hidden under the counter, knocking over her lunch in the process. She grabbed her weapons, sprinted to the back room, and locked herself in with Kiyo.

She pinched her nostrils to keep out the overpowering scent as the three mystery shinobi's chakra flared in power, climbing to combat strength. She didn't know how they masked it from her, and mostly she didn't care. All that mattered was ensuring that she and her infant son survived this upcoming attack.

* * *

"No no no no no! You want the thing to go more to the left... More... more... now stop there... I said there! You've got to pull it more to the right now!" said Mibuki getting all flustered. "Now you're not far enough again! I told you, the very act of releasing a tag will cause the kite to change position. That's why you keep missing!"

"I think you just built a crappy kite." grumbled Jiraiya. "Seriously, this thing is all over the place."

"Do you want me to fly it?" asked Mibuki testily. "I don't see what's so hard about all this."

"I keep telling you, I don't need help!" snapped Jiraiya. "I've been the kite flying champion of Konoha for three years running now!"

"Only because you cheated," muttered Mibuki.

Before Jiraiya could reply, a voice from the group of boys with cheap telescopes pressed to their faces spoke up. "I'm still waiting for the most fantastic thing that I will ever see here guys," called out Osamu in an amused voice. "So far all I've been looking at is a bunch of mist… and two idiots flying a kite."

Jiraiya turned, grinning. "Don't you fret valued customer! Just wait a little bit longer, and all the forbidden delights will be yours."

"If I have to wait much longer, I'm going to want a refund," said Osamu casually.

Jiraiya hunched his shoulders for a second, sighed and handed the string over to Mibuki. "Fine... You win," he growled.

Mibuki held it lightly in two hands. He rolled his neck to loose it up and then sharply pulled on the string. The kite rolled through two loops before deftly parking itself above and slightly to the right of the onsen. He turned and smiled at Jiraiya. "And that... is how you fly a kite," he said proudly.

Jiraiya sniffed loudly and turned up his nose. "You just got lucky," he sulked. He then spun on one foot and faced his crowd with open arms and a broad smile. "My dearest friends," he smarmed. "I hope that you are ready, because the greatest show in Konoha is about to begin!" he cried out with forced enthusiasm.

A hush fell over the tittering crowd of boys. The kite dipped low over the hot springs and let out a great hiss. Mibuki had released four of his air tags at once. The clouds of steam obscuring the onsen billowed upwards and outwards. They slowly faded away.

"And now, let us convince all these lovely ladies to leave the water, shall we?" said Jiraiya in a sleazy voice. "Mibuki-san, if you would be so kind?" There was a summoning explosion on the kite. A large-ish rat tumbled through the air and landed in the hot springs with a splash.

The group of boys leaned forward at the edge of the building with anticipation. There was a panicked cry from the hot springs below. They focused their telescopes and held their breath.

They let it out in a great chorus of disgusted noises. Several of them dropped their telescopes like they were red hot. "What the hell is this?" bellowed Osamu. There was an angry mutter from the group. "Is this another one of your retarded pranks?"

Jiraiya and Mibuki exchanged a confused glance. Jiraiya stepped forward holding his hands up placatingly. "Gentlemen, if someone would be so kind as to explain to me what the problem is, I will gladly..."

"Stop in the name of the law!" bellowed an overly enthusiastic voice. "Submit peacefully and the justice of the Leaf Village will be merciful!" Standing there was an ANBU wearing a bear mask, holding his tanto sword straight in the air, striking a very heroic pose. Slightly behind him were three very puzzled looking ANBU exchanging confused looks.

* * *

"Hey Kuma?" asked his fellow ANBU, who happened to be wearing a cat mask, "I thought you said the roof was crawling with enemy shinobi."

Kuma looked down. "What do you mean? They're right over..." There was an embarrassed pause. He stared out at a bunch of preteen boys. The boys stared nervously back. The tableau of boys and ANBU remained very still for a heartbeat.

"It's the cops! Run for it!" screamed one of the taller boys holding a telescope. Children yelled and scattered every which way.

"Wait!" yelled Kuma, reaching out at one that streaked by. "Wait!" he yelled again. He was well aware that the three squadmates behind him were starting to snicker. Well, for whatever reason the mystery shinobi might have disappeared, but he was not about to have gone through all this trouble without bringing someone down to the station. These boys were obviously up to some mischief, and so unfortunately, to save his pride, they were going to pay the price. They were just so darned fast! Kumo caught sight of two boys who weren't running. they were frantically trying to reel in a large homemade kite. He pointed at them. "You two! I order you to stop in the name of the..." he heard something whistling through the air.

He spun with his tanto sword out and blocked the attack just in time. The kunai rang against the steel and spun away, skittering across the rooftop.

He stared hard at the four shinobi facing him. They were masked and dressed in simple black clothes. They had no village insignia that he could tell. The other three ANBU with him shifted uncomfortably and fingered their weapons.

Kuma, smiled "See?" he said gleefully. "I told you I saw them! I told you Konoha was being invaded!" Grinning with pride, he pointed his tanto sword at the intruders.

"Stay where you are!" he called out in his boldest voice. "Submit peacefully and the justice of the Leaf village will..."

The largest of the black clad ninjas, a kunoichi with glistening purple skin threw back her head and roared with laughter. "Are you for real?" she asked in an odd rasping voice.

Kuma cleared his throat nervously and started again. "I'll not repeat myself. Surrender peacefully and..."

"Oh, give it a rest Kuma," muttered the cat masked ANBU. He slid his blade from its sheath. "You're an ANBU now… play it cool. No one is ever going to listen to you if you keep spouting nonsense like that."

* * *

"Hishyoni Hyuga," the wolf masked ANBU called out in a serious voice. "I need to talk to you... now."

Hishyoni flinched. "Is everything okay?" Ichisui asked her nervously. Hishyoni shot him a withering look and stiffly walked over to the ANBU. There was a team of eight of them spread out in a loose body guard pattern. Every one of them was in a constant state of checking the rooftops and the crowds.

_You never see ANBU like this unless there is some sort of imminent threat,_ thought Ichisui to himself. He grew worried enough that he found himself involuntarily checking his surroundings as well.

He walked after Hishyoni, half to ask the ANBU what was going on, and well... half because he still really wanted to hear what Hishyoni had been about to say.

Hishyoni flinched as the wolf masked ANBU began to tell her a muted story. The ANBU pointed at two children behind her being guarded by a huge ANBU shinobi wearing a bull mask.

He recognized the Hokage's daughter. "Hello Kusumina-chan!" he called out. The Bull ANBU's head jerked around to face him, and glared. Ichisui raised his hands in a peaceful gesture and took another step forward. "How are you?"

Kusumina said something to the bull masked ANBU and he relaxed ever so slightly. He still kept watching Ichisui though. Kusumina waved him forward. "It is good to see you Ichisui-onisan," she said with a slight bow. "I am very glad that you are here. Someone has tried to attack my cousin Hizashi."

Ichisui looked at the boy she was indicating. He had heard of Hishyoni's younger brother, but never actually seen the boy. Not many people had. The Hyuga kept the boy out of the academy, preferring to train him themselves. "Hizashi!" Hishyoni called out in an annoyed voice. "Did you manage to get yourself hurt in all this?"

The boy quickly tucked his hands behind his back. "No Onee-san."

"Good," snapped Hishyoni. She went back into a quiet discussion with the ANBU.

Ichisui studied the boy. "Why didn't you tell her you hurt your hands?" he asked quietly.

Hizashi pursed his lips. "I didn't want to make her worry. She gets... upset when she feels things are outside of her control."

Ichisui glanced once at Hishyoni and then turned back to Hizashi. "She does get upset quite easily... doesn't she?"

"You know, Ichisui-onisan has been trained as a medical-nin," said Kusumina giving Hizashi a nudge. "If you would like, I bet he could take a look at your hands and heal them up for you."

Hizashi's hands drifted out from behind his back. "Hishyoni's not watching is she?" he muttered.

"Don't worry," said Ichisui, moving to one side. "I'll stand between you. She won't see a thing." Hizashi held out his hands. He winced as Ichisui began fixing them up. "So... You are Hishoyni-chan's little brother," he started politely to make some conversation. "It is nice to meet you. My name is Ichisui Uchiha."

Hizashi bowed. "It is an honor to meet you at last Uchiha-san."

Ichisui looked up. "Oh? You've heard of me?"

Hizashi nodded. "Oh yes... My parents... sometimes speak of you." He paused delicately. "Personally, I thought your singing wasn't so much bad, as just... um… unique."

* * *

Hishyoni swore under her breath as Ookami, step-by step, went over the details of what had occurred at the Hyuga compound. She ground her teeth together and shot a glance at her younger brother, that worthless little...

She sighed. No doubt, her mother and father were going to be upset. Someone had broken into the house, and rather than Hizashi getting any blame for being worthless, everyone was inevitably going to find some way to make this all her fault. Something about her not being there to protect him probably.

She turned back to Ookami. "So? I wasn't there. I spent the morning training. I have other things to do than sit around all day watching my baby brother," she grumbled and continued with sarcasm dripping from her voice. " I'm so sorry... I'm a terrible older sister and a horrible person… Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Ookami shook her head and sighed. "Hishyoni-chan, I really need you to drop the attitude right now and listen to me. No one is accusing you of anything."

"Yet," muttered Hishyoni. "Just wait till my parents get back."

"You are completely missing the point," said Ookami testily. She grabbed Hishyoni's arm and pulled her closer. "An unknown shinobi entered your family home and attacked your brother," she whispered. "We have some reason to believe that the assailant might be at jonin level or higher."

Hishyoni snorted. "He can't be much of a jonin if he couldn't take out a blind nine year old."

"That's one of the things that has us worried. It doesn't make sense that he..." Ookami hesitated and stared over Hishyoni's shoulder. "What the hell is that moron doing now?" She grunted testily.

Hishyoni turned to see the ANBU wearing a bear mask shout something and charge off towards the roof of the warehouse next to the hot springs. Half of the team guarding her little brother looked back at Ookami and with a nod from her, chased after him. A young girl in pigtails watched them go and then skipped away merrily.

There was a dark blur and the girl was surrounded by shinobi wearing traditional black ninja gi, complete with hoods and masks. It was almost comical to see people wearing old fashioned stuff like that in this day and age.

The clothing was so unexpected that Hishyoni hesitated. She watched as the little girl took half a step back. One of them reached forward with one hand and said something. The girl shook her head and made a reply that the black ninjas did not approve of.

The weapons they produced were not so comical.

As the little girl turned to run, Hishyoni reached for her scroll. One of the attackers seized the girl about the waist as Hishyoni pulled her weapons scroll out of its sheath. A second traditionally dressed ninja grabbed for the girl's arms as Hishyoni pulled her scroll open. The little girl screamed and kicked at her attackers just as Hishyoni summoned her favorite pair of kusagari, the black bladed ones her mother gave her for her birthday last year, into her hands.

She was very glad she had her weapons right then, because a second team of the black clad ninja appeared right in front of her.


	58. Chapter 22: Fighting Spirit : part 1

**Chapter 22: Raising the Fighting Spirit**

Karua's head was stuffed full of thoughts. She tried to keep an eye on Shikasu, who was deliberately dragging his feet, but her mind kept going back to her recent encounter with Ichisui and Hishyoni and worrying (oh Gods) what her mother's reaction would be. She was so distracted that she ignored the first cry from the girl. She wrote it off as a children's tussle. When she heard the gasp from the crowd, she stopped in her tracks. The girl's second cry was longer, higher pitched. It wasn't a screech of excitement, a squeal from some game, it was the cry of fear.

She spun and unbuckled her fan in one smooth movement. A group of four shinobi had seized a young girl in a bright yellow dress. It took her a second to realize that it was Chyrio Uchiha howling as she kicked at her assailant's ankles. A kidnapping mission maybe? At any rate is shouldn't be happening in her village... people standing by while a kid was in trouble. Karua started to run. She skidded to a stop five steps later. A second group of four shinobi, dressed all in black, stopped right in front of Ichisui and the ANBU. Karua swung her head between the two for a few precious seconds.

A third team passed right over her head. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she turned and saw them surrounding her brother. She gave herself one second to panic, then her emotions shut down and the strategies came pouring in.

She was the first born child of the renowned General Shikamaru Nara, and infamous Temari no Sabaku, sister to the Kazekage, and scourge of diplomats everywhere. Growing up in the Nara household, she was expected to become one of the leading shinobi of her generation. Her mother trained her to have poise, dignity, how to hold a placid demeanor no matter the situation, and over hundred and fifty ways to kill, maim or simply incapacitate an enemy with common household items.

Her father taught her to play shogi. His lessons were simple at first: 'Try to capture my rook… Now just capture one of my generals… Get both knights…' just to get her used to the basic feel of the game. When she felt she was skilled enough, she began to pester her father to play a real game with her.

Her game was a mess. Her father captured one piece after another, her gold and silver generals, both her rooks and one bishop and one knight. All she had taken from him was a pair of pawns. She stared down at the board feeling hopeless and worthless. Shikamaru stopped the game before she started crying too hard. "I'm very proud of you," he said, trying to hold her on his lap, "You did a really good job there."

"But I'm losing!" she cried out. Even to her inexperienced eye, it was clear her father was destroying her. "I'm no good at this game!"

Shikamaru sighed. "You're plenty good for someone who's seven. It took me a lot of practice to get as skilled as I am now... the important thing is to keep playing,and to learn." He cleared his throat. "I'm going to tell you a secret that your grandpa told me when I started playing shogi." Karua stopped crying and looked up. Shikamaru was smirking. "It was a really good secret to learn. It helped me with shogi and it helped me with being a shinobi. Do you want to hear it?" Karua nodded again. "Make your decisions in the moment and don't get hung up on what pieces you wish you had, or whether or not you just made a mistake. Keep your plans fluid and work with what's in front of you." He tapped her gently on the forehead. "Try to keep the battle up in here, because that's where you'll find opportunities."

Shikasu had been captured. The ANBU were busy. Karua rejected her wind scythe jutsu. An area effect attack like that would definitely hit her brother as well. That didn't mean the fan was useless though.

The black ninja were ten meters away, a very easy distance to cross. One of them caught sight of her charging and warned the others. She snapped the fan open and used it to block the flurry of kunai that sped in her direction. She jumped to one side and tried to zigzag her way forward. The attackers switched to shuriken. They could throw fast, very fast, and their aim was quite accurate.

Karua decided to switch tactics. She planted the open fan in front of her as a shield, and sent out her shadow sewing jutsu snaking out after them.

They were good. They knew how to counter the Nara clan jutsu by weaving it in a zigzag pattern. She was better. She sent twenty slower moving shadow spears in front, to keep them dancing. She sent five faster ones through the shady alleyway off to one side. The writhing tendrils of shadow ducked through the building's dark cellar and came out the other side, behind the four ninja.

She had used a variation of this during the chunin exams a year ago. It was just as effective now as it was then. Karua smiled and stood up. She reached down, snapped the fan closed and hefted its weight. She strode slowly towards the four Ninja. "So, I'm very interested in knowing why you're picking on my little brother here," she asked casually. The four of them remained as still as statues. "Oh yeah, that's right!" she said smiling. "You all can't move!" She stopped in the center of their group. "I guess I'll just have to settle for knocking all of you out and letting the ANBU handle it." She raised the heavy steel fan over one shoulder and started to swing.

She felt one of the strands of the shadow sewing jutsu collapse. One of the four ninjas stepped forward and checked the blow with one hand.

Karua strained, but the fan would not budge. She looked up at her opponent. He was cadaverously skinny, but no matter how hard she pushed she could not free the fan from his stick thin arms. His watery blue eyes seemed unable to keep still darting this way and that and never quite focusing on her.

"Do you know what your family's problem is?" the attacker giggled with a high nervous laugh. "The Nara clan always assumes that once they've trapped someone in the shadow possession jutsu... the battle is over… Shamefully arrogant of you… and arrogance is a sin."

With a casual shove against the fan, he sent her flying backwards.

* * *

"Son of a bitch!" snarled Hana. When those four assholes had first appeared in front of Chyrio, she froze with a moment of indecision. Who were they? What did they want? Kids and teenagers picked on her family all the time, but the adults usually limited themselves to words and dirty looks.

Then they grabbed her younger sister, indicating that these four were not going to limit themselves.

Her sharingan snapped on with the first step she took towards them. The world instantly slowed down. Everything that was in motion became a connected series of multiple images.

Her obnoxious younger brother had once done a science project on it, earning him the fawning admiration of every teacher in school. Mibuki had shone a bright flashing light on a trickle of water. The light made the water appear to be a series of droplets. By adjusting the rate of the light flashes, he could make it look like the drops were falling slowly down, hovering in the air, or even flowing backwards, against gravity. He then went into some huge technical discussion about how the same principles applied to the sharingan. He called his project 'An active demonstration of the pulsing light visual effect.'

Hana liked her terminology for what the sharingan saw so much better. Future shadows. It just sounded darker… more mysterious… more dangerous.

One of the goons holding Chyrio saw Hana charging at them and let loose a handful of shuriken. She danced around and between them without ever breaking stride. A second flight of shuriken sailed towards her. This time, as she dodged, she spun and stole a glance behind her. Hishyota was staring at the black clad ninjas in shock. Hana frowned, she knew she had reacted fast, but not that fast. "Dammit," she thought to herself. "This is a rotten time for her to freak out on me. I hope she snaps out of it in time, some back up might be nice."

The attacker gave up on the shuriken. Hana watched him turn in slow motion to warn everyone that trouble was coming. One of the black garbed ninja, a kunoichi, reached out slowly for her sister. Hana quickly decided that she was close enough and let them all have a dose of her nastiest, most brutal genjutsu.

In the Land of Swamps, there was this peculiar little worm, with a particularly nasty life cycle. The adults grew to be about ten centimeters long. They ate insects, small fish, frogs, birds, or whatever they could sink their pointy little teeth into. During the dry summer season, they would lay hundreds of tiny little eggs no bigger than a pinprick. These eggs would float merrily around in the water, waiting for something to accidentally swallow them.

Once swallowed, the eggs would hatch and the larval worm would attach to your small intestine for about a year, living parasitically in your gut. Once the worm grew to about two centimeters in length, it would detach itself from your gut and eventually be expelled from your body. It was by no means pleasant, but it wasn't fatal.

If you swallowed two eggs, there was a small chance the worms, once hatched, would get tangled into a small ball. They could still be passed, but it wouldn't feel too good.

If you swallowed many worms over the course of a year, some would be attached to your intestine wall while others would be roaming, trying to squirm their way free. You would get your intestine blocked, as the worms tied themselves together in a big writhing knot. After a few days these small adult worms would panic, and start to chew their way out.

Hana blasted all four of the Black Ninja with what she liked to call 'The Gut worm special.'

Her sharingan spun, and she felt her mind slide through theirs, smooth and quick like a stiletto blade. She pumped in chakra, tweaked their senses, and left them frozen there twitching and moaning slightly. Hana danced around the group of them and skidded to a stop in front of her little sister. "C'mon Chyrio," she said hastily reaching out for her, "Grab your chipmunk and let's get out of here!"

Chyrio slapped her hand away. Hana made another lunge to grab her, but Chyrio just jumped away. Hana stared at her stunned. "She doesn't want to go with you," said a sweet melodious voice behind her. "The master told me I could have the little girl. He said I could make her mine… She likes being mine."

Hana turned. The woman's skin was a cold clammy white. Her face was young, but her hair was grey and brittle. Her eyes were the color of curdled milk. Her tongue, which was an unnatural shade of purple, darted out and licked her lips. "You shouldn't have done that to my squad," she said sweetly, as if she was scolding a baby. "They didn't do anything nasty to you, why would you want to go and hurt them like that?" The white woman frowned in disapproval. "Children like you should know your place!" Hana winced as a wave of pressure crashed behind her temples. She felt her knees start to buckle. "That's it," whispered the white woman, "Just relax… I know you are a good girl at heart… Just relax and let me turn you into the nice little girl I know you are…" The last few words echoed inside Hana's head.

Her uncle, the infamous Itachi Uchiha, was an undisputed master of genjutsu and other mental abilities. He graduated from the academy at age seven. He became a chunin at age ten. Six months later, he was recruited into the ANBU and was made a full captain when he turned thirteen. His abilities to crush and twist the minds of his opponents made him a name both admired and feared.

Before she graduated from the academy, all of her instructors were whispering that Hana was almost as talented as her legendary uncle at his age. A few thought she was even better.

Hana used the flocking ravens jutsu to cover her escape. It looked like her body broke apart into fifty of the flapping, croaking birds. A rain of black feathers spun through the air as the birds flew at the white woman's face. She took half a step back in surprise, but continued to stare at Hana's real body the whole time. "That was very drab," she hummed. "If you wanted to show me birds, couldn't you have at least made them colorful?"

A second vice-like surge of pressure assaulted Hana's mind. She had no idea what kind of psychic jutsu this woman was using, but it was strong. Hana felt a crack appear in her mental defenses, and for a second the white woman's musical voice rang inside her head as clear as day. "I see you!"

"That does it," thought Hana, "time to get mean." She gathered up her will and set the woman on fire.

There was a 'wumph' and the white woman was enveloped in bright green flames. They crackled and spat and there was the scent of cooking meat in the air. "Oh, how delightful!" the woman crowed. "What a lovely shade of green!" She spread her arms wide and turned, marveling at the inferno that raged around her. After her single turn, she stepped forward and shimmered. As she shook, the flames began to vanish. "That was very creative my dear, but I think now that you should…" The fire surrounding her face went out and she looked up at Hana, shocked. Behind the cover of the genjutsu, she was weaving hand signs.

"Fire style, grand fireball jutsu!" Hana snapped. When the Uchiha girl exhaled, the air in front of her blossomed red-hot. She released the jutsu and stared at the spot where the white woman had been. The asphalt was bubbling and smoking.

"You know," said the melodious voice from behind her, "you are proving to be quite troublesome." The woman sighed. "All this and you can still hold the genjutsu on my three little pupils." There was a pause, and the white woman licked her lips again. "I told the master I wouldn't do this, but I really do need some help." Hana turned in time to see the woman finishing a long series of hand signs. The pressure on her head built in pounding waves.

One by one the other black ninja stopped twisting and whimpering. Their heads snapped up and stared at the white woman adoringly. "Come my dearest children," she cooed to them. "I simply need your help in taming this very rude girl."

Four faces, those of the three black clad ninja and Chyrio slowly turned to glare at her. Their eyes were filled with hate.

* * *

Hishyoni clenched her kusagari and began to swing the chains in a slow lazy twirl. To the side of her she heard the ANBU spread out.

There were four of the ninjas dressed in traditional black gi, standing in front of her and Ichisui. Three of them were crouched in tight, ready combat stances. The fourth was relaxed.

This relaxed shinobi stood there taking in the scene as a tourist would. "Let's see now," he said in a slow confident drawl, "One blind little boy… check. One overconfident obnoxious older sister… check. And… Ooh!" he remarked looking Kusumina over. "A bonus! One half of the Hokage's twins." He rubbed his hands together and brushed back a curl of bright red hair that had slipped out of his hood. "This," he proclaimed eagerly, "is going to be a very interesting day."

Ookami slid forward and entered a middle juken stance. "I would offer you four the opportunity to surrender peacefully, but I'm quite sure you would refuse."

The black ninja threw back his head and laughed. His hood slid off revealing a mop of unruly red hair. "I'll make you a counter offer," he chuckled. "Leave the children and walk away. We promise we won't hurt you… much."

"Expansion jutsu!" roared the bull masked ANBU. He inflated himself to four times his normal size, far faster than Hishyoni had ever seen any Akimichi do it before. A pair of meteoric fists came slamming down in the middle of the black ninja formation. The people in the plaza screamed as the earth shook from the blow. Three of the black ninjas scattered like leaves from the force of his punch.

When the dust cleared, the ninja with the red hair stood casually to the side of the impact crater. He looked at the fists, and then looked back at the impact crater. "Not bad," he called out, "But it's not enough to make this fight worth my time. What else have you got?"

The bull masked ANBU roared a challenge and charged forward. The other two ANBU followed him.

There was a burst of summoning smoke and the wolf masked ANBU tossed a pair of carrier pigeons into the air. Hishyoni saw Ichisui nodding approval. Of course he would always call for backup. Ookami turned her head before joining the rest of her squad. "You chunin!" she barked at Hishyoni and Ichisui. "Defensive jutsu only. Stay and guard!" She spun gracefully and dove into the fray.

Hishyoni snapped on her byakugan and watched the battle. The three traditional ninja were good, but the ANBU were better. They fought about as well as a typical chunin, maybe a low ranked jonin. There hadn't been any casualties yet, but the ANBU were almost certainly going to beat them.

The red haired ninja… he was something else entirely. His chakra circulatory system was usually almost completely dark, as if it was shielded somehow. Sometimes there would be a bright flash of chakra rippling through his body, blurring his limbs with speed. It wasn't natural. He was too fast. He was strong, and he treated the ANBU with total contempt.

He danced around them, oftentimes positioning himself in the ANBU's blind spots but not striking any blows. "Oooh... You almost got me," he would say, as if he was trying to encourage a young academy student, and not the elite of Konoha. "You came so close there... Oh dear, just a little bit faster and you would have landed a hit there."

He turned fretfully as he dodged the bull masked ANBU's mighty fist. "Really now, I have heard that the Akimichi clan were powerful yet clumsy, but you my friend are just perpetuating the stereotype. Shouldn't you be trying to..." The huge hand flashed by, hidden in its blind spot was Ookami in the sixty four divinations stance.

"Two strikes!" she called out. Her fingers caught him squarely in the chest. She rained the full set of blows into the red haired ninja. He twisted and stumbled with each hit. Finally as the vicious fusilade ended, Ookami stood over him triumphantly. The dust settled.

With the red headed leader subdued, the ANBU team quickly surrounded the remaining three black ninja. "I will make you this offer once," panted Ookami, stepping over the body of the red haired shinobi. "This will be your only opportunity to surrender. If you cease hostilities now, we will be merciful."

"Merciful?" called a voice from behind her. "Why would you waste your time showing mercy to this pathetic bunch of fools?" He brushed off the knees of his traditional gi. He pulled off his mask and spat. He had an amused smile. "I mean, occasionally I will see flashes of promise from them, but on the whole... I could replace them with anyone, just like that." He snapped his fingers.

The red haired ninja rubbed his nose and gazed thoughtfully at his team. He frowned as if weighing something in his mind. "However," he groaned, "I do suppose that they are my responsibility." He reached inside his shirt.

Hishyoni's eyes widened. To anyone without a byakugan, it must have looked like he was scratching himself. Hishyoni saw the sealing scripts start to pulse and glow as he trailed his hands over them.

His chakra circulatory system flared as bright as the sun.

Two of the ANBU were down before she could even register what had happened. The bull masked one swung twice at the blur that was orbiting him, but went down with three well placed blows. The red haired ninja came to a halt beside the Bull masked ANBU and kicked him once more for good measure. The team of black ninja looked at the fallen ANBU and then looked at him. "Do try to secure the targets now," he asked in a very frustrated voice. "I mean really... put some effort into it this time."

He walked with a slow deliberate pace and stopped in front of Ookami. He smiled up at her. "Was that the by any chance the Hyuga clan's juken style?" he asked brightly. "I've never heard of it being combined with a shadow step before. That's quite the impressive little combination you've developed there!" He gave her a very friendly smile. "You are quite strong as well. I almost felt some of those attacks." He took another step forward. "Let's see if you can keep me entertained for a while longer than your compatriots."

* * *

Ichisui's head darted back and forth. His sister Hana was facing down four of the archaically dressed ninja all by her lonesome. It was obvious she'd caught three of them in a genjutsu, but the fourth one must be giving her some issues. The grand fireball jutsu was proof of that. Hana never used anything but genjutsu unless she was running out of options.

On the other side of the plaza, Karua had just been tossed like a rag doll. Somehow, she managed to hold her shadow paralysis jutsu on three of the ninjas dressed in black through, leaving her facing a single opponent, albeit the one that had just tossed her through the air.

Lastly, right next to him, was Hishyoni. Her kusagari hummed through the air. Her byakugan was active and her face was a mask of grim determination. Despite her anger issues and her harsh personality, he always admired her determination and fighting prowess. She was still in her sports bra.

"Our hero had quite the quandary," he narrated to himself. "He just could not figure out who to rescue first."

He pulled out a pair of kunai, one for each hand. He knew exactly what his father would expect from him. _Family first_ was one of the great commandments of the revived Uchiha clan's household. However Hana seemed to be holding her own, while Karua looked like she might be in trouble. Plus Karua was his friend. His best friend... His friend who had recently kissed him…

He felt himself start to blush, and then was hit with a deep sinking feeling. Yeah, she might have kissed him, but that was just a part of the act of being his pretend girlfriend… Come to think of it, it was definitely not the best of ideas to come charging to her rescue… She was facing only one opponent. If she was fighting all four of them by herself, certainly, I mean you didn't abandon your friends... but one adversary? That would be like saying she was incompetent! And he knew how touchy she could be when people suggested she was 'only' a kunoichi and would be weak in combat.

And then there was Ookami. The ANBU captain had quite clearly ordered him to stay and guard these two children. The Hokage's daughter, who was like a sister to him, and Hizashi Hyuga. Normally he would not be the type of person who would go around disobeying the ANBU.

But there was still that little sore spot nagging him from earlier. That little thing Hishyoni had said earlier about him being a freak. Did he really want to stay and fight side by side with someone who despised him so? He looked back at Karua quickly. That one shinobi she was fighting was strong, she really did seem like she might be needing some help. He glanced guiltily at Hishyoni's sports bra. "Although I really shouldn't disobey any orders," he muttered to himself.

The three charging black ninjas made up his mind for him. Hishyoni yelled and flung the blade from her kusagari at them in a wide spinning circle. Ichisui readied his kunai and stepped in front of Hizashi and Kusumina. _I am such an idiot_, he thought crossly to himself as the enemies closed in. _A real hero wouldn't be debating who needs his help more... thinking about who insulted him, or kissed him or what his orders were... A real hero would be trying to save everyone. That's what the Hokage would do._


	59. Chapter 22: Fighting Spirit : part 2

The fight raged on the rooftop. The ANBU were not doing well. Mibuki watched the purple-skinned kunoichi smash one of Konoha's finest to the side with her forearm. The ANBU's partner jumped on her back and wrapped an arm around her throat. The purple kunoichi reached back with one hand. Electricity crackled and the other ANBU fell away twitching.

Mibuki had seen enough, he let go of the kite string. "Okay… to heck with this... Now it's time to leave."

Jiraiya grunted and kept hauling on the string. "No way! We spent too much time and money on this damn kite to just abandon it. We need to bring it in."

The brawl was getting closer. "Are you absolutely crazy?" Mibuki yelled at him. "Can you see what these guys are doing to the ANBU? Forget the kite!"

"It's the principle of the thing," grunted Jiraiya. He pulled on the string. "I just can't… let all this hard work… go to waste!"

Mibuki turned to run, hesitated and looked back. The fight was growing more heated. The bear masked ANBU was dodging the purple ninja's blows while the other kept the other three at bay with some earth style jutsu. Mibuki turned back to his friend. "You are an idiot!" he yelled. He grabbed the string again and started pulling.

They finally got the kite down. The wind was really blowing now. The kite bucked and almost tore out of their hands each time a gust caught it. It was almost strong enough to lift the pair of them off the roof.

"There," said Jiraiya matter of factly. "See? That wasn't too bad. Now let's…"

"I have you now!" yelled the bear masked ANBU, swinging his tanto. The purple kunoichi tried to slap it aside and ended up blocking it with her hand, losing three fingers in the process. "Surrender," panted the ANBU, pointing his blade to her chest. "I promise you will get the finest medical..."

There was a meaty thump and the bear masked ANBU went sprawling across the gravel roof. He slid to a stop at their feet. Jiraiya and Mibuki looked up. The purple kunoichi grinned down at them. She held up her injured hand. Electricity crackled and the flesh twisted and ran like wax. Three new fingers burst wetly from the stumps of the old. "Now," she hissed, grinning at the horrified Jiraiya and Mibuki, "you two little boys need to be coming with us." The rest of her team quietly took up positions all around them.

Mibuki stared at her. "I really hate you," he muttered out of the side of his mouth to Jiraiya.

"This is totally not my fault," Jiraiya muttered back.

"Is too. If you would have just forgotten about the stupid kite, we could be running away by now."

Jiraiya looked over at his friend. "Running?" he scoffed. "What? You think running would have helped us?"

Mibuki turned his head. "We would have had a head start at least," he said raising his voice.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "And you think a head start would have been enough to get away from these ugly looking freaks?" There was a murderous tension rising from the other end of the roof. He smiled and bowed to the purple-skinned kunoichi. "No offence intended Madam." She growled back at him.

Mibuki glowered at the Uzumaki-Hyuga boy. "Well, we'll never know now... Will we?"

Jiraiya looked at the enemy shinobi and spoke out of the side of his mouth, as if that would prevent the enemy from hearing him. "If I could get you this hypothetical head start, could you get us out of here?"

Mibuki snorted. Gods… sometimes he could be such an idiot. "If you can get me a head start, after we've been sitting here arguing in front of the people you're going to try to distract… I will admit you are the greatest shinobi of all time."

"Will you pay me?"

Mibuki sighed. "I'll pay you 500,000 ryo."

Jiraiya scowled. "You don't have 500,000 ryo."

Mibuki rubbed his face in frustration. "And you can't get us out of here!"

Jiraiya shook his head and stepped forward. "Oh ho ho… Never underestimate what I can do… especially if there is money involved." He smiled up at the purple kunoichi. "I don't know exactly who you think we are, but I think you're making some horrible mistake here Miss."

The kunoichi's dark yellow eyes glistened as she looked over the pair of them. "You are an Uchiha boy," she rasped, pointing at Mibuki. "And you are the son of the Hokage." She nodded at Jiraiya.

Mibuki sighed. "So much for that plan. Lovely idea. 'Excuse me! We're not the boys you're looking for!'" mocked Mibuki, imitating Jiraiya.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as he grinned up at the purple kunoichi. "You are right, I am the son of the Hokage," he said in a calm, deadly voice. "And I would advise you and your men to back away slowly, if you want to avoid getting hurt." Jiraiya made a quick hand sign. There was a burst of summoning smoke and there were Five clones standing in front of him each with the same, mirrored look of determination.

The kunoichi sneered. "Are your little shadow clones supposed to frighten me? I just destroyed your pathetic village's elite shinobi without breaking a sweat. Do you think so highly of your younger self that five mere clones will be enough to stop me?" She giggled.

Jiraiya frowned, "Oh… I have powers stronger than you could possibly imagine." He struck a heroic pose. "Witness the secret jutsu of the Uzumaki clan!" There was a second burst of smoke. Chaos ensued.

* * *

Jiraiya and Mibuki were sprinting away at top speed. Mibuki glanced over at his friend. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"If you can talk... You're not running fast enough," panted Jiraiya.

"The sexy jutsu? Really? That was your big plan?"

"It's never failed me before," muttered Jiraiya. "Look... it got rid of three quarters of our attackers... That's pretty good, percentage wise... definitely a passing grade!" Behind them the purple kunoichi roared, and threw a ball of lightning at them. The boys swerved around the explosion.

Mibuki shook his head. "Yeah... Good job... too bad the toughest one is still chasing us." They leaped from one roof to the next and continued running.

"It failed simply because we don't know our enemy. I swear, If I can figure out the right person to transform the clone into... The sexy jutsu is unbeatable!" declared Jiraiya. There was a thump and the roof shook as their pursuer followed. He winced and ran all the faster. "I guess I just kind of picked the wrong people."

"So," Mibuki continued conversationally, "I recognized your usual sexy clone ladies. Who were the two guys you sent after the purple kunoichi?"

Jiraiya looked at him, surprised. "You didn't recognize them?" Mibuki shook his head. "Dude, it was the sparkly vampire guy and the buff werewolf... they were in that movie a couple of years ago... remember?" Mibuki looked blank. Jiraiya sighed. "Like, every girl in the village was going gaga over those two. Hishyota and Kusumina were putting posters up all over the house and arguing whether they were 'team vampire guy' or 'team werewolf guy.' It was the only time I saw Kusumina lose her cool at someone... other than me."

They swung around the clock tower and began to climb up it. It was a move they had often used in the past when they were trying to elude angry mobs demanding refunds. As they scaled the side of the tower, Jiraiya looked over at Mibuki. "You have sisters... didn't you hear about any of this?"

Mibuki shrugged. "If it doesn't have chipmunks in it, Chyrio doesn't care."

"What about Hana? I would have bet vampires would be right up her alley."

Mibuki twisted his mouth, thinking. "Hana has... very particular tastes. Was this a romance movie?"

"Duh," said Jiraiya. Below them there was a frustrated scream from the kunoichi.

"Well that's probably why. She can't stand those. If it was vampires brooding in the dark about how lonely they were, and how unfair it was to live forever and stuff she'd probably be all over that."

It was Jiraiya's turn to look thoughtful. "Really?"

Mibuki nodded. "Oh yeah, she'd..." He paused as they reached the top of the clock tower and looked around. "Crap," he swore.

"What?" asked Jiraiya pulling himself up to the small roof at the top.

"Well, we are now stuck at the top of the clock tower, and the purple ninja lady is climbing up after us... Nice plan."

Jiraiya shrugged. "Hey, I got you the distraction, it's your turn to figure out how to get us out of this one." He walked to the edge and looked over.

Mibuki blinked. "My turn?" he asked incredulously. "You're the one who didn't want to run away when we had the chance! You're the one who wanted to hang on to... this... stupid... kite..." It was very windy at the top of the clock tower. Mibuki had been waving the kite angrily in the air. He stopped and stared at it as the wind gave it a sharp pull. His brain suddenly started to calculate weight ratios and wingspans. It wasn't enough, but if he could somehow increase the amount of lift...

"Wow, she can climb really fast... Hey Mibuki? Do you have any ideas or should I be getting ready to jump and pray here?" He looked back over his shoulder nudged the Uchiha boy with his boot. Mibuki ignored him. He was too busy frantically digging in his equipment pouch, sticking extra sealing tags all over the huge kite's frame. Jiraiya smiled. "Dude… I knew I could count on you!"

* * *

Karua rolled with the blow and thankfully came up on her feet. Her neck was stinging with the whiplash from the cuff, but other than a few bumps and scrapes, she was fine. Her shadow paralysis jutsu was stretched to its limit however. That was a problem. She was having enough issues handling this skinny guy all by his lonesome, she didn't want to think what would happen if she had to face him and his three friends.

The skinny ninja started walking forward, dragging Shikasu by one arm. Karua gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the fan. Aside from using her various shadow jutsu, there was not a lot that she could do with the enemy holding her little brother hostage.

He started ranting as he came closer. "This is definitely not going according to the plan," he said in a singsong voice. "The master told us that we were supposed to be sitting quietly doing nothing but observing the children. The original plan didn't have us taking any action until we were all in position and ready to strike!"

Karua focused and sent a slithering snake of shadow towards him. It twisted into a forest of hands that seized the advancing shinobi. He didn't even break a sweat, he just kept moving steadily forward until the shadows stretched and the jutsu snapped. "Stupid Aku and his stupid ideas!" he angrily muttered. "I could have told the master that! This was not how it was all supposed to go!"

Karua lunged forward and swung the fan. He blocked it with an audible clang. "The original mission had nothing in it about fighting right now. But stupid Aku had to go and convince the Master that there was an opportunity here." He paused to block another blow. "Do you see an opportunity? Because I don't see an opportunity… All I see is us stupidly coming out into the open and wasting the advantage of surprise!" he growled.

"But does the master even listen to me? Of course not. The master decided to change the whole plan." His eyes spun wildly as he ranted. "And I hate it when things change!" He screamed, froth spraying from his mouth.

Karua sung the steel fan a third time. This time the thin shinobi grabbed it and tugged it towards him. He swung his palm across to give her a slap across the face. It felt like she had been kicked by a mule. A bright flash exploded across her eyes and she tumbled down.

* * *

Shikasu watched his sister stagger and saw the other three black ninja start moving again. "Crap," he hissed. It was obvious that Karua had lost her hold of the paralysis jutsu. He bit his lip as the three ninja started running towards Karua. The skinny guy was pulling her back up to her feet. He waved his fist and started yelling something barely coherent about plans and Gods and... who knew what else. What a nut job.

Shikasu eyed the various distances cautiously. They were a little longer for both of his jutsu than he would have liked, but still close enough. He flexed his fingers. "I am so going to get into trouble for this," he mumbled.

* * *

Karua spat. All the teeth on the left side of her face were loose. She could already feel the swelling start. The shinobi pulled her up by the neck with one cadaverous arm and shook her. "Do you know how much I despise this?" he roared. "I hate for the sacrifices to see me coming!"

He stopped and tilted his head, this way and that, studying her. "You know," he said conversationally, "you seem to be a very very bad person." He giggled a little. "I know I promised the master that I wouldn't get carried away and kill anybody. He keeps telling me how important it is for all of you to be taken alive, but I don't think he'd mind it too much if we're short of that goal by one do you?" He giggled a strange high-pitched laugh. "After all Aku keeps changing the plans… Why can't I?" He raised one thin fist above her face. Her head still ringing, it was all Karua could do to watch it come down.

His fist swerved. Momentum pulled it down, missing her entirely. The ninja looked down at his arm. There was a tendril of shadow wrapped tightly around it. He stared at the shadow, and then glanced over at Karua. He studied her, confused as to where the jutsu was coming from. Slowly he turned to look at Shikasu.

"Ao-sama! yelled one of the other black ninjas, sliding to a stop. "We're free from the jutsu! What are your…" He ducked as Shikasu exploded.

Karua fell to the ground and gasped for air. Shikasu's arms and legs broke apart and flew around in a swarm of spinning debris. His torso separated into several disk like sections that spun into the attacking ninjas. One of the black dressed shinobi, gaping at the sight in horror, took a disk to the temple which knocked him out cold. The others tried their best to block the whirling platters but were slowly being forced back. The boy's head popped off and flew straight at the thin shinobi, making a noise like "Gnaw gnaw gnaw!" Gnashing its teeth and trying to bite him.

The skinny ninja fell back flailing away at the attacks. "Get away!" he yelled. He swatted at the head, but a second tendril of shadow tripped him as he swung, and the blow went wild. One of the disks caught him in the stomach. The thin shinobi bent over with pain, but managed to hold on to the disk. He flipped it over in his hands. "The boy was... made of wood?" he said in amazement.

Karua used her battle fan to help her stand up. "My brother is a lazy bum… sometimes he's a sneaky little bastard… but most importantly… he's a pretty good puppet user." The skinny ninja stared at her wide eyed as she let the fan fall open, section by section. Clank… clank… clank. "He can fool anyone with that thing… even me." Karua's smile to the enemy was humorless. "This whole time I've been holding back because I was so worried about hurting him." She chuckled, pain turning to red hot anger in chest, and raised the fan. "You my friend, are in some deep shit now."

* * *

Hishyota froze when she first saw the ninjas dressed all in black. With Sasuko's nightmare from breakfast, there was only one thought that kept running through her mind.

The Kurokaze were back. She stared dumbly at them while Hana charged off to battle. She swore she could hear their slobbering whispers behind their masks, as the attackers dressed in their black gi threw shuriken.

The white skinned kunoichi was even worse. She said in that musical voice that the children were hers, that they were promised to her.

"Give us the children... They are ours..." was what the Black Wind clan had said that day. And the Kurokaze were going to take them... all of them... the genin from the exam, her brother, her sister, her... and there was nothing anyone could do. They had torn through the allied shinobi, they had torn through the ANBU, one of them was going to tear through her mother.

She did the only thing that she could think of. She picked up her aunt's ANBU issue tanto sword and shoved it forward. The Kurokaze soldier stared into her eyes as he died. His face changed as he sagged forward and the blood ran hot and sticky over her hands. He didn't look crazed or evil... his veins weren't bulging, his tongue wasn't drooling anymore. He was a young man. He had a medium sized pimple beside his nose. He looked scared… and then he died.

A sharp pain in her shin snapped her back to the present. Fugawari kicked her again in the same spot. "Why aren't you listening?" he screeched. "She needs help!"

"Who?" asked Hishyota, her head still swimming. He pointed.

Hishyota saw Hana surrounded by three of the attacking shinobi. They were punching and kicking at her from all sides. Hana was in bad shape, it was all she could do to dodge one blow in three, even with her sharingan active. She was grimacing, and her hands were pressed tightly to the sides of her head.

"It has to be some sort of psychic attack," Hishyota thought quickly, "There's no way Hana would fall sway to a genjutsu." She activated her byakugan and the world dissolved into a spiderweb maze of chakra. It was the white skinned kunoichi; she was the one using some mental jutsu to attack Hana. Hishyota frowned. There were tentacles of chakra twisting from here to each of her three partners and Chyrio too. She studied it for a second and decided it was probably some type of mind control jutsu. Thankfully she had a few jutsu that she could use against that.

She jerked her leg away before Fugawari could kick it again. "Hey!" she exclaimed sharply. He stopped and looked up at her sheepishly. She sighed, made the hand sign and popped off a shadow clone. She knelt down next to him. "Fugawari... I need you to listen to me very closely okay? I want you to run all the way back to Akimichi-san's market okay? You need to tell him to go and get help." She smiled at him nervously and stood up. "Don't worry, my clone will be with you the whole time."

"Are you going to go help Hana and Chyrio?" asked Fugawari, wide eyed. But Hishyota was already running.

"Don't you worry about a thing," the clone said mirroring the original's nervous smile. "She's going to go help our sister beat up the bad guys." The shadow clone gently took his hand. "Come on, I'll race you to the store."

Eight meters... Seven meters... Six meters... Her byakugan could now pick up the chakra influxes through out larger muscle groups. There would be a bright line leading to the muscle followed by a bright burst as it moved.

Five meters... Four meters... She could pick out the dull green glow of Hana's sharingan. She could see the White skinned Kunoichi's chakra crackling as it pounded against Hana's mental defenses.

Three meters... Two meters... She blinked uneasily as she watched the attacking chakra invading the brain and plucking at individual neurons.

At about one and half meters away she created her shadow clones.

Hishyota couldn't create as many as her father, but then again... who could? If she wanted her clones to last for about ten minutes of heavy combat, she could make about fifteen tops. Everyone agreed that was pretty impressive.

Hishyota wasn't as proficient at juken as her uncle Neji, but, for a thirteen year old, she was pretty good. Through extensive training from her mother and then her uncle she had an excellent grasp of the sixty four divinations and all of its various finger strike techniques. This, everyone agreed, was also quite impressive.

When she'd turned twelve, her graduating class at the academy had decided to hold a mock chunin exam style tournament. They were randomly paired against various students in the class and held loser gets eliminated sparring matches. She'd made six shadow clones for her first match. Seven Hishyotas, for sixty four strikes each, meant a grand total of four hundred forty eight blows.

No one else wanted to compete against her that day.

* * *

There was a summoning explosion all around her. Hana groaned and noticed that the blows stopped falling. "Finally," she croaked. She uncurled herself to a sitting position and grinned though blood stained teeth. It looked like Hishyota had decided to go all out with this. She could hear the pop-pop-pop of jukken enhanced blows all around her.

Hana gave herself a few seconds to let the dizziness pass and her ears to stop ringing. One of her attackers had kicked her hard in the left temple. She hoped it was the one being mercilessly pinballed back and forth between four Hishyota clones.

"Do you think this foolish little trick or yours will have any effect on me?" taunted the musical voice. Hana swung her head. The pale kunoichi stood in a defiant pose weaving the same complicated series of hand signs that preluded her mental attack. Hishyota's charge must have disrupted her jutsu, for Hana felt the pressure on her head vanish. Five of Hishyota's clones ran right up to the kunoichi.

Then they ran right through her.

They charged for a spot about two meters behind. The white woman's image flickered and vanished. The clones perused an empty patch of air. "That's not fair!" the woman's voice rang out from that vicinity. The Hishyota clones surrounded it and began dealing out blows. One of them scored what looked to be a solid hit. The air shimmered and the kunoichi appeared angrily rubbing her arm. "You should not be able to do that!" she pouted angrily.

Hana gave a snort and slowly got to her feet. "So that was how she evaded my fireball," she thought to herself, "a double genjutsu. Hide yourself and created a decoy image. That's pretty clever. Too bad for her, there's nothing better at seeing through a genjutsu than a byakugan."

* * *

Hishyoni ground her teeth and pulled the chain tighter around the black ninja's throat. The other one who had charged her was lying there motionless on the ground. She was fairly certain she had broken his foot, knee, ribs and collarbone, probably in that exact order, although, with all the excitement, it was tough to be sure.

She held up the tension on the kusagari chain as the shinobi's struggles grew weaker and weaker. She was pretty sure she stopped choking him somewhere between 'unconscious' and 'dead', but she didn't take the time to check which.

Hishyoni was finally feeling better. After the very difficult start to her day, at last she had someone she could vent her frustrations on.

She assessed the scene. Ichisui was dueling away with another black clad ninja. She shook her head watching the fight. He was being stupid as usual. It always took him such a long time to get serious. Someday he would have to learn… honor doesn't win a fight… strength does.

Ookami was in trouble. The red haired shinobi was running circles around her. Even so she was landing two blows to every one of his, but his attacks staggered her, while Ookami's jukken seemed to be having no effect.

The black ninja shook his head disappointedly as he fought. "Oh dear, I must have misjudged you. This isn't nearly as impressive as I was hoping it would be," he sighed. "I guess I should just end this now then, hmm?" He blocked one of Ookami's blows and reached inside his shirt again. Hishyoni lunged forward as his chakra circulatory system flared a second time.

Ookami dodged the first punch. The next four she blocked using juken strikes as a defensive technique. She dodged the red haired ninja's fifth blow, but the sixth was a blinding fast feint that turned into a faster leg sweep. He was on her almost before she hit the ground. He hit her twice in the stomach, once with each fist. Then, as she lay there stunned, he raised both hands over his head, preparing a powerful double punch. "It's a shame," he muttered. "I almost felt something there." The fists swung down.

Hishyoni's chain spun around his arms, and yanked him off to one side. The red haired ninja barely had time to blink as the black bladed kusagari sliced into him in a cut that should have opened him from shoulder to hip. Hishyoni reversed the kusagari blade and swung it back in a lower, disemboweling arc.

The red haired shinobi stumbled for a second, but then he jerked his arms hard. Rather than be dragged with the kusagari, Hishyoni just let go. Her hands automatically reached for her scroll and went for her lance. She wanted to keep her distance from this guy. He caught the kusagari in his hands and eyed her. "That wasn't very nice," he said smiling. "Or very smart. There's not much that you can do to me with weapons you know." He shrugged and the shirt of his gi fell away in four great sliced sections. "Except maybe ruin my wardrobe."

There wasn't a single scratch on him. His chest and arms were covered with seals and spells. There was barely a square centimeter of unmarked skin from his neck downwards. Chakra flowed and ebbed between the seals. Several of them wiggled and moved as she watched uneasily.

The red haired shinobi pulled his arms apart, snapping the chain off the kusagari. He smiled at Hishyoni's face. "Oh don't get so upset over me ruining your little toys. Trust me, that is the least of your worries right now." He tested the balance of the scythe in his hand. "You pick good quality weaponry. Too bad it's wasted on me." He stepped towards her.

Hishyoni didn't give him time to charge, she chopped at him with the spear. She honed the blade herself. It was sharp enough to slice in two a scrap of silk that fell on its edge. It should have carved clean through his shoulder and taken off his arm.

With a clang, it bounced off.

She spun and struck with the butt end, slamming it across his chin. His head turned with the strike, but he just smiled and kept walking slowly towards her. Hishyoni took two steps back spun the spear, and then lunged forward, driving the point directly at his left eye.

He blinked and the point scraped off his eyelid. The red haired man chuckled. "Not a bad idea... Go for the eyes and see if they're vulnerable. To tell the truth, I'm not so sure myself. You have some nice moves for such a young girl. I'm beginning to see why the master expressed such an interest in both you and your brother." His face hardened for a second. "It's a shame though... Some might say death is preferable to what he has in store for you." He stared carefully for a second and then grinned and shrugged. "Oh well, it can't be helped." He reached for the seals on his chest.

"No!" snapped Hishyoni. She lunged again with the lance, trying to knock his hand away, distract him, anything to prevent him for operating those seals that threw his chakra into overdrive.

He swung her ruined kusagari and checked her thrust. They stared at each other, weapons locked. "You're a smart... smarter that the ANBU here… How very observant of you. It's a real pity your focus is weapons… That and your youth isn't helping much either… You might almost be a challenge in a few years."

"You'll find me plenty of a challenge now!" growled Hishyoni. She reversed the spear and swept at his feet. He jumped and swung the scythe at her head.

She went into a backbend to avoid the blow, planted the head of the lance and used it as a pole to swing around and land a double kick across his face.

The red haired ninja laughed. "Wonderful! Your skill is truly amaz…" Hishyoni finished her spin around the pole, landed and lunged forward with her juken. She hated to admit it, but her enemy was right, her weapons weren't doing a single thing to him. By his own admission earlier, her aunt's juken seemed to have some effect, so maybe she was better off with that.

Her palm strikes were good. She felt them connect solidly and the chakra burst out with a small thunderclap. She tried to follow them up with a series of finger strikes on the man's tenketsu. Those didn't go so well. The chakra she tried to force into him seemed to burst just right outside of the node. She bit her lip with frustration as the shinobi stood there, smiling faintly, as attack after attack had no effect. Whether this was due to the seals that protected him, or her own lack of skill, she could not tell.

"Aren't you supposed to be a Hyuga as well?" The red haired ninja asked casually. He nodded at Ookami, still lying unconscious on the street. "Or is she just that much better at this than you are? Because that was pathetic."

Hishyoni couldn't help herself, if there was one thing that set her off, it was other people mocking her prowess… especially when they were right. She snapped. He laughed at, dodged and swept aside every single one of her rage fuled strikes and kicks. She continued this fusillade for as long as she was able, but anger gave way to exhaustion. She paused to suck on a few deep breaths. "Too bad you never learned that anger is your enemy… because now… you lose," the red haired shinobi muttered. He reached over and touched his seals.

Hishyoni squinted against the glare of chakra flowing through him. She scrambled back for her lance and began a series of fast short jabs towards his head and chest. Anyone else would have stopped or even retreated with the spearhead constantly snapping at them. The red haired ninja just slowly strode forward and let them come. Sparks from the steel tip flew off his face neck and torso.

He swung the kusagari once, and the spearhead tumbled off to clatter on the cobblestones of the plaza. Hishyoni shifted using the spear shaft as a staff. She rang a few blows off of his arms and legs before he swung again and the staff was cut neatly in two. She fought with the sticks for a while until two more cuts with her exceptionally sharp scythe left her holding nothing but useless nubs of wood.

"And that appears to be that, doesn't it?" asked the red haired ninja calmly. He dropped the broken kusagari. Hishyoni watched the weapon fall. "Don't take it personally," he said with a kind voice, "I just prefer to do most things with my hands." He blurred with speed.

Hishyoni tried to dodge the first punch, but the ninja swerved mid blow and attacked from her left side instead of her right. There was nothing she could do to block or get out of the way. She prepared herself for the hit.

It never landed. Ichisui stood there straining to hold back the fist. He and the red haired ninja stared at each other, his brown eyes staring into Ichisui's glowing sharingan.

"An Uchiha," the ninja breathed out excitedly. "I've always wanted to fight an Uchiha."


	60. Chapter 23 Theology and Civilization pt1

**Chapter 23: Theology and Civilization**

As Hishyota dodged a kick by one of the black clad shinobi, the clone to the left of her snagged his leg and spun him just enough that an open palm strike of the clone on her right caught him square in the back. The battle was definitely going in Uzumaki-Hyuga genin's favor. The attackers were slightly faster and stronger than she was, but it's hard to overcome a five to one odds deficit. Their squad leader, the white skinned kunoichi seemed the most put out by this. Through her byakugan, Hishyota could see the kunoichi firing bolts of mental energy trying to grip the minds of the attacking clones around her.

The thing about shadow clones is, that they don't really have their own mind to speak of. They are just a temporary chakra construct that is a separate extension of the creator's own consciousness. The white kunoichi could make all the psychic attacks she wanted, but with no physical brain, there was nothing to take over.

The concealment genjutsu that kunoichi was using to try to hide herself from attacks was pointless to a byakugan user. She might as well paint herself bright orange and hold a sign saying 'Hit me!' over her head.

Still she was fast, faster that any of the other enemy ninjas. Hishyota guessed that was to make up for her lack of physical based attacks… which suited the Uzumaki-Hyuga girl just fine. Hishyota popped another handful of clones and pressed the assault on the foe.

Her other clones forced all of the attackers away from Hana. She smiled as her friend shifted and slowly sat up. Then she focused her attention back to the fight.

Her clones slowly worked their various opponents into the position where one or more of them could utilize the sixty-four divination strikes on their opponent. One by one, the black clad ninjas fell in a cacophonous thunder of blows. Soon only the pale skinned kunoichi was left standing.

Hishyota wasn't surprised when the first clone disappeared. It was bound to happen in any fight. In fact she was slightly proud that she hadn't lost one sooner. What was weird was that when the clone's memories came flooding back to her, she determined that the clone had been stabbed in the back. There was only one of her opponents left standing. There weren't any other attackers hiding behind a genjutsu. She should have been able to see anything coming at her.

She started to worry when the second clone vanished the same way. And then the third. As the fourth shadow clone vanished in a puff of smoke she saw a short figure wielding a rusty kunai darting towards another clones unprotected back. Hishyota ran and managed to seize its arm before the blade fell. She spun Chyrio around.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hishyota asked crossly, giving her a shake. "Those are my clones!"

Chyrio Uchiha looked up at her slowly. Her eyes were red. A single tomoe circled around inside each one.

Chyrio lashed out at her with the kunai and caught her across the chest. Hishyota dropped her and stepped back.

"Oh! Good girl!" chimed the kunoichi's musical voice. "You found the real one! Mother is so very proud of you!" Hishyota fell to her knees as the crushing vice of the white kunoichi's psychic attack closed about her head.

* * *

"So… How's that old escape plan coming along?" Jiraiya asked innocently.

"It would come faster if you would stop asking me every ten seconds," muttered Mibuki, slapping another sealing tag on the kite. There… that should take care of the necessary increase in lift. The main worry now was, would it be strong enough for what he had in mind? He eyed the kite critically and then began wrapping the joints with wire.

"I'm only asking because the purple lizard lady is more than half way up the tower and getting closer by the second."

"So? Slow her down," said Mibuki, testing the joints on the kite again. They separated easily, stretching the fabric. Not good enough.

"With what?" asked Jiraiya getting frustrated.

"How about you throw your kunai at her?" Mibuki calmly rewrapped several of the joints using a crisscross binding rather than a straight coil. That was better, but still not perfect

"Hey! That's the only one I have! My dad gave it to me for my birthday!"

Mibuki looked up. "And do you want to live to see another birthday? Then I suggest you throw it at the angry kunoichi coming up here to kill us."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jiraiya step hesitantly to the edge of the roof. His friend pulled out his kunai, looked longingly at it for a second and then threw it straight down. Jiraiya watched for a heartbeat and then suddenly jumped back and threw himself down flat. There was a flash of bright light that shot up into the sky.

"What happened? asked Mibuki as the thunder died away.

"Well, I threw my kunai, she dodged, and then the angry kunoichi turned into a crazy, raging, really angry kunoichi, who shoots lightning." He looked over at Mibuki. "How much longer is this going to take?" A nervous tremor crept into his voice.

Mibuki didn't even look up. He just kept tinkering with the kite. If only he could reinforce the frame with something stronger… "Could you get me some bamboo? About this big around?" He made a circle with his thumb and forefinger.

"You're asking me if I have any bamboo? We're stuck on top of the clock tower with a pissed off purple lizard lighting lady coming to get us and you want to know if I have any bamboo?"

Mibuki sighed… While Jiraiya had an incredible insight into how to manipulate people, he was really slow when it came to understanding basic scientific concepts. "You wanted to know how long this would take? If you can't get me any bamboo it will be another couple of minutes."

Jiraiya pulled at his hair. "She'll be here by then!"

Mibuki shrugged again. "Then I suggest you find something else to throw at her to slow her down. Preferably something that has a chance of being more effective than your kunai."

Jiraiya opened his mouth to retort, and then shut it quickly. He looked at the edge of the roof for a bit, thinking. "Can I borrow your water tags?" he asked innocently.

* * *

That stupid legend about how Naruto Uzumaki managed to master the signature jutsu of the Fourth Hokage in just three days pissed Jiraiya off to no end. Making a rasengan is hard. It takes a ton of training and lots of boring repetitive hard work, but along the way you learn lots about shaping, holding and compressing chakra.

Jiraiya's father's method for teaching the technique involved three lessons: First, was making him rotate water inside a water balloon. The goal was to make it spin fast enough to break the balloon. This helped him figure out how to get his chakra gyrating in a completely chaotic pattern. Next, Naruto had him practice spinning his chakra inside a hollow rubber ball until he could create enough force to pop it. This was to help him build up his power. Finally, he had to compress and hold his chakra in a tight little sphere. If you could master all three steps, you ended up with an insanely strong, violently twisting ball of chakra that could be used for a single, focused attack with devastating results.

Jiraiya had figured out steps one and three, but his power just wasn't there, or as his father liked to insist, it just wasn't there… yet. His dad was constantly telling him: Like building up muscle, you had to do a lot of figurative heavy lifting to build up your chakra reserves.

Much to his father's chagrin, Jiraiya had other things that he just found more interesting. Still his dad did his best to keep after him and he was fairly sure that one day he would be able to make a full blown rasengan.

In the meantime, he did notice something interesting. If he took the water, say from the water balloon, he could spin it, and compress it, and end up with a little rotating sphere that almost looked like a real rasengan. It wouldn't blow a hole in a wall. It wouldn't send your enemies flying backwards in a spinning ball of destruction.

It was however about as dense as a heavy rock. If he held onto it and spun the water fast enough he could use it to drill holes in stuff, like how his father showed him once using a real rasengan and a tree as an example.

Oh... and because he made them out of water, instead of chakra, he could throw them, like his father could throw a rasen-shuriken in sage mode. Of course while the rasen-shuriken flew through the air leaving a path of carnage in its wake, his jutsu flew about as well as... well about as well as you'd expect a ball of water to.

The flow of water from the first sealing tag ebbed to trickle. Little rivulets began to drain off the roof and splatter down below. Jiraiya and his three clones looked at each other.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready," they chorused, and lined up behind him.

Jiraiya stepped to the edge, peeked over and turned over his hand. "Bombs away," he muttered. The mizu-gan tumbled through the air. It bounced twice against the side of the clock tower, knocking loose a small rain of stones and wood. The purple kunoichi looked up as the mizu-gan slammed into her face.

She sputtered, flailed, and skidded a meter or two down the tower. "Woo-Hoo!" screamed Jiraiya, pumping his fist in the air. "Next!" he yelled to his clones.

* * *

Shikasu flinched as he watched his sister, cold rage in her eyes, slowly slide the fan open. One spot, two spots three spots. He gave a quick yank to his now reattached chakra strings, and the disconnected bits of Mister Rubber Bones scattered. He crouched down behind the corner of the building and covered his head. "Please, oh please, oh please let this wall be strong enough," he begged to whichever gods might take pity on a boy who was already grounded, doing poorly in school, and was kind of planning more mischief for later on that evening.

"So... I see your little puppet ally has deserted you." The skinny shinobi's high pitched giggle carried to Shikasu's hiding spot. "I'll be giving him plenty of punishments right after I get my hands on..." The remainder of his words were lost in the roar of wind.

Karua's wind scythe jutsu was easily on par with his mother's. The more times you moved the fan the bigger the resulting wind would be. The more wind nature chakra you poured into the jutsu the more the air would cut. Temari had once managed to level half an acre of dense old growth forest with this jutsu, just by waving the steel fan four times. It felt like Karua had gone for five.

The wave of pressure made his ears pop. The jutsu roared across the plaza carrying away all in its path. Shikasu tried to flatten himself out further against the ground as it passed. Windows flexed and exploded. Shutters and doors blew off hinges and were carried away. The storm of wind, chakra and debris flashed across Shikasu's hideaway. There was the tremendous crash of a building collapse, and the storm settled down.

Shikasu looked up through the clouds of dust. There was the occasional rattle as shingles slid off the rooftops and the tinkle of broken glass. He peeked out through the alley.

The plaza was glittering with shards of glass from all the shattered windows. One of the storefronts had completely caved in. There was a tangle of arms and legs protruding from the pile of rubble. Of the attacking shinobi, there was no sign. He assumed they had been blown clear across the square. His sister stood triumphantly at the other end. She had a look on her face that reminded him an awful lot of how her mother's face appeared right after she had a 'meaningful diplomatic encounter' with some Lord that was bugging Uncle Gaara.

He slowly stepped over to her. "Wow," he said quietly.

Karua grimly looked down at him. "I know... But that skinny jerk got what he deserved." She thought for a minute and then smiled. "That was pretty cool though wasn't it?"

Shikasu shook his head. "No... I meant 'Wow! I wonder if your allowance is going to cover what you'll need to pay to rebuild that store.' That's some pretty impressive property damage there."

Karua snorted. "Shut up. I'm sure that will fall under the 'damaged Leaf village fund' I won't have to pay a thing."

"I hope you're right," said Shikasu teasingly, "Because if Mom and Dad have to pay for that, you're going to end up grounded just like me."

Karua narrowed her eyes. "Speaking of which... What were you doing when you switched with Mister Rubber Bones? Aren't you supposed to be grounded?"

Shikasu held up his hands. "I can totally claim self defence. I was hiding from bad guys."

Karua looked at him askance. "And you really think Mom's going to buy that? How big a fit do you think she'll have when she hears that you vanished?"

Apparently, it was time for some blackmail. Shikasu blew on his fingernails and rubbed them on his shirt. "Personally, I don't think Mom will be paying much attention to me by then... I bet Mom will be plenty distracted when she hears about my dear sister smooching Uchihas in the middle of the Plaza!" Shikasu smiled at his sister's obvious discomfort, and couldn't resist getting in one last little dig. "Do you think she'll be more ecstatic or upset?"

"Yeah, well..." Karua stopped short as the pile of rubble that used to be a storefront shifted.

A wooden beam arrowed out of the pile. Karua swung her fan, the blast of wind turning it into a cloud of splinters. The giggle of the blue eyed skinny shinobi rang out in the dusty air. "So... you like to fight at long range? I can fight at long range too. I like the rules for fighting at long range." A red streak flew out from the pile of rubble. Karua deflected it off the fan and the brick rattled on the street. "I don't need any fancy weapons to fight at long range. I just use whatever the Gods provide." The dust slowly began to clear. There was a skinny silhouette standing atop the broken roof. It was holding a piece of rubble in each hand. "I know that you cannot possibly defeat me because I am one of the chosen. I am virtue made flesh. I am filled with the might of righteousness. Your strength obviously marks you as some kind of demon," the voice of blue eyed man continued, to rise in volume. "I'm positive that the master wouldn't complain if I were to release your soul from the clutches of such a monster." His mad smile glinted in the dusty light. "I live for battles like this one," he said happily, his voice booming amongst the ruined buildings as he lifted his arms to the heavens. "My only wish is to cleanse the world!"

* * *

Mako ran, clutching the wasp's nest. This was way beyond him. This was a freaking invasion! This was so not his problem. When things in the Konoha started to explode, that was the time for Mako Aburame to be elsewhere.

He probably would have kept going, at top speed, all the way home if he hadn't crashed into someone. Mako yelped and fell.

The nest got damaged. The wasps were darting angrily this way and that. They hummed through the air and dove towards the person he crashed into. Mako tried to tell them to stop, but the wasps were out for blood. He could hear their rage in the beating of their wings. The hive had been attacked. The hive had been damaged. This was the time to protect the queen. This was the time to sting and sting and sting again. They charged the man en masse.

They froze. At a wave of the man's hand, the swarm formed a tight sphere and then flew in an orderly line to begin repairing the cracked nest. A hand reached forward and offered itself to Mako.

Mako looked away as he took it. He allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. "Father," he acknowledged quietly.

Shino Aburame gave a nod and focused his attention on the damaged wasps nest. "That is yet another reason why I do not approve of waps. They are much too quick to anger, and when they do anger, they do not listen very well." Shino turned back and quietly studied his son. "You were in a hurry... Why?"

Mako looked down and scuffed his foot. "Yes sir... Well, I was practicing using the wasps to gather information and then I happened to notice some shinobi, only they were acting very suspicious, so I observed them for a bit, and then I… well..." Shino silenced him with a wave of his hand.

A wasp flew over to Shino's hand with the crook of a finger. He raised an eyebrow as the wasp relayed all the information the hive had gathered. When the wasp was done, Shino dismissed it and then stared at Mako for a very long time.

Mako shrunk under that gaze. "Father?" he asked meekly.

Shino nodded once. "Your jutsu... shows considerable progress," he said in a cool voice. For the briefest moment, Mako felt like he would smile. "Unfortunately, you left out the most important aspect of gathering intel. So ultimately you failed."

Mako looked away to hide his disappointed scowl. "And what did I neglect Father?"

Shino nodded his head back towards the battle and started there at a brisk walk. "What did you neglect, you ask? Why, to forward the aforementioned information to those who can utilize it to the fullest." He stopped and indicated for Mako to follow. "Come... Let us see if we can improve on your technique."

* * *

Kusumina sucked in a breath and clutched Hizashi's hand tighter as Ichisui and the red haired shinobi slowly circled each other. "I think you should take this opportunity to go," the Uchiha chunin said quietly. "I don't want to fight you."

His adversary smiled. "That's very funny, considering I'm not going to go anywhere without taking those two with me." He nodded quickly at Hishyoni and then to Hizashi, before turning back to Ichisui. "But really... lets face it, given the caliber of the ANBU around here, I could have taken those two with me and left at any time I chose. The only reason why I'm still wasting my time here in this stinking village, is that I know it would be so much more impressive to my employer if I come back with four instead of two… And then... there's the added bonus in trying to capture you!" The tattooed man shook his head happily as if he couldn't believe his luck. "I get to test my mettle against one of the few, infamous Uchiha. Of course if you can prove to be an interesting enough challenge, I may just let you all walk away... and tell you who's behind this... wicked scheme." He grinned under his mop of red hair.

"Really?" asked Ichisui warily.

His opponent chuckled. "Of course not… Don't be an idiot." He blurred with speed and charged forward.

Ichisui's kunai twirled for a pair of blocks, and rang against the red haired ninja's fists. He reversed them and slashed out for the shinobi's abdomen. The shinobi swept the back handed slice away with a shove. Ichisui spun with the shove and swept out his left leg. The red haired shinobi leaped over the sweep and came down with an axe kick.

The sweep was merely a feint, however. Ichisui rocketed up, caught the shinobi by the leg and arm and slammed him down on the street. The shinobi rolled away and sprang back up grinning. "Wonderful," he said in a gloating voice. "You can keep up with me. Those famed eyes are everything I had hoped them to be. Shall we see what other wonders the famed Uchiha clan can bring to bear?" He and Ichisui began circling each other again.

"What just happened?" hissed Hizashi, "did Ichisui-kun get hurt?"

Kusumina tried to keep the confidence in her voice. "Ichisui-onisan is one of the strongest chunin in the village. He will be able to hold him, until help comes." She shuffled a little bit closer to Hizashi, in her other hand she readied her kunai.

Ichisui was a very talented shinobi, that much was true. If you put him in any sort of contest among chunin, or even low level jonin, he was the hands down favorite. The other challengers in the match never seemed to mind though. He was a wonderful opponent to have. He would never gloat or humiliate an opponent. In battle, as in the rest of his life he was polite and well mannered. He would always go for the 'soft win' that is, he only went just far enough to win the the contest. Unfortunately, when it came to real battles, he was notorious for acting the same way. Again he and his red haired opponent clashed quickly and whirled away.

Kusumina bit her lip and assessed the situation. It had been only a handful of minutes since the attackers first appeared, but surely some sort of official reinforcements should have appeared by now? Where was the ANBU? Or the jonin corps? A dark voice inside Kusumina's head spoke up and wondered if enough help could ever arrive, given how quickly the red headed shinobi had dealt with the ANBU that were already here. Ichisui's opponent was fast and strong and invulnerable to normal weapons. On top of that, there were two other fights in the plaza and who knew how many other attackers in the village. The method of their teams seemed to be three mid-strength shinobi led by one jonin class ninja. Although this opponent seemed to be even stronger. She quickly closed her eyes as a windstorm tore across the emporium and destroyed a store. Apparently the daughter of Shikamaru Nara, who was battling across the plaza, had decided her opponent was strong enough that he rated an area effect wind style jutsu. A quick glance to her other side confirmed that Hana Uchiha was down and her older sister Hishyota seemed to be in a considerable amount of trouble as well. Ookami was clawing at the street trying to get her breath back. Cousin Hishyoni was just starting to climb back up to her feet but was having some trouble, her legs were shaking.

"Should we run Nee-chan?" asked Hizashi nervously.

Kusumina swallowed. She had seen how fast this red haired shinobi could move. Running on foot would almost certainly be futile. Of course... there was that new jutsu she was trying to master... She did have that one sealing tag that might almost be complete back in her room, but it was completely untested. Kusumina had no idea what would happen if she tried it, especially if she tried to take Hizashi along with her. Her decision would hinge upon Ichisui. "I'm sure that if Ichisui goes all out in this battle, we will have nothing to fear," she said confidently to her cousin. The question in her mind was would he? She crossed her fingers as Ichisui took a deep breath.

The oldest son of the Uchiha clan launched a grand fireball, then threw his kunai at the red haired man. She saw both knives glow red hot as they plunged through the burning sphere and ring against the red haired shinobi standing idly there. As the fireball engulfed the enemy shinobi, he started his next fire jutsu and spat out the dozen smaller orbs of the phoenix flower jutsu. "Really?" called out the red haired shinobi, still smoldering from the first fire attack. "The big fireball didn't work so you think a bunch of smaller ones will? Interesting theory." His fingers flashed along his chest activating various seals. "Unfortunately for you, repeated, futile attacks bore me." The red haired shinobi took a deep breath and sprayed out a loose jet of running water. The water quenched the approaching fireballs, but Ichisui gave a faint smile. He raised his arms and pulled.

The wires wrapped around his fingers tugged the shuriken he had hidden inside the phoenix flower jutsu. They arced in flight, orbited across the red haired shinobi's arms and chest and hung limp, cocooning him in wire. The shinobi looked up. "Well now, this is certainly..." His eyes widened as the chidori plunged towards his chest.

Ichisui's fingers, crackling with lightning, stopped a scant centimeter away from plunging towards the shinobi's heart. "I told you earlier... I really don't want to fight you," Ichisui stated calmly. "I really think you should leave now."

The redheaded ninja stared at the chidori, lightning reflected in his eyes. He took a breath, grinned at Ichisui and fell forward against his hand.

Ichisui's eyes went wide with shock. Kusumina gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Electricity crackled over the shinobi's skin and hair as he threw back his head and screamed. The wires binding his arms glowed red, then white, and then snapped.

The red haired shinoji sank to his knees, clutching his head. Ichisui stood before him, staring at his hand. He took a step back as the shinobi started to laugh. "Oh. Oh, oh... That... That was incredible!" he declared. "I haven't felt anything like that since... since..." The red haired ninja's voice trailed off into a raspy chuckle. He unsteadily rose to one foot and then the other. He stared at Ichisui and smiled. "I knew it! I just had a feeling that one of the Uchiha would be able to do it!" He wiped absentmindedly at his blackened torso. "I mean, I suspected your father would be able to muster enough power, but I never expected that a half breed like you would be able to as well." The carbonization smeared away revealing unbroken seals and clean skin. He ran the same hand across his brow, leaving sooty streaks. He smiled beatifically at Ichisui and suddenly blurred forward, not towards the Uchiha chunin, but heading for Kusumina and Hizashi.

Kusumina flinched and started to make the hand signs. She could barely start the first one before the red haired shinobi had her dangling by her neck from one hand and Hizashi from the other. He stared at Ichisui, with a glint of amusement in his eye. "Now," he growled. "I have had a moderate amount of fun, and you really do show promise, but as lovely as this time has been I really must be going." Kusumina kicked her feet, trying to find some way strike at him, some way to take the pressure off of her neck. "Unfortunately my employer will be quite upset with me if we don't return with at least a few of our targets. You see it took quite some convincing to..." He frowned and ducked his head downward. There was a dull explosion and four kunai rang off the top of his head. There was a second burst of summoning smoke. Hishyoni shuffled next to Ichisui, her hands filled with steel.

The shinobi nodded at her. "You stay out of this girl... I've wasted enough time on you this day." Kusumina clawed at the hands around her throat, but to no avail.

"You won't be going anywhere at all because I'm... going to kill you," Hishyoni said in a flat voice.

The shinobi smiled and tossed back his head to get the hair out of his face. "Well, unless you have some fancy new technique hidden in your scrolls there little miss, I think you had better let your boyfriend be doing all the fighting. Don't you?"

Even with her heartbeat racing in her ears and her vision going red at the edges, Kusumina could still hear Hishyoni's teeth grinding together in frustration. "I think that we should all stop trying to fight you one on one," said a quiet, deadly voice behind her. The red haired ninja whirled. Ookami was directly behind him, in the stance for the sixty four divination strikes. She nodded at Ichisui and Hishyoni and began.

The thunder of the sixty four strikes rang loud in Kusumina's ears. Ookami focused all of her blows on the tenketsu in the shinobi's shoulders and arms. As she began her strikes, Ichisui charged up a second chidori and sprinted forward. Kunai and shuriken flew from Hishyoni weaving tightly around Ichisui and rang against the red haired ninja's face. Ookami's final few blows slammed vehemently into his back as Ichisui's chidori crashed into him from the front. Again the shinobi cried out and faltered.

Ookami grabbed the hand holding Kusumina while Ichisui seized Hizashi. The shinobi's fingers didn't want to let go until Ookami struck him three times in the hand, the chakra in the blows bursting like fireworks. Even so, the shinobi's fingers left burning lines across her neck. Ookami and Ichisui leaped away. The red haired shinobi looked up drunkenly as Hishyoni let loose a cloud of kunai trailing sizzling explosive tags. There was a thunderous roar.

Kusumina had to spit several times to get the dust and dirt out of her mouth. Everything sounded muffled, and there was a high pitched ringing in her ears. "Onee-san?" Hizashi called out. His voice sounded panicked, but faint… far away. "Hishyoni? Where are you?"

"It's okay Hizashi, said Ichisui, putting him down, "Your sister used her explosive tags just then. I think we will be okay now. He's probably blown to bits."

"Not even close," said Hishyoni in a gruff voice. She had her byakugan on and was staring into the dust cloud. Kusumina activated hers as well, and felt a cold chill settle in her stomach. In the center of a smoking crater was the figure of a crouching man. His body was dark of chakra, almost as if he was dead… except that dead men do not move. He stood up slowly and began doing something with his hands on his torso. Wherever he touched, there were brilliant flares and swirls of energy, as if he were drawing designs on his flesh with chakra. There was a brief pause and then the life force surged through his muscles, as bright as the sun.


	61. Chapter 23 Theology and Civilization pt2

Asuma shifted slightly in his chair to ease the stiffness in his legs and bit his tongue to stifle a yawn. The jonin meeting was dull. Unbelievably dull. Even by the standards of the typical boring jonin meeting... this one was a record breaker.

Half of it was going over old stale reports and supposedly 'fresh' information that everyone had already heard about through rumor and innuendo. The other half of the meeting was old windbags right on the verge of retirement trying to puff themselves up with self importance, dubious wisdom and tales of glory long since past in the hopes of being remembered the next time another seat on the Hokage's council opened up.

Mostly it was just a verbal tennis match between two of the oldest, active duty, jonin of the village. On the one side was Yukunu Shimura, hoping to succeed his Grand-uncle, the notable Councillor Akihiro, as the Head of the Shimura clan when he retired. The other was his younger cousin by a year and a half Dato Shimura, also jockeying for the same position.

With the rumours of their uncle's retirement hovering around the Leaf, both men were turning every meeting into some sort of pseudo campaign rally to prove their competence. Asuma sighed and did his best to look attentive while completely ignoring their low yield exchange over proper placement of a squad's medical-nin in the alpha formation.

"...and I'm telling you, you deluded imbecile, that the only proper position for your medical-nin is at the back of your four man squad, where everyone can protect him!" scoffed Yukunu. He preened in the spotlight for a moment as his supporters made a series of empty agreements.

"Point of order Yukunu-kun," said Dato in a dry voice, "If you had actually served on any active missions in the past ten years, you would have realized that EVERYONE knows this. Every time one of our squads is ambushed, the ambushers strike for the medic first, and they always know where to find them." There was a rumble of agreement from Dato's side of the room. "Don't you think that at this point it would be a better idea to randomize the position of the medic within the squad? Wouldn't making them harder to find be a good idea?"

Yukunu sneered derision at Dato. "You mean to tell that you can't instantly pick a medical-nin out of a line up by the fact that their field kits are twice as big as everyone else's?" His side of the room hissed disapproval at Dato. "And you have the nerve to call yourself a shinobi."

They had been going round and round like this for the better part of an hour. Unbelievably boring. Strangely, the elected jonin captain who also happened to be chairman of this week's meeting, Nokito Nara, was more than happy to let them go after each other. Of course, with her head resting in the palm of her hand and her dark hair falling loose in front of her eyes, it was entirely possible that she was sleeping through the entire exchange.

Asuma eyed Captain Nokito nervously, it was also possible that she was keeping a close watch on the meeting and taking careful note of who was nodding off. Unlike everyone else in the Nara clan, Nokito refused to wear her hair up in the traditional topknot. She always let it hang down to cover up the burns and the missing ear on the left side of her face. She was too young to have been in the assault on Kabuto Yakushi's mountain fortress, but she had seen more than her share of combat in that police action in the Land of the Waves about ten years ago. That had been a mess, but it had convinced the freshly wounded young kunoichi that something had to be done to alter Konoha's command structure. Most of the old guard, settled and secure in their military positions for years, had laughed at her attempts to change how the shinobi military establishment worked, how basic combat supplies were bought for and transported, and how orders were to be obeyed.

Jiraiya the Sannin had written in his autobiography: _One is far better off taunting a Tailed Beast that raising the ire of a Nara clan kunoichi. The demon beasts are less likely to make you suffer._ One by one Nokito forced the worst offenders out of their positions, until all the others knuckled under. She became the youngest jonin captain in recorded history.

Asuma chewed his thumbnail thoughtfully and watched Nokito carefully. There! her head jerked slightly to one side and she made a careful note on the pad in front of her. He would bet a thousand ryo that some young jonin had nodded off and just gotten a week's worth of midnight patrols. Asuma sighed. This was almost like being in the academy all over again. Almost... except it was much more boring. He forced himself to tune back into the droning conversation. "... And what about the Beta formation? Have you ever considered the implications of that?" Yukunu griped. Asuma was about to bite down on his thumb again to stay awake, when he felt it.

There was the tiniest tremor in the foundation of the building. It was too short to be an earthquake. The vibration was all wrong to be a machine, or someone pulling a cart down the hall. He perked his head up quickly and looked around risking a quick glance out the window. There was a column of dust rising from the center of the Konoha Emporium.

He surveyed the meeting hall. Half of the 'established' jonin were asleep with their eyes open. Of the rest, about a quarter weren't even pretending to be awake. The remainder were either supporters of Dato or Yukunu, muttering support in the appropriate places. The only ones bothering to pay attention were the relatively young jonin, like him, who were still trying to make a name for themselves.

While Dato droned out a textbook response, and Nokito's attention was elsewhere, he reached out with his foot and nudged a senior, but not too senior, kunoichi from the Aburame clan. She started out of her daze and then gave him a very stern look.

Asuma answered by pointing to the slowly sinking cloud still visible through the window.

The Aburame raised her eyebrows and frowned. A few seconds later, a handful of kikachu beetles were worming their way through the drafty windows and winging away outside.

She had her response before Yukunu could finish telling the whole meeting about the merits of his newly created 'triple black flower' formation, and how it would fix every single issue that Konoha would ever have, from medical nin placement to lowering the required number of kunai on the average escort mission.

The Aburame kunoichi stood up loudly, ignoring his soliloquy. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt," she said in an impersonal yet firm voice. "But I've just been informed that the village is under attack by a small force of shinobi."

A murmur ran around the room. Several chairs scraped as people got up. Asuma was one of them. "Now now!," Dato's voice rang out through the room. "Everyone sit back down! There are rules to this sort of thing you know! We cannot end this meeting before all business has been taken care of!"

"Oh I quite concur!" said Yukunu stuffily. "I'm sure the ANBU can deal with any minor inconveniences that might arise. Right now me simply must deal with..." He was interrupted by a flash of light and a loud crack-crack. Heads turned to the window in time to see a second bright flash of lightning pulse up from the clock tower and tear into the sky.

There was a light sigh and the sound of someone rising. Jonin stiffened to attention as Nara-sama put down her gavel with a click and brushed back the hair from her ruined face and surveyed them all with her hard dark eyes. For such a slight woman Nokito-san had quite the commanding presence.

She pursed her thin lips and focused on the Aburame kunoichi. "How many attackers?" she asked bluntly.

"Reports say twelve of them Nara-san," she said with a quick bow of her head.

"Source of the information?"

The kunoichi held her bow. "Shino Aburame, Nara-san."

Nokito raised an eyebrow. "I served with Shino-san. He's reliable."

"I'm sure, I'm sure," chuckled Yukunu, raising his voice to talk over the excited murmurs in the room. "But we do have formalities to observe, you know? Twelve little shinobi aren't going to be able to do a thing against the combined might of the Leaf Village. Right now we need to..."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you again sir," said the young Aburame flatly, "But Shino-sama's report states that he believes several of these attackers to be S-class shinobi." The murmurs grew.

Dato frowned. "I do believe you are speaking out of turn, young lady. What we need to do is continue our honest debate on the..."

"What we need to do is cut the crap," said Nokito, her voice slicing through the background noise like a knife through wet paper. "Why the pair of you insist on bickering over who's more suited for your uncle's councillor seat when everyone knows it's his older sister calling the shots is beyond me." Both Dato and Yukunu's faces blanched with surprise and quickly turned red with indignation. Nokito smiled at them with even white teeth and ignored their protests. "You two fools can stay here and keep debating nonsense if you want. I intend to get out there and help our village." She surveyed the room. "I'll need at least eight, three man, combat teams. The general plan is we're going to surround the plaza first, corner them, apprehend them, and make sure none of them get away. Understood? We want to have plenty of candidates for the interrogation department. Kill them only if you have to."

"Anyone who leaves this meeting before it has been properly concluded will be subject to disciplinary action and demotion!" Called out Yukunu in a booming voice. "And furthermore, I will personally make sure that..." He stopped talking suddenly as a shadow hand twisted up his body and clamped his jaw shut.

"Listening to you two fools yammer on and on has been punishment enough." Nokito leveled her steely gaze around the room. "What are you all waiting for? Get going!"

* * *

Jiraiya slapped down yet another of Mibuki's water tags and activated it, molding and spinning the stream of water as it fountained out. When he had another fully formed Misu-gan in his hands he stepped to the back of the line of clones, each hurling water balls down the tower, one at a time.

The last few times he stepped to the edge, he noticed that the kunoichi was trying to shield herself with some sort of thick purple membrane. Her climbing was considerably slowed but most of the water balls were now just bouncing off her makeshift barrier instead of knocking her back.

He waited until she reached out for another handhold and took careful aim before throwing the misu-gan. She managed to yank her fingers away just as the spinning ball of water knocked a chunk out of the clocktower. The kunoichi glowered up at him angrily as she swung by one hand.

The next clone who peeked over the edge was taken apart by a blast of lightning. Jiraiya and the rest of his clones got the message. They began blindly tossing their water balls over the side.

"Hey Mibuki?" Jiraiya called, "I really hope that I got you enough time just now, because I think we're about to run out very very soon."

Mibuki gave an annoyed sigh. "Are you sure you can't buy me another couple of minutes?" he asked, still fiddling with the kite.

Another clone peeked over the edge of the roof, his misu-gan poised to be hurled down. He was atomized by a bolt of electricity. "Sorry," said Jiraiya shrugging. "I think that's it."

Mibuki grumbled and stood holding the kite. He tilted it this way and that, holding his breath. Finally he let it out in one big exhalation. "Well, I would have liked to have worked on it a little bit longer, but I guess it will have to do," he said disappointedly.

"Great!" chirped Jiraiya, leaving his remaining clone to throw water balls down the tower. "So... how are we escaping?"

Mibuki brandished the kite proudly. "We fly this!"

Jiraiya looked from the kite, to Mibuki, and back to the kite. "Are you feeling okay? I mean... I don't see how flying a kite could possibly save us from a purple psychotic lizard lightning lady."

Once again, his friend ignored his alliteration. The poor kid had no sense of style. "Oh, well the explanation is really quite simple," said Mibuki going straight into lecture mode. Inwardly, Jiraiya groaned, this could take a while. "It's all a matter of modifying slightly the basic mechanics of kite flying aerodynamics. He pointed to the mess of tags he had stuck all over the kite. "First we need to compensate for all the added weight. We can augment the lift produced by the wind by..." His voice dropped away.

"What?" asked Jiraiya turning, wondering what could have snapped Mibuki out of his scientific diatribe.

A scaly purple arm threw itself over the edge of the roof and scrambled for purchase as the Jiraiya clone tried to stomp on its fingers. The clone vanished in n. "Never mind," said Mibuki quickly, "I think perhaps it would be better if I just showed you." He shoved one side of the kite's crossbars into Jiraiya's hands. "Hold on to that tight."

"Why?" asked Jiraiya. "Do you want me to launch it while you hold the string?" he said with great skepticism. The kunoichi threw another arm over up on the roof. Her head appeared over the side. She stared at them and snarled.

"Something like that," muttered Mibuki. He shoved his friend and the pair of them, holding onto the huge kite, plummeted off the roof.

* * *

Another beam from the collapsed store hurtled towards them. Again, Karua blew it backwards with her fan, and sent another torrent of air immediately thin shinobi dived for cover behind a heap of debris. The wind scythe tore more frontage off of the store. Siding and banners blew away into the sky. The pile of debris rattled but stayed put. An emaciated arm appeared yet again, only this time throwing what looked to be one of those fancy beautician's hairdryers that come over your head like a helmet.

"Wow," muttered Shikasu, as his sister rent the air with chakra. "This is about as exciting as watching you play pong."

"Well excuse me! If you'd rather get squished by former bits of 'Yomi's coiffer boutique', I will be more than happy to let the next couple through!" grumbled Karua.

Shikasu rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a drag. I'm not criticizing your skills, I'm just saying that you're thinking about this all wrong."

Karua grunted, there was another howling of wind. "Oh, and I suppose that you're going to give me lessons in strategy now?"

"No," said Shikasu smugly. "But I'd be more than happy to give you a lesson in video games."

"Why do you think I need a lesson in that?" she asked icily.

Shikasu sighed. "Look, right now you're caught up in a grind game." Karua shot him a suspicious glance in between swinging her fan. "A boring repetitive game," Shikasu explained. "You hit the ball back and forth, you catch the apples in a basket, you time jumps over a pit of snakes. The only thing that matters in these games is timing. You just keep on going until either you or your opponent makes an error. I mean, they call them skill games, but come on!" he scoffed, "Once you get good enough it just ceases to be a challenge. What we need to do is to get a little strategy in here… we need to change this game from pong to breakout."

"Breakout?"

Shikasu smirked. "You're hopeless, just watch and be amazed." He took a step forward and hesitated, "Oh, and cover me too... please."

He could say this about his sister, she was good at what she did. Karua beat her fan against the air sending wave after wave of force pounding towards the ruined store. Predictably, the thin shinobi dived behind the rubble for cover.

Shikasu sprinted off at an angle, puffing towards the plaza fountain. He crouched beside it and grinned. "So far so good." He flexed his fingers and sent out his chakra strings. "Now I just have to get the timing down pat."

When the wind had passed, the skinny ninja popped out from behind the pile and threw a chunk of concrete and iron rebar. He dived back again before the answering gale could hit. Only this time as he dived behind his trusted pile of rubble, chunks of it were tugged into the air, as if by nearly invisible strings. The wind scythe jutsu caught the exposed edges and tore a good sized piece of his cover away.

"See?" Shikasu called over to his sister. "He's a close combat bruiser. All he can do at long range is throw stuff and then duck. So all we need to do is…" Something heavy exploded against the fountain. Shikasu fell backwards as he was showered with water and chunks of stone. He heard Karua scream out his name.

* * *

Konohamaru floated languidly in the deepest part of the onsen. Only his face peeked above the steaming waters of the hot spring as he dozed and let the heat seep into every exhausted muscle of his body. Last evening's entertainment may have started with a backrub, but after all was said and done, he felt like he needed another one. With the warm water filling up his ears, and the sounds of Konoha muted, it was so tempting to just close his eyes and take a quick little power nap... just in case he needed to be on his toes when the Boss asked him some especially tricky question. He exhaled out a stream of bubbles. Who knew what idiocy this meeting was going to be about.

All in all, this was turning out to be a pretty lucky day. There was of course the lovely evening (and early morning) spent with Midori. There was a very convenient excuse not to go to the weekly jonin meeting (Boring!), and finally there was his luck in the change in the bathing schedule. He was half expecting to have to use the bathhouse, but wonder of wonders, there had been a schedule change and the women's only hot springs time had been swapped with a men's only time slot at the last minute. He really needed the soak, especially if he was going to have to spend all afternoon with Naruto-nichan. He'd gotten to be such an old fart these days.

He had almost the whole onsen to himself. There were only about ten other men in there, most of them in the 'getting along in years' category. He could barely hear their muffled conversations with his ears under the water.

A cold stiff wind buffeted the surface of the hot springs. He kept his eyes closed and sank a hair more under the water. This was definitely just what he needed. Another chilly breeze floated across what small acreage of his skin wasn't under water. He shivered and settled even further. He also ignored the loud splash in the pool. Jumping in and diving was strictly forbidden, but Konohamaru didn't want to be here in any official capacity. He just wanted to relax.

He creased his eyebrows when the shouting started. There was a lot of scrambling and noise as the pool emptied out. Everything quieted down again though pretty quickly... So he just took another deep breath and relaxed again.

He was almost asleep when something brushed his leg. He decided to ignore it. It was the polite thing to do if someone happened to bump into you in a hot springs. The second time it happened, Konohamaru opened his eyes. Okay, the odds of being bumped twice by accident were pretty low, and unless the person doing the bumping happened to be an attractive female trying to get his attention (which was pretty long odds considering he was in the men's only bathing time slot, but then again... you never know your luck.) he was going to give them a stern talking to and go find a more secluded spot.

He lifted his head and looked around. The hot springs was empty. He had a surprisingly clear view. All the steam, which normally filled up the springs, had somehow vanished. _Huh… That's weird_, he thought casually. Glancing up he could clearly make out the time on the clock tower. He looked again. There was someone climbing the clock tower.

Something came into contact with his leg a third time and then clung tightly to him with what felt like a hundred tiny little claws. Konohamaru Sarutobi, hero of Konoha and number one competitor for the position of the Seventh Hokage shrieked like a schoolgirl and jumped out of the pool, waving his leg in a complete panic trying to dislodge whatever was attacking him.

There was a largish black and white rat clamped very tightly to his thigh. The rat raised it head and looked up at him. Konohamaru stared back. It looked very hot, very wet, and very annoyed, in so far as a rodent could have facial expressions. This was about what he would expect because as far as he knew, rats would tend to avoid almost boiling water. In fact he couldn't think of any kind of feral rat that would call a onsen home. Which meant it was probably someone's lost pet. Konohamaru quickly looked around, embarrassedly checking to make sure no witnesses were around for that display of raw terror... it was not his most manly of moments.

He gingerly reached down and detached it from his leg. The rat proceeded to clamber itself up his arm towards his shoulder. He tried pulling it from his arm, but the rat made it quite clear that it did not want to let go. They tugged back and forth for a little bit, but he didn't think he could get it to come free without using excessive force. "Okay," muttered Konohamaru. "Now it's time to complain to the management."

He grumbled to himself and wrapped his towel around his waist. As he was covering up he thought he saw lightning flash around the peak of the clock tower. "Great, now the weather is going bad too... So much for a lucky day."

He walked in through the men's changing area and stopped, one eyebrow raised in surprise. Everyone had left in such a rush that they had left most of their belongings strewn all over the place. That was also a little weird, but his most pressing issue right now was to complain to someone about there being too many rats in the pool.

He stepped out to the main lobby and rang the bell for service. "Hello!" he called. "I have this rather large rat I found in the hot spring?" He waited but there was no answer. "I was wondering if there was something you wanted me to do with it? Is it someone's pet?"

The building was quiet. He walked all the way to the front entrance without seeing anyone. There was an excessive amount of noise coming from the street outside though. He was reaching for the curtain covering up the doorway when an explosion of wind packed with chakra sliced through the air and tore the curtain away. The rat squeaked in terror, lept off his arm and legged it back inside the hot springs. Konohamaru stood there looking at the three battles raging in the plaza outside. "Oh… Crap," he hissed.


	62. Chapter 23 Theology and Civilization pt3

The Most Holy one was still trapped under the white skinned kunoichi's spell. The older girl, the friend of the Sister who could make all those copies of herself had just been snared by the same jutsu. She stopped clutching her head in pain and her now dull, listless eyes were scanning her surroundings. When they landed on the pale skinned lady she broke into a joyous smile. The divine one's older sister, the dark scary one, was still recovering from her injuries. Clearly there was no hope to be had.

_This,_ thought Mister Whiskers, chosen companion and de-facto chief paladin and guardian of the divine goddess who made her benevolent self known to the chipmunk population as 'Chyrio', _is far beyond anything that I volunteered for._

The chipmunks of Konoha were definitely not your typical woodland fauna.

Their ancient legends told of a time when they were exactly like their forest brethren. They lived as animals. They had no thoughts, no language, no society, no culture.

Then the Snake-lord came. He was just a boy at the time. He was the creator of the Chipmunk clan, and a dark and cruel deity. He caught some of them. He bred them. For many years he injected them, cut them, and did unspeakable things to them. Then he would make them perform tasks. If they did not perform to his liking, he would feed them to his snakes.

He forced them to be smarter. They began to recognize patterns, recognize sounds, think for themselves, talk to each other, and exchange ideas.

Generations of chipmunks came and went. The snake boy grew into a snake man, and thankfully, the chipmunks began to lose his interest. He moved on to other creatures to experiment on.

One day, other men came to the snake-lord's hideout and there was a big fight. During the battle the chipmunk cages got overturned. There was a mass escape as the hidden laboratory burned.

For countless generations the chipmunks made their own hidden civilization inside Konoha. It was a scavenging, hunter-gatherer existence. The Chipmunks would risk their fate against the cats and dogs of the village to raid gardens and stores. Occasionally they would send a large hunting parties outside the wall to gather nuts and berries for the winter. They would guard their cache of foodstuffs against raids by roving bands of rats. Every so often one would be snatched away by the vicious claws of a hawk or owl.

One day, about three generations ago, the now legendary chipmunk, Sniffers, was captured raiding a tomato patch. The man who caught him was giving him an evil glare, and Sniffers was expecting this to be the end, when a young girl in pigtails came bouncing out of the house and said "What do you have there Daddy? Let me see! Let me see!" She stared at the soon to be named Sniffers and cried out. "Ohh! Daddy! He's so cute! Can I keep him? Please?"

Sniffers was subjected to a baffling series of ceremonies bordering on torture, most of them involving velvet or taffeta. He was constantly bathed, brushed, and having countless ribbons tied around his ears and tail.

He also learned. The little girl drummed into him many rituals that he had to religiously perform, dance steps, squeaking on pitch to a beat, table manners. Often he felt like pulling out his own tail just to make the confusion stop.

Then there were the other things she taught, the metalworking, the alchemy, the woodworking, the basics of construction, the pottery. The little girl would compel Sniffers to work with her, building huge elaborate playsets for him: palaces, temples, castles, farms, whenever something new caught her fancy there would be a mad scramble to get it built as quickly as possible. Sniffers would lie awake at night, nursing his sore paws, his head awhirl with the projects that the little girl was heaping upon him. His last thoughts before he collapsed into an exhausted slumber were: "Why? Why is all this happening to me?"

The girl awoke him bright and early the next morning. "Wakey wakey Mister Whiskers!" She called out cheerfully. "We've got a huge day ahead of us today! We need to put the finishing touches on the fairy castle and then get a start on the scale model of the village." She paused, looking thoughtful. "Daddy and Mommy said that the Land of Snow has this thing called a 'train'. It's like a bunch of big metal carts all hooked up together driving around on metal rails... I wonder if we could figure out how to build one of them?"

Sniffers rolled over and got up cranky. Obviously this was going to be another day filled with insane tasks. The little girl noticed his mood and gently picked him up. "Don't be so grouchy Mister Sniffers, I'm teaching you all of this for your own good! Just think of all the wonderful things you'll have to show your Chipmunk friends back home!" She put him back down gently and tottered away.

Sniffers stared after her, his mouth agape. Something finally clicked in his brain. He looked at the projects in a new light. Instead of seeing them as crazy wastes of time he began to see what she was giving to him were the tools for civilization.

He began to pay more attention and take careful note of all the little girl did, no matter how insane it seemed. Much to the chagrin of her brothers and sisters, he began to follow her everywhere.

It was a horrible dilemma for him to leave, but it had been a year, and he was running out of time. His people needed the knowledge he carried inside his head. So late one night, he sprung the latch on his cage and said his silent goodbyes.

He left at an auspicious moment. A brutal influx of rats was decimating the chipmunk population in and around the Hidden Leaf. It was Sniffers' knowledge of metalworking and basic karate that first halted, and then repelled the rat onslaught. Although it was probably the only style of karate that incorporated pirouettes and grand jetes into its kata... Sniffers did get a little confused with all the different types of dancing.

Overnight, Sniffers became a Chipmunk celebrity. He used his newfound status to give a speech before a great chipmunk gathering. He first addressed the crowd, and then the elders telling them that this little girl could teach them a vast myriad of things which could advance their poor society years ahead of their time. He proposed that this girl might be a gift from the Gods themselves.

Everyone was skeptical at first. The chief priest most of all. He stepped forward and asked Sniffers, "How do you know that the little girl didn't have some great ulterior motive? After all in the beginning the Divine Snake boy gave us great gifts, but in the end he just viewed us as food for his pets." He banged his staff on the floor. "You yourself told us she dressed you up in strange garments and had you move in strange ways! And you have the nerve to call her sacred?"

Sniffers shook his head and scoffed. "The Divine snake boy was a god of darkness and pain. If anything this little girl is a goddess of sweetness and light." He thought for a minute. "And frilly lace... she really likes frilly lace." He shook his head. "But who amongst us is one to question the Gods? If she brings us things to better ourselves, should we not tolerate her strange rituals?"

After much debate amongst the chipmunk priests and elders a decision was made to test the girl's divinity. He had to find proof by the next full moon. There were only a few volunteers who agreed to go back with Sniffers. Each of them entered her care the same way, by offering themselves up to the keeper of the tomato garden.

The little girl, Chyrio, was ecstatic to have Sniffers back, and he had brought friends! Together they all began to help the girl in whatever projects she desired. There was much grumbling amongst the rest of the Chipmunk group at first - they didn't see the point in the elaborate dance numbers and then having a chandelier fall, or the dressing up like cats and squeaking in unison, or, perhaps worst of all, the zipping around on tiny roller skates. The only thing that kept the masses from open rebellion against Sniffers was the food.

It was amazing. To the Chipmunks, used to the choices of feasting on festering garbage or starving, eating the little girls leftovers was simply heavenly. Especially if it was the tomato gardener who was cooking that night. There was always more food available if the girl's mother cooked dinner, but it usually tasted... different.

The moon was waxing full again, when they discovered it. It happened right after the girl taught them how to read. Most of the Chipmunks didn't see the point of knowing what the scribbles made on the paper meant, but Sniffers was strong in his faith that the girl would not steer him wrong. Still, most of the paper in the girl's room just dealt with little animals and birds dancing about and being friends. As the girl carried him about however, he noticed that the other people in the house had their own papers with marks on them. Perhaps one of them was the one the girl intended him to read?

He ventured forth at night, out of the girls room, to find the special words he knew in his heart would be there. He found many things to read, some of which were confusing (Why would the hero of the story be so distracted by mammary glands?) a lot of which were too complicated to understand (Sealing water tag x 2 = Boom! Do not repeat!) and some of which was just plain nonsensical (I sit alone in the dark, all alone with my chilly thoughts. They are all that keep me warm.) The sun was beginning to brighten the sky and he was just starting to despair when he discovered a thin book on the mother's shelf, "Common medicinal plants of the Land of Fire and their uses."

A month after Sniffers' second return to the Chipmunk clan, the Chipmunks had a functioning medical clinic.

Chyrio Uchiha's divinity was now beyond a doubt. The gifts that she gave to the clan were priceless. So what if the rituals that she demanded were bizarre? What God didn't have strange rituals? But these actually worked, and the food was good too!

Sniffers went back to the girl. He was now a very old chipmunk, still arthritically trying to learn as much as he could from Chyrio. It was expected of every young chipmunk to do a turn in the little girl's care, so that she could name them and teach them the wonders she held.

Whiskers, great-great nephew of the now aged Sniffers, was not pleased when his turn came. He thought that everyone in the girl's house was crazy. He had grown up hearing the stories. He never told anyone in the clan, but he suspected that the Divine one, Chyrio herself, was the craziest one of all. His hope was to go do his turn, stuff himself with as much good food as his cheek pouches could hold, and then happily return back to his home.

It was much to his chagrin when the girl selected him to be her constant companion. He hated it all the more, that all the other Chipmunks were secretly relieved that it wasn't them. Worst of all, he thought the taffeta was giving him a rash.

Sniffers was overjoyed. "My dear child!" he exclaimed grasping his great nephew's paws tightly. "You have been selected for the highest singular honor. Not only will you be able to learn at the side of the most Holy Chyrio, but you shall also be her protector! Her Champion! Her paladin!"

"What's a paladin?" asked Whiskers, anxious that it was something to be eaten..

Sniffers wrinkled his nose. "A little like a samurai, but with metal armor and more riding horses."

"I can't ride a horse!" wailed Whiskers. "I'm only six centimeters tall!"

Sniffers had a long laugh that turned into a hacking cough. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not saying you have to ride a horse, or wear armor, or be any sort of a warrior... That is not the definition of a paladin. A paladin is one who does the right thing, a paladin is one who can be strong when others are weak. A paladin is one who protects the innocent." Sniffers smiled and gave his grand nephew's paw a reassuring squeeze. "A paladin even protects the innocence of others."

Whiskers looked down at the pile of shredded newspaper they were standing on. "Uncle... I have a confession to make... I'm not even sure I believe that this girl is a divine goddess. My motives for coming were simply all the stories I hear about the wonderful food! I have been in the girl's company for less than a day and all I think about is what a mistake it was for me to come!" He looked back up at Sniffers. "I don't believe that I am the right chipmunk for the job," he said softly.

His grand uncle had given him a reassuring pat. "You might not believe so... But the Divine girl believes in you. Do your best. Trust in her... it will all work out."

Much time had passed since that day… and while his soul sometimes harbored doubts, The one known as Chyrio (praises to be sung to her name!) continued to insist that he was the chipmunk to serve as her companion and holy champion. Only right now… his deity was under a spell, there were murderous shinobi all around, and he was still only six centimeters tall. "Well, he squeaked quietly to himself, "I could always take this opportunity to run away." As he took a longing glance at the ground, there was a lurch and the Divine goddess of the chipmunks, Chyrio the most holy, began to run.

The Goddess sprinted towards her sister, the dark one named Hana. The one who was still lying dazed on the pavement. Clenched in the the little girl's fist was a kunai. Whiskers dug his claws through Chyrio's shirt to keep from falling. He stared up at the girl as the kunai slashed at her older sister.

Thankfully the one known as Hana had enough strength to block the slashes with her arms, leaving long red gashes. Chyrio grimly pressed her lips together and lunged for the next attack.

Whiskers knew this was wrong. This was easy to stop. He didn't need a horse or armor or even a sword to fight someone. He just needed to wake up his deity.

He scampered up from the front of her bright yellow jumper to her shoulder. Once there he seized her earlobe and said very loudly: "Hey! Hey in there! Is everything alright? You're not acting much like yourself!"

As she continued slashing, he realized that there were three problems with this plan. First she was obviously under some sort of spell, so yelling in her ear wasn't probably going to snap her out of it. Second, he was really stating the obvious here and his sentence sounded stupid. Lasty, he could only speak chipmunk, so no matter what he tried to say, the girl would only hear "Squeak squeak squeak-eak."

Chyrio twirled and lunged trying to hit her older sister. The battle was getting harder for Hana to manage because her friend, the one with the pale eyes, had joined in on the attack on her. One of the divine Chyrio's wild swipes nearly sent Whiskers tumbling off her shoulder. "Damnit!" he squealed, Wrenching his forepaws with the effort he needed to hang on, "Stop that! She's your sister! You're going to get someone hurt here! Your mother will be furious! What will it take to get you to stop this?"

The kunai connected in a deep stab in Hana's leg. She cried out and fell. Triumphantly, Chyrio stood over her holding the knife.

Before he really thought about what he was doing, Whiskers scampered down her arm and clawed at her knife hand. "Drop the kunai!" he bellowed. "Drop it! This isn't you! Drop it now before someone gets hurt more!" He pulled and pulled but her fingers wouldn't budge, so he did the theologically unthinkable. He leaned over and bit the thumb of God.

The divine girl froze. Whiskers looked up and quickly wiped a smear of red from his muzzle. "Good!" he squeaked, "Maybe now you'll listen to..." Her other hand smote him. Dazed and in breathtaking pain he was flung through the air.

He landed against a swath of coarse black fabric and somehow managed to find the wherewithal to dig his claws in to keep from falling. He hung there panting, and waiting for the world to stop spinning. The cloth he was holding onto shifted. The chipmunk froze with a sudden insight that quickly turned to horror. He slowly looked up.

The enemy, the pale skinned woman with the predatory eyes had caught him in their glare. "Oh... owl pellets!" he squeaked softly. This was bad… He had the sudden feeling he was going to die in the service of a Goddess he wasn't sure that he believed in.

The white woman's mouth dropped open and she screamed an unearthly cry. Both the little girl and the friend with the pale eyes froze, their heads hung limply, like puppets with their strings cut.

"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" screamed the pale woman, running in circles, frantically slapping at the chipmunk clinging to her clothes. "No no no no no!" she wailed in panic.

Whiskers dodged, jumping and leaping from various folds in her attire. Each time he moved the woman's scream would go up in pitch and the slapping would begin anew.

In one wild move he managed to slip inside the top fold of the woman's gi. The pale kunoichi exploded in a sobbing wail of fear and frustration. She yelled and pulled and tugged. Whiskers squirmed and clawed and bit to try to stay in the relative safety of her clothing but her gyrations got more and more violent. Eventually he slipped down past the waistband of her trousers. From there, a frenzied shake of the leg slid him down to the ground and out by her shoe.

The woman glared down at him with a look of supreme distaste and raised her shoe. "I can't stand having animals touch me," she growled. "Their minds are so untidy.

Whiskers looked over at Chyrio. "Help me!" he cried out to his still frozen god. "Please! Spare me!" The shoe came down.

And froze. After a second, Whiskers peered around the edge of the boot. The older sister, Hana, had both her hands clamped around the pale woman's temples.

"There are three ways I can cast a genjutsu," said the dark sister in a cold voice that made him shiver. "The weakest of them is when I point at the target with my finger. Next is when the victim meets my gaze. The strongest is when I can touch my opponent directly. It's like I can just cut my way straight through their defenses and dump whatever I want in their mind." Hana leaned forward until her lips were almost touching the white kunoichi's ear. "Let... them... go!" she hissed.

The pale woman's laugh sounded like dropping a handful of coins on a xylophone. "My poor little dear... Once someone has opened their mind to my jutsu there is no going back... It's stronger than the love one has for your own mother. Only death can break the bond forged between me and the other person." She let out a sweet sigh. "Your charming little friends are now my own children."

Hana's face went still. Whiskers thought he saw the shimmer of tears for a second, but then she blinked. When she opened them next her eyes were cold and hard. "Too bad," she whispered. Hana let out a small breath and pressed her fingers into the kunoichi's temples.

The white woman's screams hit an unearthly note. She thrashed and cried and jerked her body this way and that, but not once did Hana break contact. The woman's screams grew hoarse and her struggles weaker. Feedback from the psychic assault was beginning to affect the people under her spell. Hishyota and Chyrio began to jerk and cry out as well. The three black ninjas twisted on the ground.

Eventually, the pale kunoichi gave three short explosive gasps. Her body bent taut at the spine, slamming the back of her head against the pavement, and then at last she was still.

Hana collapsed on the ground and curled herself into a ball. The most holy Chyrio slowly crawled up to her hands and knees. Whiskers scampered over to her. "Divine one? Are you well?" His squeak seemed to echo. He flinched as the little girl lifted her head and studied him with flat unfocused eyes.

The most holy Chyrio then proceeded to heave, drenching him with vomit.

The other girl, Hana's friend who could make the copies of herself was busy being sick as well. She swiped a hand across her face and then wiped it uneasily on her trouser leg. "Holy shit Hana," she muttered. "What the hell was that?"

"Don't..." started the most divine Chyrio, pausing briefly to retch again, "Don't you dare swear in front of Mister Whiskers. He's just a baby and we don't want him to learn bad words!"

Mister Whiskers, defender of the Goddess, looked dismally at the ocean of vomit he was sitting in and was half tempted to tell his deity exactly how many bad words he did know.

"Mister Whiskers is covered in your puke," said Hana quietly, her teeth chattering. "Maybe you should clean him up?"

Chyrio looked down upon his humble visage and gasped in horror. "Oh my poor little snookums!" she cried lifting him with one hand and picking chunks out of his fur with the other. "I absolutely must give you bath when I get home! A big fancy bath with lots of bubbles! And afterwards I'll dress you up with lots of pretty ribbons in your hair!"

"Squeak," said a despondent Whiskers. One the one hand, he wasn't dead. He had played some small part in rescuing his deity. On the other hand he was covered in sick, and would need another bath.

"Hana," groaned Hishyota, "What did you do there?"

Hana slowly uncurled herself and sat up. She purposefully faced away from the kunoichi. "She said that only death could break her jutsu. She meant that you guys would have to die in order to be free." Hana took a deep breath and looked away guiltily. "So… I decided that if anyone was going to die… she should go first."

* * *

Hishyota stared open mouthed at the Uchiha girl. "And you just believed her?" Hana nodded once, her eyes staring downwards. "That was the dumbest, most stupid move ever! What if we died too when her jutsu collapsed? What if you ended up frying our brains when you fried hers?" Hishyota waved an arm at the fallen kunoichi. "Did you even think? What if she was bluffing? Wouldn't it be better just hit her enough to capture her? I mean between your mom and the Yamanaka clan they should have been able to figure out something!" Hana pulled her cloak tighter around herself and shivered. She sat there in silence. "I mean… Gods!" snapped Hishyota, with a touch of anger in her voice "Kill her? That was your big plan? What were you thinking?!"

Hana pulled her cloak's hood over her head and stared at her, red eyes gleaming from the inky shadows. "What was I thinking? I was thinking that I should do something… Maybe you just don't understand what it's like to see someone hurting your family," she said in a flat emotionless voice. "Maybe instead of curling up into a little ball and crying about it all the time like some people… I decided to get revenge!" the Uchiha girl spat. Hana and Hishyota sat there glaring at each other.

There was a rattling gasp followed by a phlegmy laugh. "Then you should pick your opponents more carefully little girl." The musical timbre was gone, but it was obviously the same voice. Hishyota and Hana slowly turned. The pale kunoichi's skin sagged off her bones like wet paper, and her sickly yellow eyes were glazed over with milky cataracts, but her fingers were curled over into claws and her teeth were bared as she lumbered towards them. "If you plan on seeking vengance, than you should really pick a target who can die."

* * *

Jiraiya couldn't decide if it was worse with his eyes open, or with his eyes shut, but either way, screaming at the top of his lungs seemed to be a biological necessity. He had the fleeting fear that someone from his class in the academy would see him, and that would be the end of his 'cool guy' reputation. The only thing that comforted him was that he might not survive this. On the other hand, if he ended up as a splat on the pavement, that would raise a whole other set of issues.

"Jiraiya!" Mibuki screamed at him over the howling of the rushing air. "I need you to move more towards the other end of the cross bar! You're throwing us off balance!"

Jiraiya pretended he didn't hear. He was pretty sure that loosening his grip by the tiniest margin was a recipe for becoming an Uzumaki-Hyuga pancake. His hands were so sweaty that he swore they were about to slip right off.

"Jiraiya! Move dammit!" yelled Mibuki. "The kite isn't flying straight!" The whole contraption bumped and the kite bounded about seven meters higher in the air. It then began to repeat its slow plummet.

For the past ten seconds, their kite had been flying in the same way - a precipitous, barely controlled fall, followed immediately by being rocketed back upwards by a burst of thrust provided by Mibuki's sealing tags. Up and down, up and down. _This,_ thought Jiraiya woozily, _is exactly how riding a Giant's yo-yo would feel like._

"Jiraiya! Move your ass!" screamed Mibuki, kicking out at him with his foot.

The kick connected. "Ow! What gives?" Jiraiya opened his eyes to glare at Mibuki, but quickly shut them again as he saw the buildings go streaking past..

"Dammit!" Mibuki swore again. There was another bump and a roar as the kite lifted itself skyward again. "We need to be more balanced." Mibuki yelled at him. "I'm using way too many of the tags on your side of the kite to keep us up! I won't be able to do it for much longer!"

"So? Don't keep us up! For the Gods' sake why won't you land?"

A bright white beam crackled past the kite with a thunderous snap. A hot gale buffeted the kite. "Because," called Mibuki, his voice getting hoarse. "She's still chasing you."

"What?" yelped Jiraiya. It look all of his will power to open his eyes and turn his head back.

The kunoichi soared after them on a pair of huge, membranous wings. She couldn't quite fly under her own power, it was definitely more of a glide, but she was obviously better at staying in the air then he and Mibuki were. Her hands were already glowing again, charging up for another thunderbolt.

"This is so totally not fair," Jiraiya moaned. Mibuki just kicked him again. He got the message - stop complaining and just move. He forced his hands to slide a few centimeters closer to the edge of the kite. The crossbar creaked ominously, but held.

Mibuki glanced back. "Lean left!" he screamed.

"What?" Jiraiya yelled back. His stomach lurched as his friend threw all his weight to the left. The right side of the kite tipped up just as another burst of electricity went flying by. "We've got to figure out some way to stop her!" yelled Mibuki. "Have you got any ideas? If I give you a water tag, do you think you could..." He glanced over at Jiraiya who felt himself turning green.

"No! I can't throw anything at her while I'm up here! I can't even think while I'm up here! I'm absolutely going..." The kite bumped up again and Jiraiya stopped talking to clamp his mouth shut before all of his breakfast could come spilling out.

* * *

Mibuki glanced over at Jiraiya and then back at the purple woman chasing them. Previously, whenever one of their plans had gone bad, it had always been Jiraiya who had handled the physical confrontations. This time however, it looked like he was on his own. He dug one hand into the pouch he kept his sealing tags in, grabbed a handful at random, and tossed them into their wake.

The tags fluttered on their tail currents like leaves on the wind. Mibuki waited until the first of the cloud roughly surrounded the purple kunoichi, and then he detonated them all in sequence. Liquids, sparks, flames, clouds of gas and puffs of air all surrounded the flying woman. She floundered for a bit, but she just beat her wings harder and managed to stabilize her glide. "Hmm," said Mibuki thoughtfully, "I should have packed some explosive tags. That might have proven to be more effective. I'll have to remember that for next time."

"Next time?!" screeched Jiraiya. He was about to say more, but was cut off by the the murderous crackle of yet another lightning bolt snapping by them. It was too close this time, the collapse of the superheated air jerked the kite back and forth.

There was a relatively quiet, yet very ominous pop as the main bamboo crossbar snapped cleanly down the middle.

Both boys frantically scrambled for a better grip on the shifting bar as the kite's structural integrity began to crumble. But there was not nearly enough of the frame left to hold them aloft.

Mibuki released a whole slew of air tags attached to the frame and managed to turn the kite's death spiral into something resembling a low arcing dive. Faces in the plaza turned up to look at them as they zipped by screaming as loudly as they could.

* * *

Jiraiya wished he could have kept his eyes closed, but his body had stopped obeying him out of sheer terror. _Hey,_ it seemed to say _Since this is going to be my last few seconds on earth… I might as well pay close attention to them. _Time slowed down and everything looked crystal clear, from the people just meters below pointing up at them, the red gleam of Mibuki's sharingan activating as he looked for any advantage to surviving this crash. There was a loud snap followed by a tearing noise as the tortured crossbar gave up and Mibuki's half of the kite tore away. He hit the ground with a meaty thud and rolled. Jiraiya thought he crashed into a push cart which, in turn, collapsed around him. Jiraiya hoped it was selling something soft.

Jiraiya impacted a millisecond later. "Oh Gods," he murmured as he tumbled across the bruising ground, getting wrapped up in the remnants of the kite fabric. He thought he saw his older sister's horrified face flash by right before he crashed into someone and knocked them over in a tumble of flailing arms and legs.

He waited for the world to stop spinning. Then he had to wait for his stomach to tell him that it would do him the favor of keeping his lunch down. "That," he drunkenly mumbled to himself, "was hands down, the absolute worst, escape plan ever."

He looked up. Hishyota, Hana, Chyrio and what looked like a chipmunk coated in puke were staring at him open mouthed. He attempted to give them a small wave and his coolest smile. "Hey guys! How's it going?" is what he tried to say. In reality, his hands were shaking, his smile looked manic, and what came out of his mouth sounded more like "Heb guz, howdagointa?"

An arm seized him and dragged his rubbery, twitching body into the air. "What have we here?" exhaled a woman's cold dead voice. He looked down at the kunoichi hoisting him up by the front of his shirt. Honestly, he would have preferred the purple skinned lady with the wings.

This woman looked like a walking corpse. There was a strange sour smell floating up from her hands. Her eyes were the worst part, this close to her, they looked dry and flaky in their sockets. Jiraiya swallowed nervously. "Hi th-there," he stammered. "I think I just met a friend of yours... Purple skin, wings, shoots lightning?"

She tilted him this way and that, examining him the way a shopper in a grocery store would examine a piece of fruit. "I need my youth back," she said in a hoarse, hungry voice.

"Really," said Jiraiya with forced brightness, letting his mouth run automatically while he tried to think up a real escape plan. "Then you have come to exactly the right young man! I've been meaning to start a reasonably priced line of beauty aids guaranteed to make you look like a fresh faced twenty year old!" he beamed a smile at her. "I don't suppose you'd like to be my first customer?"

The pale, shambling woman smiled, or at least she tried to smile. Lips pulled back from pointed yellowed teeth transforming her face into a death's head grin. "I much prefer a tried and true method. Eating the life force of a child." She reached out with a clawed hand and tore the kite fabric away from Jiraiya.

Unless you are very careful creating the seal on a summoning scroll or tag, damaging said seal will have an undesirable effect. The energies holding the object in its own private dimension will become unstable. In other words, the stored thing, be it a weapon, water, or an explosion, suddenly reappears. Moreover, the energy containing the summoned object is usually not released in the typical way, like in a puff of smoke, but instead tends to lash out as a series of sparks. These sparks can then go on to damage other tags.

There is a reason why the explosive tags used by many shinobi are so intricately sealed and counter sealed. In the early days of being a shinobi, nobody wanted to carry the tags on missions. One hit in the right place would leave you falling gently in pieces all over the landscape.

Of course Mibuki Uchiha never used such precautions. His tags were hardly that dangerous, and besides, he was always very cautious about how he handled them.

There was a series of summoning detonations in a swirling tornado of bright blue sparks. Six large, fat, squealing rats orbited in a tight circle and then soared towards the white kunoichi on the remnants of the air tags that Mibuki had used to keep the kite aloft.

The walking corpse lady took one look at the flying rodents and let out a screech loud enough to melt the wax in your ears. She dropped Jiraiya, and flailed about her head with her arms. "Not the rats, not the rats, not the rats…" she began to shriek over and over.

Jiraiya sat up rubbing his posterior from where he had been dropped. "What's the matter with her?" he asked the world in general.

"She doesn't like chipmunks… or rats apparently," said Hana thoughtfully. They watched her scream and run about for a few seconds.

"She is not a nice person!" proclaimed Chyrio.

Hana snorted. "No Duh, she tried to brainwash you into stabbing me."

"I meant that she was not a nice person because she couldn't see the true beauty of Mister Whiskers!" She gave the soggy chipmunk a big squeeze. "Look at him! Isn't he so brave trying to rescue me like that?" She gave him a big hug and a kiss. "He is my hero! Anyone who couldn't love a chipmunk like this is simply not human!" She turned back to Mister Whiskers and continued to shower him with affection.

Jiraiya shrank back. "Did your sister… just kiss a chipmunk… covered in vomit?" he whispered.

Hana sighed. "Welcome to my family."

Jiraiya watched the scene in horror for a second and then shut his eyes. "Not to ruin the mood, but shouldn't we be getting out of here before the ugly weirdo vampire lady starts paying attention to us again?"

"Enough!" howled the pale skinned woman in a cry of frustration and pain. "I don't care! I have had enough of this foolishness and of all the bickering and of these filthy animals and of all of you!" She threw up her hands scattering rats every which way. "I could care less about the master's plans for you all... I could care less about his goals!" She slowly rose, floating into the air. Power crackled from every pore, her limp hair whipped around her head as if she was standing in a gale. "I must get my body back!" she sobbed like a madwoman, "I will devour you all!"

The children shrank back, and she floated back down to the pavement and took a single step forward. The mass of pent up chakra fractured the ground underneath her foot.

A giant fist whirled overhead and slammed into the kunoichi, sending her soaring across the plaza. "Are you children alright?" boomed a towering figure in a kindly but loud voice.

Huddled together Hana, Hishyota, Jiraiya and Chyrio looked up into Choji Akimichi's face. Dumbfounded, they nodded. "Good!" Choji said with a grim smile, "I think... it would be best if the four of you ran along to the market and found a good place to hide. Now if you will excuse me, I have to teach some people that the Emporium of Konoha is no place for a street brawl."


	63. Chapter 23 Theology and Civilization pt4

"Ugly... Ugly... Ugly.. Too slutty... Ugly... Stupid... Not slutty enough... Ugly..."

Chirosu Hatake groaned and tried to stretch out her back as her sister moved things around on the rack of clothes. There was another loud rumble. "Come on! I think I hear thunder.. I don't want to get wet." Hebisu ignored her, holding up a tight red blouse to her chest. "Will you hurry it up?" Chirosu grumbled, shifting one set of bags to her other hand. "It's your turn to carry the stuff."

"Is not," said Hebisu in a little sing song voice. "You said that if I waited while you tried on that ridiculous outfit from the Hidden Stone village, you'd carry the packages the rest of the way home." Hebisu sighed and moved from this rack of clothing to the next one.

"That was an hour ago, when I thought we were still headed back home. This is your third 'little detour.'" Chirosu hopped from one foot to the other. "Come on... I want to get going, my feet hurt."

Hebisu sniffed. "They didn't hurt when you were the one looking for clothes."

"We've been here long enough to go to home and back twice!" snapped Chirosu. She closed her eyes as a downward gust of wind lifted the dust from the street. "If you're not going to quit looking for bargains, the least you could do is haul around your own damn bags!"

Hebisu didn't answer, she just stood there staring open mouthed at the sky. Chirosu waited for her to respond for a moment and then gave her a nudge. "Hey! What's the matter did you get caught in a genjutsu or something? Are you listening to me?"

"Did you see that?" asked Hebisu in a small voice.

"See what?"

"It looked like two kids flying on a kite," Hebisu said in a state of shock.

"You mean flying a kite? Holding the string?"

Hebisu shook her head slightly. "No. I mean holding on to it while it was gliding through the air."

Chirisu studied her twin carefully. "Is this some sort of 'Oh I'm so sick with a fever that I'm hallucinating so you have to carry all the bags home' excuse type thing again?"

The street was lit by a bright flash, followed by a loud crack of thunder. Chirosu looked up. A second later a figure soaring on an enormous pair of wings flashed overhead. Hebisu glanced over at her sister. "And I suppose I'm hallucinating that as well?" There was another peal of rolling noise.

"I think that there's a fight going on," said Chirosu slowly, still watching the sky.

"Really?" said Hebisu brightly, clapping her hands with glee. "That's wonderful! Who's fighting? Do you think we'll have time to go watch?"

Chirosu hesitated. The shopping had been a little bit exciting at first, the running around trying to find some sort of new decorating ideas for their mother. But that got old quick. Unless you wanted to listen to Hebisu (No... I do not think using a coffin as a coffee table would be a great conversation piece), decorating was just well... decorating. How exciting could it be? Right now, especially with her having to carry all the bags, and Hebisu taking her sweet time trying on everything, she was getting really bored. Still, her mother was expecting the decorating stuff (Fine! If you really want to try hanging fruit from the ceiling and letting the guests swipe at it with a katana because you think it will be 'fun' we'll get some fruit and run it by mom!) And Chirosu really did not want to keep her mother waiting. "I don't know," she said slowly. "I really don't think we should keep mom waiting. Maybe we should bring all this stuff home before we go running off anywhere..."

Hebisu stared pleadingly at her twin sister with wide eyes and pouting lips. "Oh come on! We barely have enough time to get back home and then make it to the cafe at three. Mom will understand. We'll just dump the stuff quickly in the backroom at the cafe and then go see what all the fuss is about."

The ground shook with a low bass roar. Chirosu caught sight of a group of shinobi wearing Konoha flak jackets bounding rooftop to rooftop overhead. There was no mistaking those broad shoulders or that strong determined chin... Asuma Sarutobi Jr. "I think this might be a little more than just a fight," Chirosu said slowly, trying to think of some way to convince her sister to let her join the battle… Fighting side by side with Asuma-kun… now that would be worth skipping work for...

"What do you mean?"

Her arms full of packages, Chirosu pointed as best she could. "I mean, I think I just saw Asuma-kun and an assault team go by overhead. I think the village is under attack."

"Even better!" squealed Hebisu. She grabbed her twin's arm and began to pull, sending all the bags and boxes tumbling in the street. "We cannot waste this opportunity! Screw the shopping, let's go kick some ass!" She pulled her sister for three steps before stopping suddenly and checking her reflection in a store window. "How's my outfit?"

Chirosu gaped at her. "What?"

"How's my outfit? Do I look hot?"

Chirosu closed her mouth and rubbed her hand across her face. "Who cares? We're going to a battle, not a fashion show."

Hebisu snorted at her. "Not just any battle, we're going to a battle where Asuma-kun will be valiantly fighting. He might get hurt and need some someone to patch him up." She glanced at Chirosu and winked. "Guys are always falling for the cute nurses who minister to their wounds after a battle... I want to make sure I look my best!" She primped with her left hand. "Now, be honest with me... How's my hair?"

Chirosu shook her head and tugged on her sister's arm. "You look fine... Let's just go."

* * *

"Stay away from the glass I said!" Ino snapped sharply pulling Inoji away from the window. "Broken glass doesn't care which side you're on, it cuts everyone just the same."

"Yes mother," said Inoji meekly. She stepped back from the window, but she didn't take her eyes off the scene in front of her.

The only other battle she had been in had been the Kurokaze attack three years ago. That had been kind of scary, even if she and her little brother had spent most of it in one of the bunkers inside the Hokage monument with Grandma Akimichi. This one was much more scary… enemies were attacking and it was happening right in front of her! It didn't help that Shikasu and his sister were out there on the plaza fighting as well.

She had covered her mouth with excitement as he flailed at the attackers with his puppet. She gasped when he rescued his sister twice using the shadow jutsu of the Nara clan.

She couldn't help it. Inoji just had to stand there and watch every little thing Shikasu did. He was just so... Well maybe dreamy wasn't quite the right word, but he was definitely making a good showing of himself.

When the attacks had started, her mother had made her get down behind the counter and hide. "This will just be a small short squabble," Ino had stated confidently. "Nothing the ANBU can't handle, we're just going to stay here out of their way."

That was before the wind jutsu toppled the building three doors down, and either cracked, or smashed every window on the block. Her mother was up and on her feet in a flash. "Damn!" she muttered, as a second storefront crumbled. "Now Kawamura-san has even more excuses to be behind on his rent." She shook herself and called out, steel in her voice. "Inoji, I need you to get the spare medical-nin field kit. The wounded are going to need us."

Inoji ran to the back and grabbed the case, while her mother raced around the store gathering extra items they might need. Inoji waited in a ready position next to the front door... And that was where she started watching him.

Her heart beat a little bit faster each time Shikasu put himself into danger. She was still looking when the fountain he was taking cover behind, exploded after being hit with a sizeable chunk of masonry. Through the dust and spraying water she could plainly see his bloodied body sprawled on the ground.

Inoji was out the door before she even thought about it. "Inoji! Wait!" screamed her mother. Her voice was muffled as the door swung shut.

She sprinted, legs pounding the stonework of the plaza. She ducked another piece of rubble that went whistling overhead, and skidded to a stop next to Shikasu. She flung the kit open and froze. With Shikasu lying before her, her mind had drawn a complete blank of where she was supposed to begin. She stared at him helplessly for a second and then reached out and shook his shoulder. "Um, excuse me... Are you okay?" There was no response. "Shikasu?" she called again shaking harder. She pulled him up and gave him a harder shake. "Shikasu... Say something!" she yelled.

Shikasu very slowly pried open one eye. "Ow!"

"You're okay!" she squealed happily, clapping her hands and inadvertently letting Shikasu drop back down.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, slightly louder this time.

"Oh! Here, let me get you some bandages," she said digging through the kit.

"Why is it raining?" asked Shikasu drunkenly.

Inoji giggled, "It's not rain it's..." She stopped as she heard a woman's voice shout out a warning. She looked over at a young woman holding a huge metal fan who was pointing frantically. Inoji turned and glanced up as a shadow fell over them.

An emaciated man with wild blue eyes stared down at her. "If there is one thing in this life I can not stand... It is when things do not go the way I planned them too..." He giggled in a high pitched nervous way. "I'm getting sick of this!" he snarled, his voice turning deep and raspy, "I want all of you to get out of my way!" He raised a fist and brought it down

"Partial expansion jutsu!" Inoji cried raising her arm. She held up her enormous left hand to block. There was a sharp pop as the skinny man's punch did something to her finger.

Inoji screamed. She had never felt anything that had hurt so bad. The thin shinobi giggled again. "Stop crying fatso!" he taunted in a high pitched voice.

"Hey," snapped Shikasu, struggling to get to his feet, "You take that back! She's..." The shinobi flicked him in the chest with one finger. Shikasu flipped backwards three meters and tumbled down making a horrible gurgling noise.

"Shikasu!" shrieked Inoji.

"I told you to stop making all that noise!" Growled the ninja in his deep voice. He raised both fists again.

His eyes grew unfocused and for a second his body sagged and looked as if it would fall over. The blue eyed man staggered, but caught his feet. He shook his head violently as if he was trying to clear it. "Keep your damn hands off of my daughter," hissed Ino in a cold, deadly tone.

The lanky ninja slowly raised his head and giggled. "And who's going to stop me? You Yamanaka-san?" He spun with a jerky movement. His mad blue eyes bored into Ino. "That's right, I know all about the little tricks your clan has." He smiled evilly at her and tapped his forehead. "They won't work with me… You see the Gods themselves talk to me, they have a little room right behind my eyes. They tell me what to do... and who to punish... Even if you can push down or take away my mind," his voice dropped to the lower register, "you can't remove the voice of the Gods! And right now, they're telling me to punish you, you little whore!"

Ino's face blanched for a second, followed immediately by a frown. "Shut your mouth!" she snarled. She made a fresh hand sign for another psychic attack.

The thin shinobi stumbled for a second, but then laughed it off. "I know all about your secrets, Ino Yamanaka. I know all about everyone in this filthy little cesspool of a village!" Froth stained his lips as he charged forward at Inoji's mother. Ino skipped backwards and dodged a backhand punch that shattered a telephone pole. "The others all laugh at me... Those idiots say that my planning is all worthless. They don't understand that the will of the Gods is hidden in the pattern of life!" Inoji cringed as her mother spun away from a devastating kick, and countered with her own series of blows. The spindly shinobi staggered slightly from a kick that came through his blocks. "You can only stop me for a brief time... What good will that do?" He smiled, rubbing his bruises and advanced again. "Sooner or later I will manage to hit you... You're nothing but a support shinobi, without the rest of your team to surround you, your fate is predetermined! Prepare to..."

"Dynamic entry!" yelled an obnoxiously cheerful voice. A powerful kick landed on the gaunt ninja sending him spinning away in the dust. Through her tears of pain and fear, Inoji could make out a figure in bright green tights. "Have no fear Ino-chan! The beautiful blue beast of Konoha has come out of retirement ...one last time!"

Might Gai turned to face the gangly ninja as he was climbing back to his feet. "Where is the honor in attacking children? If it is a battle you want, why don't you try facing me instead?"

The wild blue eyes studied Gai as the shinobi's mouth shut with a click. "What the hell is that you are wearing old man?" he sneered. "Get out of here before you hurt yourself!"

"Okay, two things," said Gai sensei, holding up his fingers. "First of all, I may not be as young as I once was but, believe me, through a healthy diet full of roughage and plenty of exercise I am still in the springtime of my youth!" He posed for a second before continuing. "Secondly; are you admiring my tights?" He reached down with one hand and snapped them. " They are stretchable, breathable, form fitting, thermally insulated, and the ultimate in modern shinobi wear!" Gai grinned and gave a thumbs up. "I carry a whole line of colors and sizes all available at very reasonable prices over at the..."

"They're hideous!" shrieked the gaunt ninja, his eyes blazing with wrath. "Never have I met anyone as indecent as you!" He charged forward fists raised.

Inoji was surprised it was such a one sided fight at first, but then she thought about it a little and it all made sense. Even in his fifties, Might Gai was still fast, strong, and textbook perfect on every martial arts form. The emaciated man with the mad eyes had unbelievable strength, but his speed and fighting skill were just above average. Plus every time he was about to land a blow on Guy-sensei, he would falter, or stumble or suddenly look confused.

"Your mom is awesome!" whispered Shikasu beside her in an excited voice. "Look! She's hammering him with the mind disruption jutsu at just the right times! It's too bad your dad and my dad aren't here... Together they'd squash this dweeb like a bug!"

A Leaf hurricane kick from Gai sent the shinobi spinning away. A second kick flipped him over as he was trying to rise. Gai slowly pushed the thin shinobi back, blow by blow. Ino paced behind him to keep in range. "Go Akimichi-san! Go Gai-sensei!" cheered Shikasu waving frantically.

Inoji's face went bright red as her mother glanced over and gave the pair of them a most intense, chilly stare. "Inoji! You are going to go back to the pharmacy… And this time you are going to listen to me and stay there!. We are going to have a very long talk later," she said directly to her daughter. Then Ino turned and almost met Shikasu's eyes before shuddering and staring at some point past his shoulder. "Your... little friend... should go find his parents." She looked very upset. Stiffly she walked after Gai.

She could tell… her mother was furious with her. Inoji managed to hold back the tears for about twenty seconds. Shikasu looked at her as they fell, a blank expression on his face. Why couldn't she be stronger, like Tsudemi? She never cried! There was a rustle as Shikasu pulled away from her. She just knew that he was going to start to make fun of her, calling the the crying fat girl, just like all the other kids at school and that made her cry all the harder.

He grabbed the handle on the medical kit and dragged it closer to them. Then he surprised the dickens out of her by gingerly reaching over and giving her a pat on the shoulder. "Are you hurt bad?" he asked. "Do you… um… need something from the medical kit? If you can tell me what it looks like, I'll... um... get it for you…"

"I'm fine," she sobbed.

Shikasu cleared his throat. "You don't look fine."

Inoji looked away from him. "I've ruined everything. Everything was going so well and now I'm in trouble, and I'm not going to be able to go out tonight, and Mako and Tsudemi will think I'm lame and..." she sniffed and rubbed her sleeve across her nose. "I never should have tried this. It's all a big mistake. And now I've screwed up everything!" she sobbed.

Shikasu pursed his lips and looked concerned for a moment. "Um… What are you talking about?" he asked hesitantly.

Inoji sniffed again. "I was just trying to help when you got hurt, and instead I got hurt, and now I can't even bandage you up." She dried her eyes again using her other sleeve. "My Mom is really mad at me for coming out here, and now... she's mad at me for talking to you." Inoji stared at her feet and sniffled. "I just can't do anything right."

"Dude!" said Shikasu. "You blocked that guys punch! And he's like freaky strong!" He grinned at her. "You've got the Akimichi family jutsu just like your dad! I think you totally rock!"

Inoji sniffed again. "Really?"

Shikasu nodded. "Absolutely. Someday, when I graduate from the academy and you graduate from the academy, I totally want to be on your squad." He smiled. "We could start the new Shika-Ino-Cho combo."

Inoji stared at him. That… was the nicest thing anyone her age had said to her... ever. Forgetting her broken finger for a second, she flung her arms around him, hugged him hard and kissed him on the cheek. She then pulled back and blushed. Shikasu was staring at her, wide eyed and open mouthed. "Sorry," she said in a small voice. "I just… Um…"

"Inoji!" Choji Akimichi's anxious bellow cut through the background noise. His running footsteps thundered on the paving stones. "Where's your mother?"

She tried to point, but the action sent waves of pain rolling down her arm. With one oversized hand her father gently picked her up and set her back on her feet. "A few jonin have set up a triage center on the far side of the plaza… Go there now!" Choji glanced over at both Shikasu and his older sister. "You're injured," he stated, concern lining his face. "The pair of you should go as well, it's not safe here." He gave Inoji a nudge in the right direction and then charged off after her mother.

Inoji turned back to Shikasu. "Sorry," she squeaked, "I have to go." Cradling her arm, she started running.

* * *

As Shikasu watched her leave, he slowly reached up and touched his cheek. "Ow?" he said in wonder. He started and looked up as a second shadow crossed over him.

Even with the left side of her face swollen, Karua could still crack a smile. "So little brother… I wonder whose smooch mom would want to hear about more? Mine or yours?" she lisped.


	64. Chapter 24: Unsung Heroes: part 1

**Chapter 24: Unsung Heroes**

Hizashi thought he had gotten used to feeling useless. He thought that in the three years since he had lost his byakugan he could have accepted by now the things he could and could not do.

He had never felt more helpless in his life that he did at this very moment.

This morning had been bad enough… He had been hunted… contemptuously toyed with… in his own home by some stalker that had run the moment his cousin appeared. And while that was embarrassing, he could rationalize it away. He accepted that he was slightly behind the other shinobi in training that were his age… but Hizashi Hyuga was sure that he would figure out some way to overcome the disadvantage of being blind, and 'catch up' so to speak. After all, he had helped ANBU Ookami and ANBU Tsuyoki figure out who his assailant had been… that had to count for something, didn't it?

But now… Right now in the middle of the Konoha Emporium plaza...

That mystery attacker, the one whose voice oozed confidence, had been tearing his friends and family apart, and he was worse than worthless. Ookami had fallen in seconds to a storm of violence. His older sister and Ichisui were being tossed around, but so far had been lucky. Hizashi wanted to help. Like every other shinobi he had met, like every shinobi in every story he had heard, he had wanted to protect everything that was important to him. He dropped into a juken stance and faced the attacker.

"Get down, stupid!" screamed Hishyoni, shoving him hard to the ground. There was a whirling clash of steel right above his head. He heard Hishyoni grunt from a landed blow and then jump away.

There was a whooshing of air as the attacker sped past him, followed by the fresh sounds of battle. The patter of light steps, followed by the clink of a kunai on the pavement as someone knelt next to him was obviously his cousin. "Hizashi-kun?" Kusumina whispered next to him. "Are you hurt?" Hizashi refused to lift his head up. He could not bear it for anyone to see his tears. He settle for giving his head a quick shake. "Good," said his cousin urgently, "we need to get out of here as quickly as possible. This is beyond any of..."

She was cut off by a short, quick, cry. "Hishyoni!" Ichisui shouted in alarm. There was the sound of a charge followed by a furious exchange of blows.

Two seconds later there was the sound of a body falling on the paving stones of the Emporium plaza. "Heh," snorted the confident voice, " You shouldn't have come charging in like that Uchiha... You left yourself wide open." There was a series of slow footsteps in their direction. "Now... Where were we?" The voice chuckled. "Oh yes... The pair of you are coming with me."

Kusumina roughly pulled Hizashi up by throwing an arm around his torso. He felt both her arms moving as she awkwardly started a series of hand signs. "Oh no you don't," spat the confident voice. Kusumina yelped and was forcibly yanked away. "Now where did a little girl like you learn a jutsu like that?" he asked, his voice full of amusement. Kusumina screamed.

Hizashi tried, he really did. "You leave her alone!" he shouted swinging wildly with his palm strikes. A few of them even hit. The attacker just laughed at his blows. A kick sent Hizashi sprawling down. He gasped with pain and struggled to breathe as a strong hand picked him up and tossed him over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"All right you lot!" yelled the confident voice. "We've got two of the targets. We need to start thinking about getting out of here before this sleepy little town wakes up, and starts putting up a real fight." The man carrying him turned about. "Ao! Shiro! Get your men together! We going to be leaving!" He turned about again. "Murasaki!" he bellowed. "Where the hells are you? We need to get..."

There was a buzzing whine vibrating the air with the powerful thrum of chakra. Hizashi could never mistake the distinctive sound of the rasengan. Hizashi heard the attacker's voice gasp once in surprise. There was a powerful rush of force and heat. Suddenly he was flying through the air. His cry didn't drown out the subsequent summoning explosion. Strong arms caught him. "Are you okay kid?" asked a voice he didn't recognize.

Hizashi nodded. "My cousin, Kusumina she..."

The voice chuckled, "Don't worry my clones caught her too. The boss would be pissed if I dropped his daughter." His rescuer delicately cleared his throat. "Hey kid, do you think you'd be okay if I put you down for a second?"

"I can stand," said Hizashi nervously, suddenly tensing up. What new dangers were approaching? "Why?"

"Great," said the voice, plunking him back down on the pavement. "If I don't readjust my towel here, the entire plaza is going to witness Konohamaru Sarutobi in all his naked glory."

* * *

Ino glanced over her shoulder as the ground jumped from a huge detonation. This confrontation had turned from a fight into a battle. The amount of damage was beginning to multiply as more Konoha shinobi began to show up and started throwing more destructive jutsu into the fray. Her next glance was reserved for Choji, who had charged across the plaza towards her, following a pale kunoichi he had just punched. He was using the smaller version of his multi size jutsu, he was a mere five meters tall. Every time there was a loud explosion he would nervously turn about to assess the damage being done. She hoped that it wouldn't cost too much to rebuild the plaza. She could tell already that his was going to severely impact the month's profits.

The blue eyed ninja threw back his head and laughed as one of his compatriots was pounded by Konohamaru's rasengan. "That will teach you Aku!" he howled, pointing a triumphant finger. "That will teach you to... Oof!" He grunted as Gai-sensei took the opportunity to land a another kick. He staggered back and glared accusingly.

"Ao!" snapped the elderly-looking pale kunoichi clutching his shoulder for balance, "Forget this! You're outnumbered three to one. We need to regroup. We need to get back to Aku and get out of here!"

The shinobi gave Choji a studied glance. A skeletal grin spread on his face as he took a slow step back from Might Gai, fists clenched. "This display of yours is pathetic old man! If you didn't have that whore there to protect you," he snarled, his crazed blue eyes flicking over to Ino. "this fight would be a very different story."

"I told you to shut your mouth!" Ino yelled, trying not to flinch. Seeing Inoji trying to help that boy had made her ten times more sensitive about things she thought she had long ago put behind her. She couldn't help herself, she glanced back at Choji. He stood there looking surprised for a brief second… then his eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted into a scowl.

Visitors to the Hidden Leaf village would often remark that for such an intimidating man Choji Akimichi seemed to have absolutely no temper. If someone took a slight to something he said, he would always be the first to apologize. If he found himself to be in an embarrassing situation, or the butt of a joke, he would always smile and laugh along with everyone. If he was insulted, or if someone tried to goad him into a fight, he would always be the bigger man and walk away. He had found his place being everyone's best friend. He accepted his role as Konoha's jolly giant. He was 'Uncle Choji' to all the children in the village. He was liked and admired by all.

Choji loved his wife Ino unconditionally. Choji accepted her, despite the rumors, and despite the whispered insults, and foul glances from his clan. Choji held her in the highest regard. Despite everything that had happened, he treated her like a queen. Ino loved him for it.

There were only three things that could remove the smile from Choji's face. The first was calling him fat. Despite the years, and slimming down considerably, he was still sensitive about his weight. The second was insulting his wife. He made it quite clear to everyone in the Akimichi clan and the Leaf Village that certain matters were never to be discussed in his presence or in the presence of anyone in his family.

The third was a threat to the village and it's children. He had almost gone mad with grief when Hideo, her... nephew, who had been living with them since Ino was pregnant with Inoji, went missing during the Black Wind clan attack. The only thing that snapped him out of it, was that Ino needed him to be the strong one taking care of things while she grieved.

The wizened kunoichi slapped ineffectually at her teammate. "Stop it, you mad fool!" she hissed." All the emaciated man did in response, was laugh

Gai glanced back at Choji and eased his weight forward. "I don't like the impolite way you're speaking about Mrs. Akimichi, friend."

"And I don't care what you think!" spat the thin shinobi. He unceremoniously dumped the grey haired woman against a wall. He slowly paced backwards,circling ever so slightly to the right, stepping around a storefront that had partially collapsed. "You and everyone in this village are pathetic creatures beneath my notice. The Gods themselves guide my actions and my fate... And right now, they clamor for that woman to pay for her sins! I will never be stopped by someone like you!" Frothing at the mouth, the gaunt ninja charged. Gai leaped forward to meet him.

Just as they were about to clash, Ino pummeled the thin man's mind yet again. He had a twisted, diseased, way of thinking, and personally it was beginning to make her a little sick each time she fought her way past his mental defenses. Still, it pleased her to see, that even though she was retired, how effective her jutsu was against this opponent.

Except this time it wasn't. Her piercing attack slid away from his mind as if it were encased in a smooth steel ball. "Gai-sensei!" she cried out to warn him.

Gai's attack had perfect form his punch-kick- block combination was like watching a well choreographed dance. Except... that his opponent's blocked blow had an inhuman amount of force behind it. There was a dry snap as the gaunt madman's punch snapped martial arts master's forearm.

Gai winced but swung a backhanded punch at the thin shinobi's nose. His remaining arm was caught and twisted into a hammerlock. The blued eyed man gave a high pitched giggle, "A little pain and you lose all of your focus in battle? What nerve you have calling yourself a shinobi!" He heaved on the arm and sent Gai-sensei flying through a plate glass window. The ninja stretched his stick thin legs and gave a tremendous belly laugh.

"I don't see what's so funny," whined the kunoichi with the sagging flesh."I'm not sure I have enough chakra left to block you from another of that kunoichi's psychic attacks."

"I'm laughing," the thin man continued in a deep rattling voice, "because it has come down to me, the slut, and the fat man," he growled, staring at Choji. "The old man in those idiotic tights," he titttered in a sing song voice, "was obviously being punished for the sin of pride. Being a shinobi is clearly a young man's game. I'm laughing because I'm finally going to be able to answer the important theological question: Which base appetite is the greater wrong in the eyes of the gods? Could it be lust?" he asked pointing at Ino, "Or is it gluttony?" He nodded to Choji and smiled.

Ino took a cautious step forward. The gaunt shinobi's constant harping on her past was obviously designed to get on her nerves, and it was working. But that probably meant that the thin shinobi had planned ahead for that occurrence. When she launched her attack, she would have to be extra careful. She started to take another step, when an oversized hand blocked her way and gently moved her back. Ino looked up "Choji? What are you doing?"

Choji's only response was to step in front of Ino. He crouched down and spread his arms wide in a defensive grappling pose. The watery blue eyes of the skinny man creased in annoyance for a second before he craned his neck trying to see around Choji.

Ino shuddered as his gaze found the spot where Inoji and... that boy were sitting. "I have an idea," the thin man giggled, his voice going up an octave and his face twitching oddly. "Why don't we kill the little fat girl first? After all, the spawn of such a hideous union such as yours must be pretty foul." He glanced up at Choji and smiled wide. "Yes… That is what I shall do... The girl… she goes first."

"You are trying to goad my wife and me into attacking you," said Choji his voice going very cold. "I don't know what your plan is, but it will not work."

The gaunt shinobi tilted his head to one side. "The master did warn me against tangling with the Shika-Ino-Cho formation. He told me that you were all much more powerful shinobi than you seemed. He said you were all quite skilled and very dangerous." He giggled again. "Well, what else was I to do? Personally, him telling me that was like putting a bowl full of pork down on the floor and telling your dog very nicely not to eat it." He smiled and spun, facing the limp kunoichi. "Shiro, your powers are stronger at close range, yes?"

The woman nodded once. "Yes," she gasped hoarsely, "But my chakra is so low right now, I'd have to be almost touching my target."

The skinny shinobi smiled. "Well in that case..." He quickly stepped over to the pale woman, barely keeping herself upright against the wall. With one quick movement he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulders. "I guess I'd better carry you into this fight with me."

"What are you doing? Put me down!" She called out. The lean man just adjusted her slightly and strode purposefully towards Choji.

"Now now," he called out giggling. "I do want to test the strength of my righteousness against the legendary brute power of the Akimichi clan."

"Then put me down! Leave me out of your suicidal fantasies! At least get me to Aku so I can recharge!"

"Why won't you trust me? The gods themselves are guiding my actions!" The lanky shinobi stopped directly in front of Choji. "Now then Choji Akimichi," he said in a cold whisper. "The only way I'll spare your offspring over there is for you to face me alone... Strength against strength... Are you man enough for that?" He gave a skeletal grin up at Choji and held his arms open wide in a wrestler's stance. "Of are you going to hide behind the powers of your whore?"

She saw the sudden tension in her husband's shoulders. "Don't do it Choji," Ino warned quietly.

Choji glanced back at Ino, and hesitated. The gaunt man seized this opportunity to rush forward.

They clashed together like a pair of bull elephants. They roared and shoved at each other for purchase. Ino tried again to invade the blue eyed ninja's mind but was repelled by the defenses of the pale kunoichi. Very quickly they both fought each other to a standstill.

The same was happening in the real world. Despite his massive size, Choji could not budge the slender ninja. The thin man held his ground, locked his arms and held Choji at bay. In his frustration Choji began calling on more and more chakra in an attempt to overpower the shinobi. Finally in his efforts he began burning enough chakra that the excess began to leak from his back, blazing forth in a giant pair of butterfly wings.

With a triumphant cry, the blue eyed madman gave a powerful heave and flipped the kunoichi he had been carrying off his shoulders and high into the air. Screaming, she soared over Choji's head and tumbled down behind the Akimichi giant.

Her scream turned into a squeal of ecstasy as she passed through the gargantuan fields of excess chakra coming off of Choji's back. Ino saw her open her mouth wide, and inhale.

Choji staggered. The pale skinned woman latched onto his back like a leech. As she stuck there, her skin began to fill out, her bent spine straightened, and her hair grew longer and more lustrous. The other shinobi pulled one hand free of Choji's mighty fist, and punched him once. Her husband spun and fell to his knees.

"Choji!" Ino cried out. She fired off a pair of mind disturbance jutsu, one at each of the two attackers. The thin shinobi stumbled in the middle of running up to kick Choji and tumbled to the ground. The pale kunoichi looking younger and fitter by the second, turned away the psychic blow with a frightening amount of ease.

She lightly dropped off of Choji's back. "You might have told me what you had in mind Ao," She said in a youthful chiming voice. She wiped her mouth with her hand and made a distasteful frown. "Not to sound unappreciative, but I much prefer the chakra one gets from the young. It has such a sweeter flavor to it."

Choji rolled on the ground, gasping. Ino took an angry step forward. "What have you done to my husband?" she snarled.

The pale kunoichi now smiled a youthful smile "I simply replenished myself. I'm sure he'll be fine." She chuckled and grinned cruelly. "That is, if you can get him some chakra in the next five minutes. I'm afraid I was terribly malnourished and pulled a bit more out of him than I should have... Whoopsie!" She had a light musical laugh.

Ino charged, striking at her with kicks, cutting at her with kunai, pounding on her mind with every opportunity. The white skinned woman fought back. Her mental jutsu was very potent. With enough time it would certainly wear her down, but Ino had no intention of giving her that time.

That all changed when the other attacker, Ao, the white kunoichi had called him, rose to his feet and unsteadily joined the fray. More and more she was forced to take a defensive stance. Farther and farther she was being pushed away from Choji. Choji who needed her medical expertise.

Ao began to laugh, a slow giggle that grew into a maniacal cackle. "I guess I have my answer!" he howled. "Gluttony before lust!" Ino dodged a pair of thrown kunai from the woman, only to walk right into a punch from the shinobi's stick thin arm. She felt three ribs snap. "Or maybe not," cooed the madman. "Maybe I should just be patient and see who the Gods decide to finish off first."

A lancing bolt of pressure from the pale kunoichi made her feel her head was on fire. Ino fought most of it off but she couldn't avoid the leg sweep from the laughing man. The wind was knocked out of her as she fell and her ribs exploded with agony, but thankfully she didn't injure anything else. "Well," said the emaciated man, looking down with a disappointed frown. "I was hoping you would last a little bit longer than this." He sighed. "Oh well... I guess..."

Hands of shadow twisted up his body and pulled him right off his feet. He yelped as his head slammed down on the plaza pavement. The pale skinned kunoichi looked up in surprise and began a long series of hand signs. Ino put a stop to that with a well placed mind destruction lance. The yellow haired woman lost her focus for a second.

The enemy kunoichi turned on Ino, pointing an accusing finger "You little..." as she pointed, Ino felt a crushing force build in her temples.

Shadow hands spun through the air and raked the kunoichi across the eyes. She screamed... somehow still dodging sharp spikes of darkness that sought to run her through. Finally she retreated with six shinobi wearing konoha flak jackets in pursuit. "Ao!" she screeched as she dodged and ran, "Get as many of your team as you can! I'll coordinate them! We'll regroup on Aku!"

Ino forced herself to her hands and knees and tried to crawl to where Choji had collapsed. Someone ran up beside her and helped her up.

Ino was afraid to look at her rescuer. She knew the teenage girl and the boy sitting next to Inoji were his children. The shadow style was his jutsu. The last thing she wanted right now was to see him again. It was childish she knew, but she turned her head away.

"Akimichi-san?" said a woman's voice in a cool, no nonsense tone. "What do you need?"

Ino exhaled and turned. One of the Nara clan yes... but not him, thank the Gods. "My husband," Ino hissed through her throbbing ribs. "Needs treatment."

The Nara jonin brushed her hair away from her scarred face. "Right," she said making a hand sign at a second group of Konoha shinobi, "I'll have someone send up some medical-nin."

"No time, " grunted Ino, half with pain half with relief. She pulled the pair of them forward, as she began a healing flow of chakra in her hands and started treating her own injuries. "Just help get me over to him. I'll fix him… myself."


	65. Chapter 24: Unsung Heroes: part 2

Asuma doubled his speed as he heard the rasengan's pulsing hum followed by its detonation over the sounds of fighting. He knew that sound meant that someone very important to him was in that battle up ahead... either the Hokage or his 'uncle'. He jumped a low building and skidded around a corner.

As far as battlefields went, he had seen worse. Casualties seemed to be light, the number of attackers seemed to be very small, and the defenders were doing a good job of holding their own. Nokito Nara was leading a team across the plaza, fighting off a pair of the attackers, and helping the injured. Closer by, he watched his Uncle Konohamaru and a mob of his half naked clones swarm another one of the attackers. The red haired shinobi was destroying clones right and left, but that didn't stop him from getting pummeled from above by another rasengan. The explosion rocked the plaza and threw up a huge cloud of debris and dirt. He covered his face in the crook of his elbow and let the shockwave pass.

When the dust cleared enough, he noticed a solitary figure, digging frantically, through the ruins of an outdoor kiosk. The figure looked up and waved at him. "Help me! Please!" it shouted. "My little brother's trapped under here!"

Asuma ran over. He seized the edge of one of the fallen walls of the hut and heaved upwards. The young man next to him frantically dug through broken bits of wood and bolts of cloth until he found a pair of feet. He pulled on them until a bruised, dusty boy emerged into the sunlight.

The boy coughed and looked around, dazed. "There now Mibuki," said his older brother, his hands glowing with chakra as he began a medical exam. "We've got you out of there, everything will be just fine now."

"Ichisui," sputtered the boy, pointing upwards, "look out!"

Something swooped low overhead. Both Asuma and the older boy ducked involuntarily. Something flying on a pair of huge purple wings banked and circled.

Asuma took up a protective position over the young boy and his older brother. "Keep healing him," he said quietly. "I'll cover you." He threw a handful of shuriken. The flying creature dipped once and then folded its wings and went into a dive.

A demon dropped out of the sky in front of him.

She was taller and broader across the chest than he was. Sunlight glinted off the iridescent purple scales that covered her skin. Two enormous membranous wings, like a bat's, folded themselves neatly across her back. She growled at Asuma while sparks crackled along her fingertips.

"Lightning style," he thought quickly. The lessons drilled into him by Shikamaru-sensei and Kakashi-sensei sprung to the fore of his mind. "The best element to counter lightning jutsu is..."

His hands flew through the various seals. "Earth style, Stone dragon jutsu!" The pavement beneath his feet fractured and then split wide open. A roaring serpent lifted him up into the air.

The kunoichi wasted no time in firing off a lightning bolt. It crackled through the air directly towards him. At the last second the dragon swerved, and the electricity grounded itself out harmlessly in the beast's maw.

Asuma continued his hand signs, "Earth style, Dragon mud breath!" The beast he was riding spat forth a powerful wave of slag. "Fire style, Flaming avalanche!" Asuma yelled working a second jutsu into the first. The wave of mud burst into flame creating a boiling quagmire.

The kunoichi jumped and rolled to the right to avoid the flames, but the dragon was waiting. It uncoiled like a snake and lashed out at her. She dodged back and screamed in pain as her leg sank to her calf in the seething swamp.

The stone dragon gave a triumphant roar, coiled about, and struck at her again. This time as the head was coming down, the kunoichi leaped as high as she could into the air and viciously beat her wings to gain extra height. She came flying in waist high to Asuma and tackled him.

The muscles in his arms and legs spasmed as the jolt of electricity washed over him. The stink of burning hair wafted up into his nostrils. There was jackhammer-like pounding in his skull. As long as he was riding his stone dragon, he could use it as an insulator to prevent the full shock from going through him. Even so, that blast left him far weaker than he should have been. He drunkenly wondered just how much power the scaled shinobi had dumped into his body.

As he shook his head to clear it, the kunoichi gripped him across the chest and waist and tried to heave him off the back of the dragon. Asuma countered by hooking his leg behind her and trying to lever her up and over his hip in a classic judo throw. She slipped around behind him and muscled him up into a suplex. At the start of the move Asuma lept up and wrapped his legs around the purple woman's waist and fell forward. He rolled and flipped her over his head.

She crashed into the back of the dragon and shoulder rolled back up to her feet, grinning at him. "So... You like close combat do you?" she hissed. She threw wide her arms, a steady arc of electricity snapping between her hands, and lunged forward.

Asuma danced backwards, fending of her attempts to grab him with a fusilade of kicks. It was most certainly not a typical way to fight.

The air felt greasy with all the lightning chakra the lizard kunoichi was giving off. The acrid stink of ozone trailed them as they traded blows down the back of the dragon. The dragon itself kept twisting and writhing as it tried to maneuver its head into a position to bite at the kunoichi again. It yelped as errant bolts of electricity coursed down its side to ground out in the earth. Unfortunately all this damage and wild movement was causing the dragon to burn chakra at a much faster rate than he initially anticipated. When the chakra Asuma put into the dragon was gone it would begin to crumble and he would be out of an insulator. When he no longer had an insulator to stand on...

He ducked to avoid a spinning back fist, but he forgot about her wings. As she spun, the first wing swept out edge first and caught him right at the knees, knocking him off his feet, and sending a jaw clenching spark through him. The second reached out and seized him with long webbed fingers. The kunoichi continued to turn, and elegantly tossed him off the back of the dragon.

She pounced as he fell and snapped her wings wide, to slow his descent. She held him in a bone crushing grip, her face centimeters away from his, and laughed.

Asuma shivered as every hair on his body stood up straight as she gathered up power. He did the only thing he could. He headbutted her across the nose.

At the time it seemed like his best option, but he regretted it almost instantly. The lizard like kunoichi's lightning jutsu discharged prematurely, sending every muscle in his body into twitching spasms and making his vision go black. The headbutt stunned the kunoichi enough that she lost her hold on him. Her wings faltered and she too began to plummet as she grabbed at her nose.

He hit the ground a millisecond before she did. Pain exploded through him. All he could do was lie there struggling for breath.

After a bit, he heard the rustle of movement. There was a series of sharp pops of electricity followed by a low growl. Asuma winced as the kunoichi unsteadily got to her feet. She limped to where he lay and loomed over him. She gave him a cold glare and raised one fist, pulsing bright with power. "Aku always likes to say something witty before he finishes off his opponents," she said through clenched teeth. "I prefer to get everything over quickly." She lowered the fist.

Asuma closed his eyes. "I'm sorry mother," he whispered in his head. He took a breath and held it, waiting for the end.

There was a painfully bright flash. The shockwave of sound shook his innards. He lay there, waiting for something painful to happen, until he suddenly realized he needed to breathe. He exhaled and gingerly opened one eye.

The young man who had been healing his brother earlier was hanging off the kunoichi's fist with one hand, his back facing Asuma. His other hand was pointing away at a right angle to one of the open market stalls. The asphalt between his finger and the kiosk was a charred divot of bubbling ooze. The shopping stall for toys looked like someone had covered it with explosive tags and set them all off at once. Burning bits were still falling down from the sky like rain.

"Leave... my village... alone!" roared the teenager.

The purple scaled shinobi stared at him, her eyes widening in shock. That surprise only lasted for a moment though, her other hand quickly swung up and seized his throat. "You're one of mine," she hissed hauling the boy into the air. "Won't the master be pleased!" The teenager grunted, his face turning red, as he clawed at the hand squeezing his neck.

Asuma tried to get up, but his twitching arms and legs wouldn't support him just yet. He couldn't weave hand signs, he couldn't get up to fight. That left just one option. He cleared his mind, and focused on the illusion he wanted to project, just like his mother had always taught him.

The kunoichi's arm was the first thing to droop, as the genjutsu took hold. The boy stopped gasping as his feet touched the ground. With a sharp jerk he pulled away and fell to his knees rubbing his neck. Next to sag were the kunoichi's knees. She began to list forward and wobble, barely staying on her feet.

Asuma held the purple skinned ninja there, and worked more chakra into his genjutsu. He had started with something simple, being lost in a dense fog that blocked out all the surroundings and noise. Now it was time to work in the parts that would actually convince her she was trapped. Kurenai liked to use plants and vines for her metaphorical chains. Her son preferred to use snow and ice.

He was just about to start the blizzard when three ninja dressed in traditional black gi appeared beside her. They looked like they were retreating from a fight, but were disciplined enough to lay their hands on her and disrupt the purple kunoichi's chakra flow, thus breaking his weak attempt at a genjutsu. She stumbled forward and one of her companions caught her before she fell. "Murasaki-sama," he called out. "Aku-sama has called for the retreat! He requested that all of us..."

The kunoichi growled and shoved her teammate out of the way. Lightning crackled down her arms.

The teenaged boy again stepped between her and Asuma, his own hand glowing with electricity. "Oh," thought Asuma slowly, "He has lightning nature chakra. That's how he was able to redirect her lightning bolt."

"Get out of the way brat," snarled the kunoichi. "Today is not your day to die."

"I won't let you hurt him," the teenager replied in a raspy voice.

"Murasaki-sama," one of the purple ninja's comrades said nervously, plucking at her sleeve. "We really should be..."

Murasaki snapped out a wing and smacked him across his face. She took one step forward, her arms rippling with power. "Have it your way!" she roared and slammed her hands down on the ground. The pavement of the plaza fractured in a great wave, as electricity arced through the ground like an avalanche. Asuma heard the teenager cry out, and then the lighting was flowing through him as well. His jaw clamped so tight he thought his teeth would shatter. His whole body seemed to be warping with the shock as his muscles pulled him every way at the same time. He wished he could scream but he couldn't even get his lungs to work. Then, thankfully, he blacked out.

When Asuma came to, there was something wet and wriggling in his mouth. He screamed and jerked his head, promptly cracking it against something hard. As he was seeing stars, he heard someone fall backwards. A woman's voice said "Ow! Dammit! That hurt!"

There was a sigh. "See? I told you, there are no tongues involved when you give someone the kiss of life. Will you listen and let me do it next time?" replied a very similar voice.

"And how would you know? You've never given anyone the kiss of life before either! You're just jealous because I won the coin toss and I got to try it first. Besides look at how fast he sat up! Maybe I've just invented a better version!" insisted the first voice grouchily.

"We'll he hasn't opened his eyes or anything, so I don't see much of an improvement," said the second voice. "Move over, it's my turn now."

"It is not!" insisted the first. "Isn't there something else I have to be doing? Like rubbing his chest or something?"

There was a sigh. "This is what happens when you doodle in your notebook instead of paying attention in first aid class! You press on his chest, not rub it."

There was a brief pause as someone tugged at his clothes. "He's wearing a flak vest and has on an armored mesh shirt underneath... Hmm… It's my medical opinion that I'll have to undress the patient before I continue treatment."

"What medical opinion? You are about as far from a medical-nin as you can get! It's my turn! Get out of the way!" There was a brief scuffle. Asuma forced his eyes open.

As he was trying to focus, the first voice called out "Hey look! He's awake! My tender ministrations have saved Asuma-kun's life!"

"Shut up!" snapped the second. "Asuma-kun?" it asked tenderly. "Do you feel okay? Are you hurt anywhere that needs bandaging?"

"Dibs on anything below the belt," muttered the first voice.

For a second Asuma thought he was seeing double. Two pairs of the same face, with wild platinum hair and brown eyes were hovering over him. Then his fried brain kicked into gear. He had a quick, painfully embarrassing, childhood memory of being tied up in the middle of the playground and caught between two girls fighting over who would get to kiss him first. "Chirosu... Hebisu... Oh, Gods... I wish I was dead."

"There there," said one of the fang twins of Konoha, pulling him forward and giving him a hug that deliberately pushed his face into her bosom. "Everything will be fine now... Your darling Hebisu will take good care of you."

"Hey!" yelped Chirosu. "Get your boobs out of his face!" She reached over and tried to pull Asuma towards her, purposefully rubbing her chest against the back of his head

"Shut up!" hissed Hebisu, holding him tighter." You're just jealous you didn't think of it first!"

"No... I'm just worried you're going to cut him on that nasty little flat thing you call a chest!" retorted Chirosu. Asuma felt the blood rising to his head.

"What did you say?!" shrieked Hebisu. She shoved Asuma off and furiously attacked her sister.

Asuma groaned and lay back down and tried to ignore their squabbling. He also tried really hard to think about baseball... and old people... and cold showers. It had always been like this. Ever since they were little.

Whenever he was around, they'd both end up first fighting for his attention and then pummeling each other. Whenever he tried to avoid them, the fang twins always sought him out. When they were younger, and his mother would drop him off at the Hatake house to play it would always start out fun... and then Hebisu's imagination would kick in and the games would always take a turn towards her and him being alone in some romantic type setting... and then Chirosu would get jealous, and her sarcasm would start and the next thing he knew someone would have a bloody nose (usually him.) As they got older, the games got more and more provocative, and the arguing got more violent. It always went on until Anko-san came by and broke it up.

Sometimes Anko stopped the fights in time... sometimes she didn't. At their thirteenth birthday party, the girls had insisted on playing spin the bottle. When it was Asuma's turn to spin, both girls shoved their way in front of the bottle and insisted that it was pointing at them. The finally tally of casualties included all of the windows and furniture in the living room and two outside walls. Their father's home office also caught on fire.

He turned his head away from their screaming. He bet that the odds of Anko-san showing up right now were probably pretty low. Asuma tried not to peek as someone's clothes tore. It wasn't that he didn't like them. They were cute, and they could be lot of fun to be with, it was just things always ended up getting so... embarrassing when he was with them. At times Hebisu and Chirosu were so forward it was indecent! Half of the male shinobi in his academy class thought he was so lucky to have two cute girls fighting over him. The other half were taking bets on which sister would snap first and kill him in a fit of jealousy. No matter what anyone, (and that included his own daydreams sometimes) thought he should do, nothing was ever going to happen between any of them. Asuma was just... too busy. His Mom needed him.

There was that one time, last year, when he had just been informed he would be allowed to take the jonin exam, and in a burst of celebratory fever he decided that he would ask them to the spring festival. Both of them. It was only way he could think of to have a date, and avoid bloodshed. He never ended up asking. His mother had slipped into one of her moods. She needed his help. Plus, there would be the added stress of what the Yuhi clan elders would say about him taking two girls to the celebration. What was he thinking? He couldn't dream of upsetting her.

For better or for worse, in their wrestling, they rolled right over and on top of him. "Yeouch!" he yelled. They both froze and looked up at him. "Get off, get off, get off!" He let out a great hiss through his clenched teeth as they scrambled off his injured parts. He gingerly pushed himself up to a sitting position. The twins were on either side of him looking sheepish. Asuma sighed. "Look, the village is under attack here... can I trust you two to help without trying to kill each other? " Chirosu and Hebisu exchanged a very long heated glare. "Fine," muttered Asuma, "I'll do it myself." He was almost up when his left ankle gave out.

"Asuma-kun!" They yelped in unison, grabbing him and hauling him to his feet.

"Oh my gosh, We're so sorry," said Chirosu.

"Oh you poor man... We were being so selfish when we should have been thinking of your needs." Hebisu looked up at him and fluttered her eyelashes. "Do you have any needs that I could take care of?"

He glared at her, blushing hotly. "Why do you always have to do that?"

"Do what?" Hebisu asked, grinning.

"Say suggestive stuff like that! Do you think it's funny? It's not very professional and really annoying. Seriously... it's always Asuma-kun this and Asuma-kun that. When are the pair of you going to grow up and start acting like shinobi? If the pair of you ever expect to be respected in this village, you'll need to act with more decorum!"

Hebisu's eyes got very big and her lower lip started to tremble. "Hey!" snapped Chirosu, defending her sister. "There's no need to be rude, you dumb jerk! Even if she is using every bad pickup line from the Icha-Icha novels, she's just doing her best to help! The least you could do is try to be nice about it!"

"Hey!" yelled Hebisu.

Asuma frowned and ignored them, slowly limping away. Hebisu had a bit of trouble letting go of his hand but eventually he pulled free. Asuma pretended he didn't hear her sniffles. He turned slightly and studied the center of the plaza where all of the action was taking place. A flash of a man clad only in a towel confirmed that Konohamaru was still fighting. He looked about for the injured boy and his teenage brother that helped him earlier, but he couldn't pick the pair of them out amongst the battle. He turned back to the fang twins. "Did either of you happen to see another guy? He was a chunin maybe? I think he got hurt too."

Chirosu gave him a dirty look, but after a second she pointed. "Who? You mean Ichisui? He grabbed his little brother and ran off to find some other medical-nin. I saw him heading back into the fight a little while ago." She thought for a minute chewing her lip. "He kind of wanted to take you too but..."

"But I insisted that you needed to stay in a safe place where you could recover," simpered Hebisu. She dabbed at her eyes and scowled at Asuma. " I thought that if you got too close to the action you might get hurt again." She sniffed and looked away. "I didn't mean to cause trouble, I was just so worried about you. You look so much better now."

Asuma sighed and nodded. "Well, I guess I owe you one. I owe him too. He saved my life twice back there. Plus my cousin is fighting in that mess." He took a tentative step towards the brawl and still found his knees weak. His right one buckled and he sank down on one knee. He hung his head and made a decision. "Um... Chirosu... Hebisu... I'm sorry I snapped at you just then. Look, I'm just having a little trouble staying erect." He took a deep breath. "I don't suppose the pair of you could help me?"

The twins stared at him mouths open, then they shared a glance. Quickly they covered their faces and began to snicker. "What?" asked Asuma, confused.

"...And he's telling me off for a lack of decorum," snickered Hebisu.

"I always suspected that Konohamaru's dirty mind of his would rub off on him one day," snorted Chirosu.

"Nobody is rubbing off on me! I just want you to get me up… to give me a hand!" Asuma hastily corrected. He stopped as both girls blushed a bright shade of pink, and clamped their lips shut, trying not to laugh. "Look... I just need the pair of you to come with me..." He sighed as both Hebisu and Chirosu broke down into a furious attack of the giggles. "You know what?" he grumbled, embarrassed. "Forget it... I'll get over there myself."


	66. Chapter 24: Unsung Heroes: part 3

Ookami stepped back from the melee and wiped the sweat from under her mask. This was more like it, there were reinforcements everywhere. She did feel bad for Choji and Ino Akimichi though; The Emporium plaza and it's surrounding stores were getting torn apart by the battle. The Leaf jonin assault teams were using everything they could for cover and it was showing in the scale of the property damage. A small squad of Konoha medical-nin were using Ino-san's pharmacy as a makeshift field hospital. She'd gotten patched up there before re-joining the fray.

She couldn't help but stare at one particular group of reinforcements. "That idiot, couldn't he at least have put on some pants?" Ookami muttered to herself as she watched a platoon of nearly naked Konohamaru Sarutobi clones charge the defensive ring the attacking shinobi had erected in the center of the plaza.

Someone on the enemy's side with earth nature chakra had erected a small forest of stone walls in a tight ring. Above them, hovering on a pair of purple wings of all things, one of the shinobi was raining lightning down on the surrounding forces from Konoha, forcing them to keep their heads down. Inside the defenses, the scrawniest shinobi she had ever seen was strutting back and forth inside the circle. Ranting at the top of his lungs, he was keeping the other attacking shinobi in line while occasionally pummeling and tossing out any of the Leaf shinobi who managed to invade their circle.

Ookami observed all this with a worried frown. The attackers were doing a good job of protecting themselves… too good a job compared to how they were fighting earlier. Their captains must be putting more effort into coordinating their respective squads.. but why they would only do that now…? She shook her head, dismissing the speculation. Still, no matter how good their defenses were, it would only be a matter of time before they were overrun, once the rest of the ANBU corps showed up

She sensed a presence behind her and turned. "Aburame-san," she acknowledged, giving Shino a quick nod. He paused in the mouth of a dark alley and held up one hand. A small cloud of beetles landed there and buzzed in a chaotic pattern before flying away again. Shino stared at the bugs and then shifted his gaze to watch the battle. Ookami tried again. "Did you come to assist? Did ANBU HQ get my messages? Did they send you?"

Shino glanced over at her. "I was not sent by anyone. How is that possible you might ask? Because my son was the one who reported the trouble to me." He gestured to a boy lurking in the alley behind him. "As a matter of fact, I was the one who called out to all available Aburame clan shinobi. I understand it was Aume who informed the jonin that they were needed." He looked back to the skirmish. "Speaking of which…"

A slight woman in a Konoha flak jacket skidded to a stop in front of them. She nodded to Shino. "Aburame-san," grunted Nokito, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "You've done your village a great service this day." Shino nodded, and walked back to the the far end of the alley to release another cloud of Nara kunoichi turned to Ookami. "Ookami-san," she asked respectfully, "When can we expect additional reinforcements from the ANBU?"

"Damn good question," thought Ookami grouchily embarrassed that her requested reinforcement were so late showing up. She was even more embarrassed that the current Commander of the Jonin corps was calling her out on it in person.

There was quite a bit of good natured rivalry between the ANBU and the jonin... At least, most of the time it was good natured. There were a few unwritten rules in the ANBU corps. The big one was never look ruffled. The second was always act like you are invincible. The third, was never let those shinobi in the jonin corps forget that you are better than them.

Ookami tilted her head. "Reinforcements? Wasn't it just last week that Lieutenant Commander Shimura stated before the council that the ANBU were an archaic, overly expensive, holdover from a bygone era… And now the Commander of the Jonin corps herself is asking the ANBU for reinforcements?" She knew that the middle of battle was never the best time to argue politics, but those comments of Yukunu Shimura's had really stung. Commander Kakashi had to really fight to just to get the yearly budget to 'only' drop by ten percent.

Nokito blinked at her in surprise. "Yukunu is an idiot. The only thing he thinks of is succeeding his cousin as Head of the Shimura clan. Nobody takes anything he says seriously. Look at the battlefield!" she said with a wave of her hand. "These attackers are outnumbered four to one and they're still occasionally managing to gain ground on us? I suspect that we'd need odds of at least eight to one in order to hold them to a standstill."

Ookami shivered, she had noticed that, and it was very worrisome. Of course an ANBU can never act perturbed. "What?" she asked incredulously. "This bunch? Aside from the leader types, they were complete pushovers! I saw them being taken down by genin!"

"Ookami-san," said Nokito the patience in her voice wearing away, "can we drop the ANBU/jonin rivalry crap for a second? We are having a problem here. Whomever you were facing earlier, these enemies here are highly trained and have matchless maneuvering and seamless teamwork." She shook her head. "We can't even begin to think about forcing a hole in their defenses without more firepower… and that means more shinobi." The Jonin Commander sighed. "Standard ANBU procedure is to call for reinforcements when under attack inside the village. I'm guessing you sent out a bird"

Ookami paused and studied the younger woman. She knew Nokito by reputation only. Like most in her clan she was a notable tactician. She was also known for being extremely blunt in her dealings. In a culture built on respect and politeness to one's superiors, she had really shaken up the world of the military hierarchy. Rumor had it she had once told the Hokage to shut his pie hole and listen to some important point she had to make. "I haven't heard a damn thing back from headquarters," Ookami grudgingly admitted. "I don't know what's taking them so long!" She snorted in frustration. "I don't understand how the battle could have turned on us this way! When we were fighting them before, most of the attackers simply didn't have the skill to match us!"

Nokito raised an eyebrow and then pointed. "Well then, they got a lot of training awfully quick." Ookami watched as a squad of the invading shinobi spearheaded a counter attack into a group of flanking Leaf ninja. They expertly turned the maneuver aside and lead a small foray into the Konoha lines. Instantly a small forest of walls, pillars and protective barriers sprung up around them, giving them a new place of safety. "We're very slowly being pushed back Ookami-san. Whatever you may think, we're not winning."

"How can this be?" snapped Ookami. "I mean, yes that red haired shinobi over there is scary as hell, but with enough numbers we should be able to subdue him, or kill him at the least. I'm telling you, most of those guys were average! How could they suddenly get skilled enough to hold the jonin corps at bay?"

"Perhaps that is the wrong question to ask," said Shino quietly, rejoining their discussion. "Perhaps what we should be asking is what has tactically changed on the battlefield that means that before they could be incompetent and now they are as skilled as any shinobi that I have ever seen." He hesitated as a single kikaichu beetle landed on his cheek, circled once, and and then flew away again. "You said this red haired shinobi was the most dangerous, yes? Ookami nodded once. "Their strongest fighter?" Ookami nodded again. "Then perhaps we should also find out why he is meditating very quietly in the center of their improvised fortress."

"What?!" yelped Ookami. She activated her byakugan and focused. She didn't have to look hard. Burning ripples of chakra slowly pulsed along the ground, centering on the red haired shinobi. As she watched a bright glow bloomed on his head and lanced its way up into the heavens. "Oh no," she whispered.

"What is it?" prompted Nokito.

"I have no idea, but it's a jutsu that focuses an obscene amount of chakra." She turned. "We need to get in there and stop that jutsu. Now!"

Shino shrugged. "That's easier said than done. We need more men." He turned to Ookami. "Are the ANBU coming?"

Ookami glanced away. Another person asking that question… when she figured out who at headquarters had screwed up this bad, there would be hell to pay. "I've sent in two requests for reinforcements so far... No answer."

Shino made a slight nod. "Well then... We need to find another solution."

"What about something big enough to punch a hole in their defenses?" asked Nokito thoughtfully.

Shino thought. "An insect swarm will not work, if that is what you are talking about. There are too many targets and the bugs just do not have enough mass to destroy the stone barriers."

"I wasn't planning on using your bugs Shino-san. I need you to hang back and provide us with communications for the jonin teams and long range support." Nokito looked thoughtful. " We're going to need some heavy duty firepower."

Shino nodded. "Perhaps a summoning? If Naruto were here he could use one of his larger toads?"

"Heh," chuckled Nokito, glancing over their shoulders. "Right now, I'm thinking of something a little more solid than a frog." Both Ookami and Shino turned to see what she was looking at. Heading toward the pharmacy was the young jonin, Asuma Jr. He was being helped along by the Hatake twins. Nokito took a step towards him. "Hey Sarutobi-san!" she called. "Do you have enough chakra to do that stone dragon thing? If you can make it big enough, I'll take you off of the midnight patrol duty for three months."

Ookami gave her a nudge as Asuma's group walked over. "If we're assembling an impromptu assault team, we should consider adding the fang twins as well."

Nokito raised an eyebrow. "Really? Aren't they a little... Unpredictable?"

"Trust me... If we're going up against that red haired shinobi, we're going to want all the lightning chakra users we can lay our hands on."

Nokito nodded understandingly. "You noticed a vulnerability? Good." She paused and looked out over the battlefield. "I'd like to add one other person to our impromptu assault," she smiled faintly. "He's practically a one man army."

* * *

"... I said hold the defenses you filthy, worthless bastards!" bellowed Ao. "The man who leaves his post will feel my hand!" Across the plaza from him he felt Shiro slowly shake her head.

"You do realize that you have no need to shout, do you? If you want to convey any orders to our men you merely have to tell me." She gave a short little musical chuckle that echoed inside his skull. "Screaming at them at this point isn't going to make them fight any harder or be any braver."

Ao snorted. "Shouting makes me feel better." And did he ever need need to shout. The moment he set eyes on that Ino Yamanaka, and he had read the multitude of her sins, the Gods in his head had worked themselves into a fervor unlike he had ever experienced. That was bad enough, but to have their divine will thwarted by her fat husband and an old man in green spandex? "I need to release some of this rage somehow… or else I'll have to go over there right now and butcher that stupid, overconfident, careless, son of a bitch." He nodded violently at Aku.

"Mmm," hummed Shiro softly. "I agree with you... However, it is not really up to us to decide what to do with him. That decision is totally up to the Master."

He felt the tendrils of Shiro's mind caress his and some of the mindless anger melted away. Even the voices of the Gods muted their demands to punish the wicked somewhat. "It was better before Shukun-sama brought him into our group," grumbled Ao.

"Now now," tittered Shiro, "he may be a foul brute, but I'm sure he has his uses... And I'm sure once he is no longer needed... the Master will need someone to dispose of him. Think about that for a while."

Ao giggled, "Hmm, that does cheer me up a..." He frowned suddenly as he sensed an incessant itch in the back of his mind. Someone else wanted to join the mind link… Aku? Aku was asking him to talk? That red haired idiot actually had the nerve to think he could summon the spokesman of the Gods?. "Well, speak of the devil. I wonder how the fool plans to screw everything up this time?" He took his leave of Shiro and sent his thoughts casually wandering over to where Aku was meditating. "What do you want?" he said in a gruff voice.

Aku smiled, but didn't open his eyes. "Nice to see you too... Murasaki had informed me that the Leaf shinobi will make an attempt at a large scale breakthrough."

Ao snorted. "Let them come! I'll crush their skulls!"

Aku gave a slight shake to his head. "No, my transportation jutsu will be ready by then... we're leaving."

"I thought you were the one who wanted to fight?" Ao sneered.

"I was... We had our little scuffle, and now it's time to leave."

Ao laughed, "Go ahead! Run! I'd love to see what the master does to you when he hears that you brought us all home without any of our targets. Especially after you convinced him to change the plan!"

Aku sighed. "I'd like to see Shukun-sama try to do anything to me." He shrugged in a nonchalant way. "Don't worry, I'll leave Konoha with a parting gift that will be far more helpful to our cause than a few captured brats."


	67. Chapter 24: Unsung Heroes: part 4

_This,_ thought Ichisui triumphantly, _is exactly what it means to be a hero of Konoha. Fighting with my comrades, defending my village._ He ducked behind one of those little stone walls the enemy was sowing everywhere and prepared another phoenix flower jutsu. During a lull from all the flying shuriken and the lightning he popped up and sprayed the inner ring of the invader's impromptu barricade with fire. Then as fast as he could he sprinted for cover before the thunderbolts started to rain down on his position.

He ducked under a collapsed series of barricades that had formed a natural dome, and waited for the thunder to die away. After a short while, Ichisui got to his feet and prepared to run again.

A large hand slapped him down. "Stay put kid!" warned a growling voice. "Don't move just yet. They're waiting for you." Something shifted in the gloom and suddenly he was staring into the bull mask of the large ANBU from earlier. "They're going to give it a minute or so to see if you pop your head up. When they see your face they'll snipe you."

They waited until the thunder started up again, this time further away. The ANBU removed his hand. "There kid, it's safe to go. Now they're distracted with someone else."

Ichisui gave him a short nod. "Thank you," he said politely holding out his hand. "Please come, if we hurry we can make it back to our lines."

The ANBU chuckled. "No can do, I took a pair of kunai in the thigh. I'm not going to be running any marathons for a while."

"Really? Let me see." The ANBU obliged by moving his leg over. Ichisui made a quick examination and then began the healing jutsu.

Ichisui could feel the man's eyes on him as he worked. He could tell when he had been recognized. "Hmm," The ANBU grunted. "It must be my lucky day. It's not often you find medical-nin running around on the front lines... let alone the son of Konoha's most renowned surgeon."

Ichisui shrugged, trying to hide his relief that the man had chosen to be civil. "I'm just trying to help." After a few minutes, the glowing in his hands went away. "There," he said, "it will hurt for a bit, but you should be able to walk on it."

The ANBU tested it. "Not bad kid. You did a nice job.." The huge ANBU adjusted his mask and rose to a half crouch. "Let's make a break for it."

They ran. They had a brief respite for ten paces before the world exploded with noise. They dove into a crater for shelter, only lightly singed. "I don't know what you did to their lightning style user kid, but he's really got it out for you!"

"She," corrected Ichisui. The both ducked as thunder exploded all around.

"What?" called out the ANBU.

"She's a she. The lightning user is the kunoichi with wings up there." Ichisui pointed.

The ANBU risked a look up and then put his head back down again, giggling. "Well, don't let that cute little Hyuga girl with all the blades find out. She might get jealous." They both ducked as a fresh bombardment of electricity occurred. As Ichisui tried to bury his head into the soft earth, the light, heat and sound rocked the ground and buffeted his clothes. It was so loud his ears just stopped working. The blasts grew louder and more frequent. Hot shards of shattered pavement stung every inch of his exposed skin.

The earth shook so hard that he bounced on the ground, and then something blotted out the light. He could still hear the thunder and see the flashes but the noise seemed muffled. The shockwaves no longer hit them.

Ichisui looked up. A huge stone dragon, much larger than the last one he saw towered over him. A masked face peeked over the side. It was the wolf masked ANBU from earlier. "Hey Tsuyoki!" she ordered, "get your ass up here!" Her eyes swept over Ichisui and thought for a second. "You too! You've just been recruited!"

Smiling for the opportunity, yet nervous at the same time, Ichisui raced up the side of the dragon. He thought he heard a woman yell out, "Yeah! Take that you purple freak! That will teach you to hurt my Asuma-kun!" But he decided that his ears were still having issues and that he must have misunderstood.

He changed his mind once he reached the top. The Hatake twins were lashing away with their lightning serpents at the winged kunoichi, chasing her from the sky. The wolf masked ANBU was in a conference with a heavily scarred kunoichi and Konohamaru Sarutobi, just behind the dragon's head. The bull masked ANBU strode over and joined them. He stood there, watching the scarred jonin for a little bit. The Nara woman sensed his eyes and gave him a questioning look. "Hi Nokito-chan," he said in a shy rumble.

The hard expression on the kunoichi's face melted into one of surprise. "Mikio? Is that you?"

The large man nervously cleared his throat. "My name is Tsuyoki, Nokito-chan." They stood there watching each other cautiously.

The dragon rocked, swerving suddenly around a large water serpent that swiped at it from the side, trying to knock the riders off the dragon's back. Everyone cringed as they were drenched with the spray.

The young jonin, the one who had helped him rescue Mibuki, was riding on the dragon's head and turned to face them. "We're attracting too much fire this close!" he bellowed, "I'm going to take us back a bit!" Ichisui swayed as the dragon ponderously turned. Chirosu and Hebisu used their lightning serpents to intercept a fireball heading towards them, tearing it apart. The explosion made the creator of the stone dragon look behind. When the young jonin saw Ichisui riding as well, he gave him a friendly smile and a nod.

Ichisui nervously stood there, unsure of what to do, before Ookami waved him over to the conference. "I'm glad you're here Ichisui." She pulled him into the small circle. "This is Ichisui Uchiha, he fought with our red headed mystery shinobi a little earlier. It was him that clued me into his weakness to lightning chakra."

The kunoichi with the scarred face fixed him with a calculating stare. "Tell me everything. I need to know what is the best way to exploit his weaknesses." she stated bluntly.

Ichisui grew nervous with everyone staring. "Don't let her gruff demeanor scare you kid," said Konohamaru in a cheerful voice. "Underneath all the cold stares and the tough talk Nokito-san has a heart of gold."

"Stuff it, Sarutobi," she snapped. The bull masked ANBU chuckled. The kunoichi had just the barest hint of a blush as she turned her laser like focus back on Ichisui. "Well?" she asked.

"Um...Well... He seems to have some sort of invulnerability. Weapons, fire, taijutsu, it doesn't seem to do much. But when we fought earlier, my chidori looked like it stunned him for a few seconds."

"It did better than my juken did, and it it seems like it actually did something to him, unlike the rasengan," continued Ookami. She glanced up as Konohamaru opened his mouth to comment. "The rasengan definitely blasted him around, but it didn't seem to hurt him much, did it?"

Konohamaru thought about it and then shrugged. "He took the hit, but he did kind of jump right up again afterwards... so… yeah."

Nokito nodded and clapped Ichisui on the back. "Well, then... Welcome aboard to this damn fool mission. I'm glad to have you with us." The dragon ground to halt between two large stores, right on the periphery of the plaza.

Ichisui was a little taken aback. "Um, what is this mission?"

The jonin turned away quickly. "Why counter attacking the invaders of course. Ookami! Tsuyoki!" she called, "Come up here with me! I want to do one last reconnaissance before we go in." Nokito and the ANBU climbed up to the dragon's head as the young jonin from earlier climbed back down.

He nodded at Ichisui. "Glad to see you're still in one piece, I was worried a little bit when I woke up back there and you weren't around. Is your little brother okay?"

Ichisui nodded back. "Yes... Thank you for asking. He is with the medical-nin." He smiled. "I'm glad to see that you have recovered too. I was planning on taking you to the field hospital, but the two Hatake sisters insisted that..."

The muscular jonin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah I know. So how do you know Hebisu and Chirosu?"

Ichisui rubbed his nose and quickly glanced away. "Well, their father is an old family friend... he offered to train me for a while."

Asuma raised his eyebrows. "Kakashi-sensei offered to train you personally? No kidding! He trained me too!" He put out his hand. "My name is Asuma Sarutobi. It's good to officially meet you."

Ichisui returned the handshake. "I'm... Ichisui. It's nice to meet you too. I've heard... um... a lot about you from Chirosu and Hebisu."

"Are you talking about us?" called Hebisu, She and her sister started to walk over.

"My own personal fan girls," muttered Asuma despondently. "Lucky me."

"Personally, I think he is pretty darned lucky!" said Konohamaru, adjusting his towel. "I remember that there was this one time after a mission, I had to stay in the hospital for two weeks. It was the most boring thing, until late one night, these two nurses dropped by and..."

"Okay uncle! We get the idea," snapped Asuma. "We don't need to hear any more of that story."

Hebisu raised her hand. "I'd like to hear a little more." Chirosu shushed her.

"Alright people," said Nokito gruffly, climbing back down. "Pay attention, this is going to be the plan of attack."

Konohamaru sighed. "Ah Nokito, I love it when you get domineering."

Nokito glared at him. A salvo of kunai trailing explosive tags hit the dragon and detonated, shaking the beast. Everyone wavered on their feet. Everyone except Nokito-san, who just stood there giving Konohamaru an evil glare.

Konohamaru's smile slipped a little. He bowed apologetically. "Right," he said, "Sorry about that. I'll be quiet now. Please continue."

Nokito brushed back her hair. "The plan is simple. The aforementioned red headed shinobi is sitting in the middle of that little fortress performing some mystery jutsu that is burning up chakra at an alarming rate. We don't know what it is... But given everything that's happened today, it's probably not going to give everyone in the village a complimentary chocolate." She smiled grimly. "Our mission is to go in there and stop him." She turned and looked at each person on the back of the dragon. "We use this beastie to crash through the their defenses. Konohamaru's shadow clones will help keep the enemy at bay while the three lightning style users," she pointed at Hebisu, Ichisui and Chyrio, "hit the target continuously with enough juice to keep him on his ass. He's vulnerable to electricity, so it should work."

Nokito wiped her hands on her pant leg, but her voice stayed steady. "Best case scenario... the three of you take him down and the rest of us help you hold him there until a sealing team arrives. But honestly, I'll settle for us just disrupting that jutsu of his." She blinked quickly and brushed her hair back again. "I'm not going to lie to you... what we're doing is dangerous. But right now, it's the best shot we have at helping the village. It'll be tough. But doing the hard stuff is what being a shinobi is all about isn't it?" She cleared her throat and looked around the circle. "Anyone else want to add anything?"

Konohamaru raised his hand hesitantly. "Before we all go jumping into the fire, I have one very important question I'd like to ask," he turned quickly to the wolf masked ANBU. "Ookami-san... would you like to have dinner tonight?" There was a sharp intake of breath from Asuma.

Ichisui saw the kunoichi hesitate for a second, then stiffen when her partner started to chuckle. "I like to have dinner every night, Sarutobi-san." She turned to Nokito-sama. "Let's get this circus moving." She tensely walked up to the head of the dragon, pointedly ignoring her partner's snorts of amusement.

"Did you hear that?" said Konohamaru with a wry grin. "She didn't say no!" He tried to comb through his mussed hair with one hand as he padded after her.

"Please excuse my uncle," said Asuma quietly, "sometimes... he is a complete idiot." He turned and made a note of Ichisui's growing nervousness. "First time on a full assault mission?" he asked.

Ichisui shook his head. "Not quite... I helped defend the village when the Kurokaze attacked. But... my father was with me then."

"Ichisui... I thought your name sounded familiar. I remember hearing something about you and the Black Wind clan attack." Asuma concentrated and then shook his head. "Sorry, can't place it. Anyway, hopefully this won't end up being as big a mess as that." He glanced over at Ichisui. "It's okay to be scared you know. Everyone gets nervous right before a fight. The important thing is to not let the fear take over. A little fear is okay, it gives you an edge... But don't give in to it. Never lose your confidence. If you have too much fear, you freeze up, and then you're easy pickings."

Ichisui smiled. "I won't run and I won't hide. No matter what you say I'll never give up. I won't ever go back on my words, because that is my ninja way. Believe it!"

Asuma grinned knowingly. "I've heard that before. Let me guess... you also want to be Hokage one day."

Ichisui shook his head. "No. Well… maybe… but all I really want is for people to look at me like a hero."

They heard their names called from the dragon's head, they looked up and saw Nokito sweep her arm forward, giving the signal to advance. "Well," said Asuma, swallowing nervously. "we may just get our chance today." He knelt and placed his hands on the stone dragon's back in order to control it better and faster. With a smooth motion it rose up off the ground. There was a shudder as another round of kunai trailing explosive tags detonated off its scaly hide.

The dragon coiled once in a wide circle and then darted forward. Ichisui found himself yelling with the rushing wind and the anticipation. He noticed that the Asuma and the Hatake twins were shouting war cries as well. Their voices rose together as the enormous head dove downward.

Just as its nose touched the first outer wall of the impromptu defenses, there was a savage burst of smoke and noise.

The dragon's head rammed through the stone barricades sending a massive pillar of dust and earth skyward. It eventually slid to a stop on its stone belly. All the shinobi on its back braced themselves for the attack.

They waited. Aside from the rattle of falling stones there was no noise. Ichisui scanned the area looking for movement, shadows, anything. As far as he could tell, the enemy had vanished. He took a second to glance over the back of the dragon. All the other shinobi were doing the same thing.

It was Konohamaru who broke the stunned silence. "Okay... That was a really cool trick making all the bad guys disappear like that. Which one of you guys did it?"

"Ookami?' grunted Tsuyoki, his huge shoulders tense. "Do you see any of them?"

The wolf mask slowly shook from side to side. "They're gone." As if to confirm her statement, the earth style barricades began to crumble away. The jutsu that made them having worn off, without their creator to constantly pump chakra into them.

"Well," said Nokito crisply, "I guess we won't be needing the dragon anymore." She snapped her fingers. "Asuma-san, would you mind letting us down?"

"Hmph," snorted Hebisu. "I was getting all excited over seeing Asuma-kun's dragon smash stuff."

"I was getting pretty excited just riding Asuma-kun's dragon," muttered Chirosu.

Konohamaru sniggered. Asuma blushed, and slowly the dragon sank slowly into the ground.

Ookami, Tsuyoki, and Nokito all exchanged a glance with each other and then cautiously strode into what was left of the defensive ring. "Hey! where are you three off to?" called Konohamaru.

"We're going to investigate anything that was left at the scene Sarutobi-san," said Nokito plainly.

"Why didn't you invite me?"

Nokito blinked, "I thought that maybe you would want to get dressed now that the battle appears to be over."

Konohamaru chuckled. "Naw, screw that... Sometimes it just feels good to let the air circulate you know? Besides, I want to see what goodies they left behind." He jogged to catch up.

Ichisui looked at Asuma, Hebisu, and Chirosu. Relief that there wouldn't be fighting showed plainly on everyone's face. They all shrugged and then followed.

Clouds of smoke and dust choked the air into a thick haze. There was the echoing patter of feet as other Leaf shinobi slowly entered the ruins of the defensive ring. The ground was littered with weapons. Discarded kunai and shuriken clinked together as they were scattered about by Ichisui's feet as he walked.

It was impossibly hard to see. Up ahead Ichisui heard the Bull masked ANBU muttering nervously. "Hey Ookami... Does this look like the Obscuring Mist jutsu to you?"

The wolf masked ANBU's voice carried back. "There's no one here that I can see. It's not like they'd leave anyone behi... Oh crap!" she exclaimed suddenly.

There was a violent burst of wind, it whipped the dust and dirt into a stinging tempest. It burned the eyes and tore at the clothes with icy fingers. Ichisui turned his face away and covered his mouth with his arm. As it was dying away he lifted his head again to see a figure standing calmly in a ring of armed Konoha shinobi.

It was the Red Headed shinobi. He gave them all a charming smile and clasped his hands behind his back. "Good citizens of Konoha!" he proclaimed. "I bring you greetings and a message from the exalted leader of our clan. We are the Black Wind!" He grinned. "Perhaps you have heard of us?"

He shook his head at the muted whisper of weapons being drawn. "I was so hoping that our fearless leader would be here so that he could deliver this message personally, but alas, he had other duties to attend to." The ninja slowly turned facing every side of the circle surrounding him. When he saw Ichisui he stopped. He smiled gleefully and bowed low. "I see... Our leader could not make it... so he sent his heir instead." He bowed again. "Would you care to deliver the message honored young master?"

Ichisui stared at him dumbfounded. Amongst the Konoha shinobi, heads turned and the whispers began. Out of the corner of his eye Ichisui saw Asuma lift his head and give him a hard stare. "No?" continued the shinobi, shaking his mop of red hair. "Very well then, with your permission my lord..." The shinobi stood. "Citizens of Konoha!" he called out in an orator's voice. "The chief of the Kurokaze clan, the esteemed Sasuke Uchiha, demands retribution! The list of your crimes against his family are long and bloody!. He has bided his time, but now is the day of your judgement!"

Ichisui sucked in a deep breath. His head felt faint and there was a cold ball of lead growing in his belly. The muttering of the assembled shinobi grew louder. He looked about nervously. Asuma's face was an unreadable mask.

"He is not without mercy however! Uchiha-sama gives each of you twenty four hours to surrender your homes and leave the Leaf village with just the clothes on your backs! A much more generous fate than what was given his own clan, I'm sure you will find! Leave now and you will be spared! Anyone found after the time limit will not be shown any mercy!"

There were a series of angry protests that rang out across the damaged plaza. Ichisui had to try very hard not to flinch away from the fingers pointed in his direction.

Nokito-san stepped forward, one hand raised for silence. Slowly the background noise calmed itself down. "You delivered this ultimatum... Fine. But why did you attack us first? I have first hand reports that say you were attempting to kidnap children."

The shinobi's smile slipped just a hair before growing full of bravado. He pushed a lock of red hair out of his face and sneered. "I don't have to explain our actions to you! My orders have been completed! Well... mostly completed. Uchiha-sama has asked me to leave you with a tiny little parting gift." He laughed as he removed his hands from behind his back and showed them to the crowd. In each hand was a stacked pyramid of small metallic balls, each about the size of an apple. He tossed the double handful straight up into the air. As they sailed upwards he produced one last one from a belt pouch that he tossed in a lazy arc towards Nokito.

"Steel rain!" shrieked Konohamaru, "Everyone down!" He turned and tackled Ookami.

Steel rain. Ichisui had read about it in history books, from the time when his father, mother and uncle Naruto had fought in the siege of Kabuto Yakushi's mountain fortress. It was one of the many weapons Kabuto had developed. The 'steel rain' was a core of explosive packed inside a cast iron casing designed to fragment into thousands of needle thin shards. The end effect resembled the famous jutsu from the Hidden Rain village of the same name. Kabuto's servants often dipped the devices in various lingering poisons or disease causing substances in order to sow terror and increase the number of casualties

During the attack it was said that thousands of them had tumbled down on the allied shinobi encampment. It was said that their use had lead to the demise of whole companies of shinobi. It was said that getting a scratch from a single one was a death sentence... A long, drawn out, painful death sentence.

The world slowed to a crawl as Ichisui activated his sharingan. The Konoha shinobi were scrambling back, seeking any cover available. The red haired shinobi laughed as the balls reached the apex of their arc and began to fall. He lowered his arms, made a few quick hand signs, and still grinning, vanished.

Ichisui poured chakra into his eyes and time slowed even more. There were clouds of insects flying in from the sides, slowly building a barrier between the Konoha shinobi and the impending explosion. The bull masked ANBU expanded in size, making himself a living shield. His new friend Asuma, was standing in front of Chirosu and Hebisu, desperately making hand signs for some earth style jutsu. They in turn were trying to do their best to shield him. It was clear that Asuma would never finish his jutsu in time.

Ichisui rolled and came up with a pair of rusty kunai. He stood roughly in front of Asuma and company. It was going to be the best that he could do to just protect those three.

Each of the steel rain balls detonated in the slow motion twilight of his sharingan. They blossomed open like a brilliant bed of red orange flowers. He tightened the grip on his kunai as he saw the shards of blackened steel come tumbling down.

His arms started to swing. He felt rather than saw or heard the shrapnel being caught by his blades. His ears were still ringing from the explosions and his eyes were too busy finding the next chunk of smoking metal hurtling towards him. He forced his arms to move faster. There was so much of it flying in every direction. A pounding pressure was building up in his eyes. His sharingan was using up chakra faster than his circulatory system could get it there. A single piece of blackened metal hummed past his ear. One had slipped by him! He prayed that no one was hurt, and pushed his eyes to work even harder.

The smoking shower slowed slightly, and then in a flash it was over. He stretched out to one side and jumped to catch the last shard of iron tumbling through the sky. It rang off his kunai and tumbled into the cooling semicircle at his feet. Ichisui took a deep breath, and then another, forcing his heart rate to return to normal.

He turned and looked back at Asuma and the fang twins. The one piece that slipped by him was hissing off to their left. He smiled with relief.

Asuma was staring at him. His face was taut. His eyes were hard.

As Ichisui's pulse returned to normal, so did his hearing. He heard the familiar panicked call. "Medic!"

_Despite the lies that were told about our hero this day,_ Ichisui narrated in his mind, _he knew that his assistance was needed. Even if all the villagers distrusted him, our hero would earn back their respect with his selfless deeds._ He turned and ran.

Nokito-san was seated beside the giant ANBU, Tsuyoki. His arms, legs and the whole of his back were peppered with small metal fragments. Nokito looked up at Ichisui as he ran over. There was a glint of softness in her eyes. "The big dumb jerk thought he would be a hero. When that shinobi tossed that last steel rain at us, he did his expansion jutsu and tried to shield as many of us as he could," she said softly.

Ichisui nodded and reached forward to pull a fragment out of the shallowest wound. Nokito slapped his hand away. "Don't you start being stupid too!" she snapped, the hard edge returning to her features. "You'll be no good to him if you cut yourself on that thing as well. Here…" she reached over and tore the sleeve off her shirt. Her arm underneath was covered in the mottled, thick pink tissue of old burn scars, just like her face. "Use this."

Ichisui wrapped his hand in the cloth. "Thank you." Slowly he began to pluck out the shrapnel bits out of Tsuyoki's back one by one, examining the wounds and closing any major bleeds.

Nokito held the ANBU's hand, caressing it gently. "You big dummy," she murmured. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking, I didn't want to see you get hurt again. I couldn't bear to just stand there again and watch everyone get hurt."

Nokito snorted and blinked a few times. "Well, you really blew it this time."

Tsuyoki grunted and lifted his head. "Why? Did the steel rain get through?"

Nokito made a small noise. It was half way between a chuckle and a sob. "No. You blew it because someone did get hurt… You." She pulled his hand closer to her.

Ichisui turned away, trying to give them some private space. Instead he focused his attention on the shrapnel and Tsuyoki's wounds. If there was poison, there was a small chance he could figure out what it was, and then maybe he could create an antidote. Something didn't seem quite right however. He ran a section of the cloth over the metal and smelled it. No oily residue... no acrid odor... Huh...

There was a gentle tapping sound as a few tears left caters in the settling dust. "You didn't have to try to save me you know," Nokito said softly. "Not like this… You don't owe me anything Mikio. The past is over and done."

Tsuyoki hissed in pain as Ichisui pulled out the last shard. "I know," he said gently to Nokito. "But I saw you were in trouble and… I wanted to. One last thing," he said. His voice had a smile in it. "My name is Tsuyoki now."

Nokito smiled. "You can strut around in that uniform and hide behind that mask as much as you want…You'll always be Mikio to me."

Tsuyoki closed his hand around hers. "Listen, I want you to…" He winced again and turned his head around to face Ichisui. "What are you doing kid? Don't waste any time trying to close me up. Save your chakra for someone who isn't a lost cause!"

"Um… actually, I have some good news on that front," said Ichisui brightly. "I did a cursory exam of both the wounds and the shrapnel. I think chances are good you are going to make a full recovery."

"What?" asked Nokito and Tsuyoki in unison.

"Well, there is... something... on the fragments, but it appears to be a very weak solution of heavy metals and a few inert organic compounds. I examined your wounds themselves and there's no sign of any swelling, irritation or corrosive damage. Blood flow to the affected areas is healthy. I was worried for a bit that the metals might be poisonous, but they are well below the toxicity levels. Maybe there was some sort of poison on there once and it got washed off…? But right now I can't find anything lethal." Nokito and Tsuyoki sat, staring at each other. "I'd still recommend you get checked out at the hospital," continued Ichisui, "and you should definitely make sure you're up to date on your shots, but as far as I can tell… You should be fine."

Nokito pulled her hand away from the ANBU. He slowly rose to a sitting position and adjusted his mask. "So," she started, clearing her throat, her voice back in its usual no nonsense tone. "I heard you got married."


	68. Chapter 24: Unsung Heroes: part 5

Ookami kept her eyes closed and waited for the waves of blowing dust and smoke to die away. Right before the explosives went off Konohamaru had tackled her and covered her with his body. Somewhere in the resulting tussle between his dive and the blast, her mask had gotten knocked off. The shock wave rolled over, carrying stinging stones and debris with it. She felt Konohamaru shift on top of her as the blast past. Very slowly, she opened her eyes.

His face was inches away from hers. "Hey," he said cheerfully. "How are you doing?"

She was very aware of his weight pressing down on her. She was also aware that last time she checked, he was only wearing a towel. Despite years of ANBU training, to restrain her emotions in any situation, she felt a faint blush creep up on her cheeks. "What are you doing?" She intended for her question to be icy and imperious, but there was an embarrassing tremor in it as well. "Please get off of me."

He grinned sheepishly. "Yeah… about that… There's two things… Remember that blast wave that just hit us?… Well, I really should have tied my towel on tighter."

Ookami stared at him for a second before the realization of what he was saying smacked into her brain. She became acutely aware of everything pressing down on her. "Oh my Gods! Get off me right now!" she ordered. Ookami didn't intend to give him a chance to reply. She put one hand on his shoulder and one hand on his hip (painfully aware of what she was touching) and prepared to toss him off her.

He winced. Her grip on his shoulder slipped and slid off. Ookami looked horrified at her hand. Her fingers were sticky and red. "Yeah," he said at her questioning glance. "That's… kind of the second thing. I've been hit in the back by steel rain."

"Dammit," Ookami muttered. "Okay... We need to get a medic over here before…"

"Before what?" Konohamaru snorted and his lips twitched. He was trying to smile, but she could feel through her hand on his waist that he was trembling. "I've seen first hand what steel rain does to people. I've got an hour, maybe two tops."

"Don't say that." She gave him a little shake with her hand, trying to comfort him. "We need to get you to the hospital. I'm sure they can get you an antidote."

He shook his head. "Thanks for trying to give me hope. Look I know about the venoms Kabuto was using. Even if the hospital could figure out what kind of poison it was, and figure out how to make an antidote, they'd still have to travel all over the world to get the ingredients." He shook his head again and gave her a melancholy smile. "I'm pretty sure that this is it," he said sadly.

He lay there quietly, his chocolate brown eyes boring into hers. "Did I ever tell you, that you are without a doubt the most beautiful woman I have ever seen?" he asked in a low husky voice.

"Stop it," Ookami said hesitantly. She felt the flush in her cheeks creep higher.

"Stop what?" he murmured. "I'm not doing anything. Besides, it's true." He shifted slightly on top of her. Ookami stiffened nervously, but all he was doing was rearranging himself so he could rest his head on her shoulder. "When I first saw your face behind that mask I thought you were the prettiest girl in all of Konoha..." he sighed. "I never felt my heart jump like that before I laid eyes on you…"

"Okay, you really need to stop talking. Don't... say that. We can't be doing this," her voice was starting to shake.

"I told you… I'm not trying to 'do' anything. I just want to spend my last few minutes in the arms of the most alluring woman I know." He reached up and traced her face with one finger. Ookami had gone straight from being the Heiress of the Hyuga clan to being an ANBU... Nobody had ever just caressed her spontaneously like that before. A warm fluttering sensation started deep in her stomach.

The building blush flared hot and red over her face. _Damn Hyuga genetics,_ she thought to herself.

Konohamaru raised his head. "You're blushing," he whispered. "That is so adorable. I always prayed you'd notice me one day." He started to cough and sagged slightly.

Ookami wrapped her arms around him to keep him from falling over. "Hey!" she said urgently. "Stay with me! Don't you dare pass out!"

"Pass out?" he asked wincing. "Do you have any idea how long I've waited for you to hold me? There's no way I'll faint and and miss out on all this."

Ookami shook him again. "You're talking nonsense! Nothing is going to happen between us here." Konohamaru's eyes rolled up in their sockets and his head fell forward. "Konohamaru!" she said sharply, "Hey! Konohamaru!"

One eye pried itself open. Konohamaru gave a dry chuckle. "It's wonderful to hear you say my name, I was wondering what it would take to get you to stop calling me 'Sarutobi-san' all the time," he croaked. One of his hand crept up to her shoulder and idly wound itself in her hair. "I think you secretly like me," he whispered.

Ookami made sure she held herself very very still. "I have no idea why you'd think that."

There was a raspy laugh. "My first clue was that you've been holding onto my butt for the last few minutes."

Ookami jerked her hand away. "You're delirious and you have no idea what you are saying," she said nervously. Her pulse was racing.

"My mind has never worked better," he whispered. Slowly, painfully he rose and inched his way upward so his face was once again hovering over hers. "Do you know what? I think I've just figured out what I want for my last request before I move off into the afterlife." He hesitantly moved his head closer.

Later, Ookami would rationalize it as battle fatigue, There was no way she could have possibly been in her right mind. I mean sure he was gorgeous and, and he smelled wonderful, and maybe she had been spending far too many nights at home with no one but the pigeons that hung out at her bird feeder for company, but that was no excuse for ignoring her rationality and letting her ANBU training go straight out the window.

Ookami had just started to tilt her lips up to meet his when there was a polite cough. "Ahem... Excuse me... Sarutobi-sama? You appear to be injured. May I be of some assistance?" Ichisui Uchiha stood a little off to one side, pointedly staring at the horizon.

Konohamaru paused. "Thanks for trying to bring up my hopes kid," he rasped, "But I served in the assault on Kabuto's mountain with your parents. I saw what steel rain does to a man. I know I'm done for. I can feel the foul poison creeping through my veins as we speak. Go help someone who at least has a chance of survival." He made a small waving gesture with his hand. "Seriously... Go... spare yourself the torment of my last few moments."

"Um... Actually... these weren't poisoned."

"What?" asked Konohamaru. He looked down at Ookami. "Really?"

Ichisui nodded. "ANBU Tsuyoki over there was all torn up by the shrapnel and all he'll need is a few shots to prevent an infection."

"Really?" asked Konohamaru again. "That's... great... Just great."

"And anyway, even if the shrapnel was poisoned, it still wouldn't be a problem for you." Ichisui reached down and pulled at Konohamaru's back. He yelped in surprise. Ichisui held up something glittering in his hand. "See? Your injury was caused by a piece of glass. Not surprising considering all the debris that is lying around here." He held it out for Konohamaru to take.

Konohamaru carefully reached up. He took the shard of glass. "Wow. That's... glass alright. I guess I'm going to be fine." Ookami felt the blush redouble in her face and quickly turned her head away, praying no one had noticed what was happening.

There was a group of four jonin, pointing at her and laughing. Terrific…

"Well you do need a small line of stitches, but that will only take me a matter of seconds," said Ichisui as he crouched down. "Oh, I have more good news! I found your towel!"

It landed across Konohamaru's backside. "Terrific," he said flatly. "Now I can get up." Konohamaru sighed and thankfully made himself decent.

It only took a few seconds for Ichisui to suture him up. As soon as Konohamaru sat up, Ookami rolled away from him and began searching for her mask. She didn't look back at him once. "There," she heard Ichisui say with finality. "All set. Don't do anything too strenuous or you may pop them open again." Ichisui gave him a comforting pat and walked to the next injured person, leaving the pair of them to sit there in an extremely awkward silence.

* * *

Konohamaru stared at the ground for a second. Gah! Why couldn't Ichisui have just kept his mouth shut for another... Hmm... half hour? Better make that more like an hour. He was quite relived to hear that he wasn't going to be dead... But Ookami had been right on the verge of kissing him! Life was good and all, but he would have been lying if he said there hadn't been some part of him that had been looking forward to going out with a bang... so to speak. _This has got to be the most impressive combination of good luck / bad luck I have ever had,_ he thought. He shook his head and studied Ookami. She gracefully bent down, picked up her mask and brushed it off. "Hey!" he called out to her. She paused, glanced over at him and quickly looked away. Her face was burning red. Gods! It gave him shivers up and down his spine! How could she be so dark and dangerous one moment and in the next be so darn cute?.

He wasn't lying to Asuma earlier today when he called her the dream girl to end all dream girls...

Konohamaru cleared his throat and tried one more time. "So... Um... Since apparently my schedule has opened up for the immediate future, I don't suppose that there's any chance you'd be interested in going out for dinner with me tonight now? You know, as a way of saying... thank you…?" The silence dragged on. "Because even thought it did only turn out to be only glass in the end, it was my full intention to nobly sacrifice my life in order to save yours?" he finished with his most charming grin.

Ookami hesitated, and then looked down at her mask. There was a click as she fitted it back into place. Konohamaru smiled up at her ceramic wolf head, caught in a half snarl. The wolf stared back. "Go put on your goddamn pants," she said coldly, before storming off.

_Huh,_ he thought, somewhat pleased with himself. _Again... she didn't say 'no'... _He tightened his towel optimistically and began whistling cheerfully.

* * *

Asuma glared at the ground, ignoring the fuss that Hebisu and Chirosu were making over who did a better job fighting off that winged kunoichi. He didn't care.

Ichisui... Yeah... that was where he had heard the name before. When Konohamaru had told him about the Kurokaze attack, trying to convince him that the Uchiha weren't monsters. He turned his eyes this way and that, taking in all the damage of the plaza. There were cries and screams coming from all over. Between Aburame-san's beetles and Tsuyoki's multisize jutsu most of the jonin were untouched. But there were a small handful who were bleeding.

Blood and destruction. That was all the Uchiha were good for. It followed them wherever they went.

A pair of boots walked up and stopped in front of him. "Asuma-san, are you hurt?" asked a familiar voice.

Asuma turned his head away. Ichisui squatted down next to him as if he was beginning a medical examination. "It's okay," the Uchiha said in a calm friendly voice. "I know you weren't hit by any of the shrapnel, but if any of your other injuries from before are acting up… I am a qualified field medical-nin... could I help you with those?" Asuma continued to stare stonily away. Ichisui shifted in his squat and chuckled slightly. "I'm a bit surprised the Hatake twins are leaving you in peace right now... My mother always warned me about the 'battlefield romance effect' but I never thought I'd see so much of it." Ichisui paused, waiting for a reply. "Did you notice your cousin and Ookami-san?" he asked amused.

"Shut up," hissed Asuma.

Ichisui looked up. "What was that?"

"You heard me... I said stop talking. Go away."

"Asuma-san. It is common to have anxieties and emotional surges after a battle. It's just another form of injury," Ichisui said calmly.

Every story Shikamaru-sensei had ever told Asuma about his father started buzzing through his head. Every last detail about how his father was strong, but kind. How he cared for his friends and comrades enough to die for them, and how he gasped out his last words, dying slowly, and painfully from the world he took battling the Akatsuki. Every time his mother went to bed crying, every time she had to leave him alone, just to earn enough money to keep up the rent on their small apartment and to put food on the table...

Ichisui reached out and put one hand on his shoulder. "If you need to we can..."

Asuma's fist shot out and smashed him in the face. As Ichisui stumbled back a red haze fell over Asuma's eyes, and he sprang towards him.

Slowly he regained his sanity. His hands were locked around Ichisui's throat. Chirosu and Hebisu were pulling tightly on each of his arms. One of them also had him in a headlock. "Stop it Asuma-kun!" wailed Hebisu in his ear.

"Yeah, calm down! He was just asking if you needed help!" Chirosu sounded honestly worried. He'd never heard her anxious before. Usually she was just sarcastic.

He forced his hand to relax. He let the two girls hoist him up and off of the Uchiha boy. Ichisui struggled up on his elbows and rubbed at his neck coughing.

"Okay... What gives Asuma?" said Chirosu crossly in his ear. "That's Ichisui... remember him? He saved all of our butts a little while ago!"

Asuma just glared. "Asuma-san," Ichisui croaked, "I apologize if I..."

"Shut your goddamn mouth Uchiha!" Asuma roared so loud that the Fang twins let go of him in shock. "You have no right to talk to me!" His voice echoed around the ruined buildings of the plaza. Every shinobi present turned his or her head to his shout. "The Uchiha clan has fought this village, murdered its residents, and done nothing but sow discord and strife wherever you go! Don't you dare come up to me trying to feed me your fake friendship! Get out of here! Go away! You traitors! You monsters!"

The stupid kid didn't move, he just lay there, his eyes open wide and his mouth moving with no sound coming out, as if he was actually astonished that people could feel that way about his clan. Asuma felt a sour, burning hatred for him right then. He took a deep breath "And now the Uchiha are plotting the destruction of Konoha once again," Asuma snarled. "I can't say I'm surprised."

Ichisui held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I swear to you... That was a lie! My family has changed... "

"Your family has ruined too many lives to ever earn my forgiveness!" Asuma spat. "You may have the Hokage fooled, but you'll never fool me!"

"Please... I just..." started Ichisui.

He flinched as Asuma stepped forward and swung a kick at his prone form. Chirosu and Hebisu grabbed him once again and pulled him back. "Let go of me!" Asuma bellowed. After a brief struggle they both managed to shove him away from Ichisui. Asuma stood there, madness glowing in his eyes. "You'd better stay away from me," he growled. "I never want to see your face again. In fact, if you know what's good for you, you and your whole clan should just leave before somebody decides you shouldn't be stinking up the place with your murdering and your treachery." He turned angrily and stalked away. "Fucking Uchihas."

* * *

Ichisui watched him stomp away. He slowly climbed up to his hands and knees, and looked at the surrounding crowd. That same look of fear, mistrust and outright loathing was on the faces of many of the Leaf Jonin. The pointing started and the whispering began to spread out in the emptiness of the plaza. He heard his family name being bandied about. "Uchiha... Uchiha... Uchiha... "

Ichisui sank back down. The exhaustion of the battle combined with the pressure of all the peering eyes overwhelmed him. He sat there resting his head on his knees.

After a while the regular bustle of the aftermath of a battle started up again. The citizens of Konoha walked around him, working together to carry the wounded, pick up evidence of the attack, cleaning up what little they could salvage from their stores and carts.

No one came to check up on him.

**End of Book 2**


	69. Chapter 25: Fallout: part1

**Konoha Children's crusade: Book Three**

**Chapter 25: Fallout**

Naruto rubbed at his eyes and sighed deeply at his son. "And what happened after this masterful display of athletic prowess and clever one-liners that no one else who was there seems to be able remember?" he asked, hoping his son would get the hint to tone down the embellishments some.

Jiraiya picked idly at the plaster bandage on his cheek and shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, after I made my cat-like landing, the creepy all white lady, the one that Hishyota was telling you about, said she was going to suck out all my chakra. Despite what certain relatives of mine might have told you," he said making a face at older sister, "I did not wet my pants in sheer terror. Instead, during my valiant effort to rescue my dearest older sister and her friends who were lying, crushed at this evil kunoichi's feet, the rest of the air tags and the rat tags went off. That kind of distracted her and gave me the opening I needed!"

"Distracted her... how?" interjected Shikamaru, thankfully still trying to keep things on topic and avoid another shouting match between witnesses. The last thing Naruto needed right now was for his own son and daughter to rekindle the pandemonium.

"She ran around for a bit yelling 'get them off of me!' before she got really pissed. Anyway, our epic battle continued, and I was just about to hit her with my super secret never before seen ultimate jutsu... when Choji-san appeared and punched her in the face." Jiraiya rubbed his nose and continued in a bored voice. "After that the jonin corps showed up and we were all forcibly evacuated. Speaking of which," Jiraiya paused looking around the room, "I want to lodge a complaint against this one jonin - Big guy, black hair, scar right here under his eye. He was quite rude to me. Even after I explained matters to him, he wouldn't even give me the time to salvage what was left of our kite!"

"Would this be the same kite that you were using to spy on the outdoor hot springs in the bath house?" Naruto's voice was getting a dangerous edge.

"That's beside the point," said Jiraiya haughtily. "I only needed the smallest moment to collect my stuff! And this guy practically threw me out of the Pig pe..." He paused and shot a glance at Ino Akimichi, "I mean… the Konoha Emporium. Who does he think he is?"

Naruto sighed. Seriously... When the hells would his son start to grow up? Hinata kept telling him to be patient, it was just a matter of time… that Jiraiya would mature before he graduated the Academy… but this…? He turned to Nokito, who was standing at parade rest. "Captain Nara, can you identify this jonin Jiraiya is talking about?"

Nokito gave a curt nod. "It sounds like Gorou. He was in that sector."

"Tell him the Hokage commends him on a job well done of taking his idiot son out of a battle zone."

"Hey!" yelped Jiraiya.

Naruto pretended that he didn't hear anything. "Tell him the Hokage begs his pardon and promises to do a better job of teaching his offspring that there is a time to pick up your toys and there is a time to run away. I will try harder to teach my son that the best indicator of such a time is when you are outnumbered by enemy shinobi who are threatening to kill you." Naruto sat back with a scowl.

Jiraiya glared up at his father. Very gently Sasuko pulled at his older brother's hand. "I think Daddy's mad at you," the three year old said in a carrying whisper.

Naruto tilted back the Hokage's hat on his head and surveyed the audience hall. All of his children were there. All of Sasuke's children were there. All of the Naras the Akimichis, the Hyugas, Shino's kid, Tsudemi - All of the children were all right and all accounted for.

That was the only thing that had gone right in this botched kidnapping attempt that had turned into a full blown battle. Once again, he had messed up beyond belief. When he thought about the fallout that was going to come crashing down on his head from this latest mess, he was sorely tempted to head back home and curl up in Sasuko's newly finished fort.

Naruto took a deep, calming breath. His eldest son was now refusing to look at him. Naruto had a sudden heart pang. Despite his many mistakes, Jiraiya didn't deserve to be humiliated in public like that. He shouldn't be taking out all his frustrations on an eleven year old. "I'm sorry for yelling at you like Jiraiya. From the report I have read, I looks like you did a commendable job evading capture. But you twice disobeyed a direct order to evacuate! You were putting people in danger each time you tried to sneak back there. You need to realize that people are more important than your toys."

"Those were not toys, " insisted Jiraiya with a huff. "That was expensive equipment that had to be custom manufactured."

Dammit. Even if Jiraiya was the offspring of the Hokage and the Head of the Hyuga clan, there was no excuse for him to have an ego that big! "You were using it to run a pay for peeping scheme at the women's bath!" Naruto exploded. He glared at his son. "I hope you learned your lesson."

"Two lessons," said Jiraiya testily.

"What?"

"I learned two lessons today. First," he held up a finger, "I learned to always make a last minute check before you put a plan into action. Secondly, I learned that if plan A fails, you should always try to make a profit on plan B. Do you know how much money I was offered by various kunoichi if I could get uncle Konohamaru to run naked through the plaza again?"

Naruto couldn't help it, he turned to stare accusingly at his protege. There was an uncomfortable pause. "You didn't happen to get the names of these fine ladies did you?" asked Konohamaru innocently.

Jiraiya smiled his greasy smile. "Of course! You can have them for 600 ryo each."

"Enough… Shut up the both of you," muttered Naruto crossly. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head to clear it. Three hours ago, the only worry on his mind was making sure that Sasuko didn't get paint in his hair... again. Then Ookami had called that emergency meeting about a potential threat. It sounded like this latest crisis would easily suck up the remainder of his afternoon. He made a snap decision to slip away for a quick picnic lunch with Sasuko. Without telling anyone they headed out to the pond where the old Uchiha district used to be. It was their favorite getaway spot. Sasuko splashed happily in the mud trying to grab the frogs. Naruto and his ANBU escort had no idea anything was wrong until they saw the smoke. By the time he found a safe place to leave Sasuko and arrived at the scene, the fighting was over. And now...

He reached out and picked up one of the shuriken that the attackers had left behind. It was cheap iron and hadn't aged well. It didn't have a clear ring as he bounced it absentmindedly off the table.

The floor of the main audience room was packed. As much as he wanted to do differently, he couldn't let other things distract him now; he had to play the part of the Hokage. Naruto sat at one end of the largest hall in the new Hokage building with his inner council. The floor in front of them was filled with witnesses. All the jonin, ANBU, citizens, parents and anxious children who were present during this latest attack were waiting there... which led to quite a few... awkward moments.

Ino had her son and daughter, Inoji and Chodu pressed in the far left hand corner of the room. In the closer, lower right corner, as far away from Choji's wife as she could get, Temari stood, with a possessive hand on Karua and Shikasu. Between the two women was a palpable wall of icy disdain.

If the possibility of yet another verbal altercation between those two women wasn't enough to convince Naruto to wrap things up and clear out the room, Sasuke's behavior certainly was. His five children were huddled in a tight circle, eyes downcast, in the center of the room. Sasuke paced around them like a tiger, one hand locked tight around the hilt of the katana in his belt. His smoldering fury was obvious to everyone in the room, and the crowd was giving the reclusive head of the Uchiha clan a wide berth.

That was probably to be expected of them, given what happened the last time Sasuke's family was threatened. Several jonin and ANBU were slowly making their way towards him, building a makeshift barrier between Sasuke and the rest of the crowd. Many of them were looking anything but sympathetic.

While the threats of a rekindling of the Akimichi/Nara feud and Sasuke losing his temper were the main problems in the short term, Naruto knew his biggest issue was going to be the council. Their seats were empty now, but once he opened the doors, they would line the walls looking superior and self-important as only they could. Councilor Akihiro Shimura was going to be beside himself with self-righteous glee. Naruto could almost make out his ranting from out in the hallway. "Did you hear?" the smug bastard was probably muttering to his cronies. "I warned everyone that allowing the Uchiha to return to our fair village would come back to punish us one day! But did the Hokage listen to me? Oh no! In fact... where was our glorious leader in our hour of need? Oh! He was off having a picnic!"

_Gods... I almost wish the battle was still going on,_ Naruto thought to himself. _I'd rather be fighting for my life than dealing with snide comments and shady deals in dusty hallways._

Naruto squashed his self pity and turned to Shikamaru. "Do you think we got a good enough description of the attack from the witnesses? I'd like to air out the room before some we let the old geezers in."

Shikamaru rubbed his chin and made a curt nod towards the door. "I'm not so sure it's a good idea," he said in that circumspect way he always used when he agreed, but felt duty bound to warn his Hokage about all the implications anyway. "Anyone we let go, they're just going to insist on calling back. You know what their opinion of you is, do you honestly think that they'll take our word for anything? Once you let the rest of the council in here, there's going to be full blown investigation, with a lot of cross examining." Konoha's leading strategist leaned back and shot a sympathetic glance at his wife and kids. "It's going to be a long day."

Naruto frowned. "Really? You think that they're even going to want to cross examine the kids? We've had them here for over two hours. Could we at least send them home?"

Shikamaru smirked at him. "If you do, the council will make a stink about it."

Naruto shook his head. Gods he hated politics... why did it always seem that he was always ending up doing what other people wanted him to do rather that the right thing to do? He looked down at his own kids, the youngsters of the Uchiha clan, and Shikamaru's own children. All of them looked tired, scared and despite the field treatments from the jonin corps medical-nin, beat up. The Hokage made his decision. "The council can kiss the Hokage's ass." Shikamaru snorted a laugh quietly through his nose. Naruto continued, "Come on... No one is going to be that big a jerk. Our kids have been through a lot."

"It will be Akihiro who insists," muttered Shikamaru smugly, leaning back in his chair and stretching. "If you don't believe me... go ahead and see what happens."

Naruto sighed and stood, holding up his hands to get everyone's attention. "Honored citizens... I think we can release the majority of you back to your lives. We can continue this discussion amongst ourselves. I apologize for requiring so much of your time." Naruto cleared his throat. "I'd like to express my most sincere thanks to you all in defending our village and its people. I hope that any of your friends and loved ones who were injured in the attack will have a speedy recovery." He nodded his thanks particularly to Ino. It had taken all his persuasion to convince her that, having fought several of the attackers, her testimony was necessary. Her counter argument was that her husband was injured and that she couldn't leave Choji's side, but he would bet money that having to be in the same room with Shikamaru and Temari might have been part of it.

"Commander Nokito," Naruto called out to the Captain of the jonin corps, who came to attention, "If you would be so kind as to request that the elders of Konoha patiently wait little bit more for the room to settle before joining me in the emergency session? Thank you."

There was a short rumbling that spread through the crowd, followed by the rustle of movement. Nokito nodded to the pair of jonin standing guard in front of the main door. They cracked open the double doors and were promptly pushed aside.

"What is the meaning of this?" councilor Akihiro's reedy voice cut through the hall. "I was always under the impression that the elders had some sort of say in the governing of Konoha. Has martial law been declared?"

Naruto shot Shikamaru a scowl. Shikamaru gave him an 'I told you so' shrug in return. "Councilor Akihiro," he said in an exasperated voice. "We were just talking about you."

"Were you now?" He stuffily forced his way into the room, his retinue elbowing people aside. "What a surprising coincidence. The rest of the council and I were just talking about you! We were were just happening to discuss how tragic it can be when the heavy burden of being the Hokage was laid on the shoulders of someone so young... and inexperienced... like yourself."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What are you implying?"

Akihiro sneered. "The Sixth Hokage... The real Sixth Hokage was a man of great intellect, wisdom and cunning. He would have never turned a blind eye to threats against Konoha."

That did it. Naruto sucked in a deep breath and placed both hands on the table in front of him ready to spring from his chair and unleash a vicious verbal diatribe. Before he could reply Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder and gently applied pressure to get him so stay seated. "Councilor," Kakashi said calmly in his smooth voice. "We are just trying to make the room ready for the official half of our meeting. Please accept our deepest apologies. We will send for you when we are ready. It shouldn't be much longer than half an hour." Kakashi snapped his fingers. Two platoons of ANBU appeared in a puff of smoke and gently cleared the protesting councilor out. Most of the witnesses followed. Ino began to pull her children towards the exit.

Naruto felt Kakashi's eyes on him, but he refused to look up. "Thanks Kakashi-sensei," he murmured. "And yes… I know I need to control my temper better. The Hokage can't afford to lose it in front of his political rivals."

"Actually, all I was going to say was that you've been the Hokage for ten years now. You need to stop letting that idiot get you all riled up over that 'real sixth Hokage' nonsense." Kakashi smiled at Naruto under his mask. "No one disputes that you are the Hokage. Don't be afraid to let those old men know it. Just... try not to let them know by ripping their heads off... It's bad diplomacy." He gave Naruto a reassuring pat.

Shikamaru cleared his throat and leaned forward. "Did you happen to catch what the good councilor said? He dropped a clue about where he wants to steer the meeting."

Naruto thought. "Threats to the village?" he asked. Shikamaru gave him a pleased nod. Naruto looked back out over the crowd. "So... they're going to use this as an excuse to attack the peace accords again. We're going to have to run damage control before we let this session get started. I swear it's like a broken record with these people." Naruto sighed again, his head was beginning to hurt with the realization of all the politicking he was going to have to do in the next few hours. "Does anyone have ideas on how best to set up a united front? We'll need to add to our coalition if we're going to successfully head them off."

Kakashi toyed with his cane. "I volunteer to talk to the smaller clans. I'm pretty sure I can bring a few of them to our side of the table."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks Sensei. Konohamaru I'm going to need you to see what some of the more established clans are going to require to be on our side. Check up on the Sarutobi clan as well. Your family has been good about supporting the Leaf peace initiatives so far, but I don't want any more surprises... not today."

"Aww man," muttered Konohamaru. "Do I have to? I hate talking to the clan. Aunt Rika has been pestering me all month about settling down."

"A very wise woman," said Naruto somberly. He ignored the 'don't you start now' look Konohamaru gave him, and instead watched Ino push her way through the crowds towards the door. "I wish there was some way we could get the Akimichi clan to weigh in on this vote, but Choji's been keeping quiet on all forms of politics, both internal and international for years now."

"Akimichi-san!" Naruto turned at the sound of Shikamaru's voice. So did Temari. So did the about half of the exodus from the meeting hall, causing a huge traffic jam in the doorway as people looked between the pair of them, wanting to see what was about to happen. Ino had stopped her in tracks, but did not turn around, or look back. Shikamaru cleared his throat, and took a deep breath. "I just wanted to let you and Choji know that the Leaf Village's emergency damages fund will be covering any repairs you might have to make to the Emporium..." There was a long pause as Ino stood there. "I... uh... you know... In case you were worried about paying for the construction." Ino's head dipped once in acknowledgement and then she double timed her son and daughter out the door.

Shikamaru's eyes followed her out. "There you go," he muttered to Naruto, "we've just ensured the support of the Akimichi clan and… maybe... some small fraction of the Yamanaka clan."

When he turned his head back Temari was standing in front of him, hand on hips. "I trust everything is alright... my husband?" she asked pointedly.

Naruto was relieved to see that Shikamaru held back the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes. It's just politics as usual. Everything is fine... troublesome woman."

Naruto felt himself wince, now if only the head of the Nara clan could keep his snide comments to a minimum… "Really?" Temari leaned her head forward and hissed. "And do you think that it's going to stay that way?"

"Temari! Shikamaru! Knock it off, there's been enough fighting today. And don't go anywhere, I have to ask your opinion on something vitally important to the Leaf and Sand villages!" Naruto called out. Temari gave her husband a 'this isn't over by a long shot' look and walked over to Naruto.

Naruto went back to bouncing the shuriken off the table. It made a little clink with each tap. The room was starting to clear out, but his kids and the ones belonging to the adults he had asked to stay were still milling around in the room. He didn't want them underfoot when he let the village elders come slinking back in... If for no other reason, Sasuko didn't need to learn any of the bad words that were probably going to be tossed back and forth.

He glanced down the length of the table. At the same time he had no desire to let his kids out of his sight. He wished he could afford to be like Sasuke right now. Naruto wanted to give in to his primal instincts, beat his chest, smash the furniture and scream that no one could even think of touching his children.

The Hokage couldn't afford to be that way though. He had to be calm and cool and look like everything was completely under control. No matter how much he wanted to go out there and destroy something.

He would bet that the many of the remaining parents in the room were feeling the same agitated emotions he was. If he wanted to have a productive meeting right here, he'd need to remove the kids from the equation. They'd need to be taken somewhere unquestionably safe, somewhere nearby...

"Chirosu, Hebisu," he called out quietly. The Hatake twins stopped their surreptitious shoving match and snapped to attention. "I've got a special A-rank mission for you. I'm going to need the pair of you to watch the door to my office."

The twins exchanged a glance. Hebisu cautiously raised a hand. "Excuse me Hokage-sama, you want us to watch it? Watch it, like how? Do you mean observe or stop people from going in?"

"I read the ANBU report of your mother's little field trip to that slaver camp... I want the pair of you to do to anyone who tries to force their way through that door, what you did in that camp... times ten... Do you understand?" Both girls nodded. Chirosu looked a little worried, but Hebisu was grinning ear to ear.

Naruto nodded and picked more faces out of the crowd. "Karua, Ichisui, and Hishyoni. I hope that the three of you are well enough for a little B-rank mission. I want you form an impromptu squad and take everyone younger than you to my office."

"I don't need a babysitter dad!" grumbled Jiraiya loudly.

"Make sure no one gets into trouble," Naruto continued loudly, pointedly ignoring him. "Also, make sure that Jiraiya stays out of the locked filing cabinet containing my top secret files this time."

"Hey, that only happened once!" snapped Jiraiya indignantly.

"Hishyota and Hana, I think that they might need the both of you to help as well. I'll call it a B-ranked mission for of you, how's that?" Naruto gave both girls a smile. "The pair of you will even be on the same team for once. Won't that be great?" His smile faded as Hishyota gave Hana a very dark look as they were sent away.

_That was weird,_ thought Naruto. He was under the impression the two girls were best friends. Naruto shook his head and muttered a frustrated "teenagers" under his breath as they walked on down the hall.

They weren't the only ones acting strange, Ichisui was not his usual self either. He was very distracted. He stood by idly while Karua and Hishyoni ran about the meeting hall herding children into a large group. He didn't seem to do anything other than stare at his feet. "Ichisui!" Naruto prompted. This time Ichisui jumped and looked up. "I gave you a mission to help watch the other kids," said Naruto. "Get going."

Ichisui bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama." As the large group started moving out, Sasuke started to go with them.

"Not you Sasuke, I'm afraid I'm going to need you here for this... discussion," said Naruto quietly.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks. For a second it looked like he was going to refuse, but then he nodded. "Ichisui!" he called out after his son. Ichisui turned and looked. "Fourth rule," he said simply. Ichisui's eyes widened, but he nodded and headed out the door after the rest of the children. The door closed with a click.

Naruto sat back and surveyed who was left in the room. Nokito and a few jonin. Ookami and a pair of ANBU. Temari, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino and of course The Sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village and his small council. It would have to do. "Before we let the village elders in and start arguing, throwing stuff and playing politics as usual, I thought it would be good to hear everyone's thoughts on the attack one more time... and let's not kid ourselves... that's what this was, an attack that caught us all with our pants down." Naruto picked up the shuriken, held it by one point on the table, and flicked it with his other finger, making it spin. "As soon as those doors are opened, the rest of the council is going to stomp in here, most likely making wild accusations against other villages and demanding retribution. Before all that happens I want to make sure I have all the details as best as you can determine them. The smallest clue you remember or the tiniest idea you have could be vitally important for the future of our village. " Naruto paused and looked each person in the eye. "From what I can tell, sixteen unknown shinobi managed to infiltrate the Leaf village. They ran round my village undetected. They tried to kidnap children from the all major political families. They were strong enough to hold at bay the entire jonin corps and two platoons of ANBU, and yet somehow they were weak enough to have their kidnapping attempt foiled by a handful of genin and academy students." The spinning shuriken wobbled and fell to the table. "Finally, just when we were just starting to launch a counterattack, they all suddenly and very mysteriously vanished without a trace." Naruto picked it up and gave it another spin. "Am I forgetting anything? Feel free to speak up. There's no need to be formal here."

"I think you're leaving out the part where the attackers announced to everyone that I was the new head of the Kurokaze clan and I was taking my revenge on everyone in Konoha," Sasuke said bitter, resigned voice.

"Yeah... that," Naruto scowled and turned to Shikamaru. "Any ideas where that could have come from? The Daimyo's aides said almost the same thing yesterday."

"It's one more mystery to add to the list," said Shikamaru grouchily. "We have many pieces of the puzzle but none of them are matching up right now."

"Well... let's start off with the obvious questions," Naruto picked up the shuriken and held it out on his palm. "Temari, can I get you to take a look at this? It has your village's stamp."

Temari stiffened. "Impossible. Gaara would never do anything that would harm the peace between the Leaf and the Sand."

Naruto sighed. "I'm not accusing Gaara or Suna of anything. I just want you to confirm that if came from the Land of Wind."

Temari briefly inspected the shuriken. "It's from Suna, but that means nothing. Weapons can be easily bought... or stolen."

Kakashi leaned forward. "All of the weapons recovered from the attack have Land of Wind markings on them. Can you think any groups or organizations inside of the Land of Wind that might have orchestrated such an attack?"

This time Temari hesitated before answering. She shook her head slowly. "No… none that are still standing… at least not that I am aware of. I could send a letter off to Gaara with a request if you want?"

Naruto nodded. "Please do so... and send it via any private channels you have."

Temari frowned. "Private channels? Why?"

Kakashi sighed. "Well, I hate to admit it, but we are definitely having a serious problem with communication here in the Leaf. It's looking more and more like we have been infiltrated at some level." He nodded to Ookami. "There were those several requests for back up sent during the conflict that quite ominously disappeared."

"Is it possible that the attackers were exploiting this breakdown in communication to maintain their invisibility?" asked Shikamaru thoughtfully. "It would be a lot easier to hide from everyone that way than to use some sort of cloaking jutsu."

Ookami stepped forward and saluted. "There were experts at masking chakra among the attackers, I can attest to that." She paused and shifted awkwardly. "Hokage-sama, I am less concerned with how they managed to infiltrate us and more disturbed with what they wanted." There was a silence of a few breaths. "They were after your children," she finished quietly

"It seems fairly obvious to me," said Shino. "They wanted hostages." His finger pointed around the room. "Uzumaki-Hyuga, Hyuga, Nara, Uchiha. If you control those children you command the attention of the leadership of the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Sand... This was a power grab... Nothing more."

Ookami glanced over at Shino. "With respect Aburame-san, when the Black Wind attacked, I was one of the few people who heard them make demands. The only thing the Kurokaze expressed an interest in other than slaughter, was taking children." She looked back to Naruto. "I was with... your wife that day three years ago. "Give us the children," they demanded. "They are ours.'" She turned quickly and made a short bow in Sasuke's direction. "I am not trying to suggest that you were involved in this attack in any way Uchiha-san, but this is the second time today I have heard of parties trying to acquire children." The wolf mask turned to Kakashi. "I have also heard rumors of the Black Wind's potential return. Is there any truth to this Commander?"

"Well..." Naruto started nervously, not sure how much he should be saying out in the open.

"We have also heard these rumors and are investigating them," Kakashi interrupted firmly. "Unfortunately we have no information at this time."

Shikamaru was shifting through a sheaf of papers. "The second time? Was the first with that smuggler?"

Kiba stepped forward. "Yeah... the guy from the Hidden Cloud. Some mystery man offered him top coin for young shinobi. He was thinking about cashing in his neice."

"It could have been slavers," interjected Konohamaru.

"No slaver is going to try hold shinobi. They're more trouble than they're worth," said Kiba with a nasty smile. "Just ask the fang twins."

"There was no way these fools were Kurokaze," snapped Temari. "I fought the Kurokaze three years ago. Sixteen Black Wind shinobi should have torn your ANBU and jonin corps apart. There is no conceivable way that true members of the Kurokaze would have been beaten by a bunch of genin."

"Ichisui said the red haired attacker said something about wanting them for a purpose 'too terrible to mention,'" Sasuke's voice rose up from where he was leaning against the wall. "I agree with Temari, if they wanted him, no Kurokaze would have stopped to have a chat with him when they could have grabbed him outright. That also doesn't sound much like hostages to me." He frowned and pushed himself off the wall. "What has really been bothering me are the powers some of these shinobi were displaying." He pointed up to Naruto. "This winged kunoichi with the scales and the lightning. I can think of one shinobi who was experimenting with a lot of things like that... Kabuto Yakushi."

"Kabuto's dead Sasuke," said Kakashi quietly. "I'm certain of it."

"How certain?" Sasuke spat back. "Because my son just gave me a fairly convincing description of his handiwork. She had animal characteristics and was able to use her lightning jutsu without the need for any handsigns. That sounds like she was a chimera cooked up in a lab. Trust me, I should know. I'm also quite sure that my family would be on Kabuto's short list for revenge."

"There is no way it can be Kabuto, Sasuke," said Kakashi firmly. "He's dead. Trust me. Anko cut off his head, while I raikiri-ed his heart. Then just to make sure, she poisoned his corpse with three separate poisons of her own devising, chopped up his body into little, tiny pieces, doused them in oil, and set them on fire. She was hoping to gather what was left of his ashes and dump them in a volcano, but there wasn't anything left other than a greasy stain on the tunnel floor... My wife wanted to be very thorough."

"It is not possible someone like the kunoichi Sasuke-san described came from the Hidden Sand village," mumbled Temari. "There's no way any of them did. No one from the Land of Wind has jutsu like those. Maybe the weapons came from Suna, but the shinobi certainly didn't."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Let's leave the topic of the weapons for a moment and continue talking about the abilities of the attackers." He flipped through his notes. "We have the pale woman, referred to as Shiro, the skinny strongman, Ao, the winged kunoichi, Murasaki, and the mystery man with all the sealing jutsu, Aku." He put down his papers and looked up. "Let's start with the kunoichi called Shiro. Both Hishyota Uzumaki-Hyuga and Hana Uchiha testified that she used some sort of mind control jutsu. Ino Akimichi testified that she sucks out chakra, and Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga also said as much."

"Personally," said Shikamaru shifting in his seat, "I was much more concerned by the part where Hana Uchiha said she shoved a genjutsu strong enough to kill someone three times over through her skull and she just got up and walked away." He leaned over the table, glanced at his wife, and then looked at Kakashi. "If you combine getting up from things that should have killed you with constantly spouting religious stuff like that skinny guy was, I begin to worry about Jashinists... I'd hate to think that cult has reformed."

Kakashi made a note on his paper. "There were no rituals, and no Jashinist symbols seen anywhere on the attackers, but it might be worth looking into." He pulled out a fresh piece of paper. "Regarding the Shinobi known as Ao, everyone who fought that thin shinobi agreed that he was very strong." Kakashi paused and leaned towards Shikamaru. "I even have one report here that says: 'His strength was at least at level 9000! Maybe even higher!" he said with much amusement.

Shikamaru sighed and covered his eyes. "I'd apologize for my son, but I know you are all secretly enjoying this."

Kakashi coughed politely. "Anyway, thankfully he was strong, but not very skilled in taijutsu. Might Guy was easily a match for him. With Ino Akimichi backing him up it wasn't even a contest. However both Ino and Karua Nara indicated that he recognized them and taunted them with information that only someone who had intimate knowledge of the social setting of Konoha could know."

"Yeah, there's a shock. They're spying on us too," grumbled Konohamaru.

"Lastly there is Aku. Our red haired mystery man who has sealed so much chakra inside himself," Kakashi stopped talking and looked up expectantly at Ookami.

"The man was immune to every form of taijutsu, weapon or ninjutsu that Hishyoni Hyuga, Ichisui Uchiha, Sarutobi-san, and myself threw at him," Ookami said quietly. "He could move faster than almost anything I've seen. The amount of power he had inside him was awe inspiring."

Silence settled over the hall. "Has anyone heard of anything like that?" Naruto called out. "Anyone?"

"I have," called out Konohamaru in an amused voice. "Maybe he's a jinchuriki like you boss!"

"Don't be stupid Konohamaru," groaned Shikamaru. "There are only two of the tailed beasts left. Both Naruto and Bee-san are accounted for. You can't make jinchuriki any more if there are no more tailed beasts!"

Naruto glanced up and over at Sasuke, who was studiously trying to avoid his glance. "That... might not be… entirely... true," said Naruto slowly. A cold silence wrapped around the few remaining people in the hall. "The beasts themselves can't really be killed, they're not alive as we understand it… so after we defeated the Ten tails it could be possible their chakra will slowly re-from, and then one day 'hey presto' they'll be back again."

"Well, what does the Nine tails say?" asked Konohamaru. "Does he know how long something like that would take?"

Naruto hesitated, and then absentmindedly rubbed at his stomach, sending a query to the Kyubi. Nothing. "Kurama... doesn't know. Nobody does. This sort of thing hasn't ever happened before." Sasuke looked up at Naruto and then quickly looked away.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a moment He had to think of the best way to get his point across while skirting the truth... Well two truths really... The first was that Kurama hadn't spoken to him once in these past three years. The second reason was that there could actually be more jinchuriki... But he and Sasuke agreed never to speak about that.

The Sixth Hokage took a deep breath. "There's a long history of other types of other chakra creatures being sealed within people. The Uzumaki were famous for it... before the most of the knowledge of how to do it was lost with the fall of their village." He waved a hand in Sasuke's direction and spent a moment reminiscing. "Both Sasuke and I encountered someone who had an evil spirit sealed away inside them about twenty years ago during that Land of Sky attack. This Aku person does sound like he has some major chakra source trapped inside of him, but it doesn't necessarily have to be some sort of tailed beast. In fact, I really hope that it isn't." He opened his eyes. "However, his power and abilities are close enopugh with a jinchuriki's anyway. It probably couldn't hurt to prepare for the worst, and start warning people."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Okay, if you insist... but it's only going to make things more of a drag for us though."

"What do you mean?" asked Konohamaru.

Shikamaru sighed. "Do you know how much chaos the emergence of new jinchuriki would cause in the Five Great Nations? Right now we've got to deal with saboteurs in the Hidden Leaf, attacks by unknown assailants who may or may not be attached to a dead Kabuto, or Jashinists, or rogue elements from the Hidden Sand village. If you add in a possible new jinchuriki, everyone is suddenly going to get anxious that one of their neighbors has discovered a way tip the balance of power. It will sow suspicion and you'll see a lot of other preparations for war 'just in case'. This in turn will spiral into even more warmongering."

"Don't forget those mystery tags," interrupted Kiba. "They're what called this meeting together in the first place."

"Right... the tags," groaned Naruto. "Any progress on those?"

Kakashi flipped through his briefing. "Nothing new. They are still being studied. The best guess the analysis team has right now is that they are an incomplete summoning tag."

"I guess we'd better go solve some mysteries then," said Naruto. "It sounds like we have a lot of work to get done." He stood.

"After we finish the meeting with the council," reminded Shikamaru.

Naruto cringed and sank back down into his seat. "Dammit," he murmured. "I almost forgot about that."

"You want me to wait before we open the doors?" Shikamaru asked. "We could stall the meeting for a little bit longer if you need it?"

Naruto briskly rubbed his hands and stood again. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be to meet up with that bunch of jackals. Let them in. The less time we waste on this garbage now, the more time we'll have to do important things later on."


	70. Chapter 25: Fallout: part2

Naruto tried to make himself look more 'leader like' by straightening his robes surreptitiously as the doors swung open and one by one the Clan Heads and village Elders filed in. He instinctively started to look for Hinata's entrance before he remembered she was away at the clan gathering. Gods he wished she was here with him now, he could use her support… both politically and emotionally. Things always seemed more manageable when she was there. He sighed, missing her already… well… there was no sense in moping about… she'd be back soon enough.

Naruto gave a nod and Kakashi and Konohamaru rose from their seats, and started wandering nonchalantly down the meeting hall, to have impromptu meetings with the clans they were trying to ensure support from. "My dear friends!" The Hokage called out brightly to the elders with a large fake smile plastered on his face. "I hope you do not object to me making you wait. There were so many little things we had to go over to prepare for this briefing."

"I object Hokage-sama!" councilor Akihiro's reedy voice cut through the hall. "I object to you holding these interviews in secret, I object to that man," he snapped, pointing at Sasuke, "being allowed to participate in the Leaf political process, but most of all I object to you dismissing everyone before we have a chance to verify the eyewitness accounts ourselves! The esteemed council will definitely have issues that they will need witnesses to clarify." Akihiro narrowed his eyes as he stared at Naruto. "Or perhaps you are afraid of some truth that those witnesses will let slip?"

Naruto sat down and resumed tapping the shuriken on the table. "I felt the kind thing to do would be to release the majority of the witnesses back to their homes. They were here a long time."

"And if the honored council has any questions that need answering? What then?" councilor Akihiro sneered. A sizable group of other elders behind him nodded in stern unison." This is just one more pitiful example of the blatant disregard you show to..."

A slight balding man wearing a pair of glasses gently tugged on Akihiro's sleeve. To Naruto's surprise, the older man stopped his rant and took a step back. "What my... Mmm... esteemed cousin means to say Hokage-sama," the bald man lisped. "Is that it would be most advantageous to keep some of the witnesses around... Mmm... would it not? Just to clear up any little... Mmm... issues?"

There was a small scrape as Shikamaru leaned forward in his chair. "Masanori-san, it truly is a pleasure to see you. How is your lovely cousin doing these days?"

Masanori bowed quickly. "I am sad to say that the Noble Eri Shimura is still mourning the loss of her brother. For her it has been a long and difficult... Mmm... twelve years Nara-san. We all know how the loss of family can affect people in... beastly ways… strange how only some are forgiven." Masanori kept his beady eyes fixed on Shikamaru while Akihiro glared ominously at Sasuke. "It was an exceptionally hard blow for her when the Hokage demanded that she be... Mmm... removed from her council seat. However she has managed to keep busy and I believe she is improving slowly. Shall I tell her you were... Mmm... asking after her health?"

Naruto held back a laugh. Gods, sometimes this political double talk was just plain ridiculous. Shikamaru? Asking after her health? Ha! More like seeing if old witch was still breathing! Shikamaru was far classier that Naruto though, he just politely nodded. "Please do. Things were always much more... interesting when Eri Shimura was around."

"Ha!" blustered Akihiro, whose own political savvy was much more in line with Naruto's. "If my older sister was still the head of the Shimura clan you..."

He was silenced by Masanori's upraised hand in front of his nose. "I believe that my cousin means to say that we all regret any... Mmm... actions she may have taken in her grief. But whatever her failings, the Shimura clan feels the... Mmm... loss of her strong leadership." Everything about the way Masanori carried his body and spoke indicated a man who was obsequious and frail. Until you met his eyes. His eyes were cold and hungry like a shark's. They darted around the room carefully calculating and categorizing who he could turn to an advantage, who was a threat and who would be easy prey. "My dear cousin, the honorable Councilor, happened to notice earlier that you... Mmm... seemed to have dismissed everyone... May I inquire as to whether or not there are any of the witnesses to this attack still on the premises perhaps? Just in case the esteemed council needs to... Mmm... verify a point or two?"

Naruto scratched his ear to cover his tensing up. The way that little weaselly guy always seemed to know stuff ahead of time creeped the hell out of him. "We've kept the majority of the children involved on the premises... well, mostly because their parents were still here," he admitted. "Many of them have been worn out by all the excitement of the day. They are only children after all, they needed a chance to rest from all the questions of earlier."

"Ahh!" said Masanori with cold confidence. "Then may I assume that the younger members of the revived Uchiha clan are still... Mmm... nearby as well?" His eyes flicked once towards Sasuke. "I wonder if we could have the... Mmm... opportunity to speak with them?"

Sasuke shifted forward just the smallest amount. A bone chilling pall of building chakra rolled through the room. There was a rustle of movement as the gathered ANBU and jonin leaned forward in readiness.

"Sasuke," Naruto called out in a firm voice. Sasuke shot a glare at the Hokage, but eased himself off the balls of his feet. Everyone else started breathing again. Naruto turned back to Masanori. "After they have rested a short while, yes you may have the opportunity to talk with some of the shinobi that were present during this attack... as long as you realize that this is a fact finding assembly… not an interrogation."

Masanori smiled a mirthless smile. "Good! Good! Please excuse me just one moment, I must... Mmm... speak with the most noble councilor." He turned and began whispering furiously at Akihiro.

"What's that all about?" Naruto muttered to Shikamaru.

"Akihiro was taking the conversation someplace Eri-san doesn't want him to," said Shikamaru quietly. "So Masanori stepped in and put things back on track." They watched Akihiro lower his eyes and mumble something to his feet. "Now Akihiro's getting told what an idiot he is."

Naruto snickered. "How come Masanori gets to tell Akihiro that he's an idiot and I don't?"

Shikamaru gave him a kick. "Don't laugh… You should be more worried about why Masanori is here at all. The very fact that Eri-san sent her most trusted lieutenant here means that this is a big deal to her and the Shimura clan... The fact that Masanori broke protocol enough to shut Akihiro up, and then dress him down in public... Well, that means that something insanely important to her is happening."

During their whole whispered exchange, Sasuke had been slowly approaching the Hokage's table. He leaned his hands on it and gave a slight jerk of his head back towards Masanori. "That little turd is not getting within ten meters of my kids."

"Sasuke," said Naruto in a soothing voice, "if we were going to let that little turd ask your kids any questions, wouldn't it be better if he does it here... now... in plain view of us and everyone else?"

"I think it would be better if someone took a kunai and jammed it up his..."

"Sasuke," Shikamaru grumbled quietly, "he's not going to try anything out in the open. That's not how his clan works. That's not how the game is played, and like them or not, the Shimura clan follows the rules. As long as we're all here watching, the worst he'll be able to do is ask your kids a bunch of insulting questions about you."

Sasuke's hands clenched into fists. He leaned closer into the table. "Have you ever been targeted by the Shimura clan?"

"Yes," said Shikamaru coldly, narrowing his eyes.

Sasuke shook his head slightly. "No you haven't, not really… They were just trying to control you. The Uchiha know first hand what it's like to be on the receiving end of the Shimura clan's vendetta. Why don't you ask some of them about how Danzo Shimura followed these so called 'rules.' Oh wait... you can't... because everyone else in the Uchiha clan is dead!"

"So's Danzo Shimura," snapped Shikamaru, "So's Eiji Shimura. Eri Shimura now sits at home, brooding in exile trying to come up with new and creative ways to ruin you and Naruto, just the way you ruined her!"

"Eri and her goddamned brother deserve all of that and more!" snarled Sasuke. "They started this feud!"

"They don't see it that way. Half of the village doesn't see it that way. We tried telling people the truth. We showed them the evidence, but as far as they're concerned the only one who killed the Uchiha clan was your..."

"Shikamaru!" snapped Naruto in a forceful voice.

Shikamaru exhaled and made an apologetic nod to Sasuke. "Sorry... I'm not trying to open up old wounds... I'm just trying to explain the political situation we're stuck in. Whether you like it or not, no matter what their past is, the Shimura clan is still well respected and powerful."

Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Listen... Sasuke, this is me talking... You know how much store I put in the regular political game around here. I'm telling you that right now we've got important stuff at stake... In order for this to play out right, we need to look like we're not hiding anything. We need to look like we are willing to cooperate with the Shimura clan... at least for a little while."

Sasuke stood there silently, looking down. He raised his head and fixed Naruto with a cold hard stare. "The last time you gave in to the Shimura clan, my family was banished."

Of course he would still remember that goddamn mistake of his… this was Sasuke...Naruto deflated and sat back in his seat. "Sasuke... I'm sorry... That was a..."

"I'm betting the Shimura clan is going to try to force through a resolution weakening the peace accords we have with the other villages," interrupted Shikamaru. "They're going to try to make the Hokage look weak and afraid and then while everyone is up there quaking in their boots they'll call for a vote on 'tightening security' or "the Konoha defense committee' or something like that." He lowered his voice and scanned the room, looking for eavesdroppers. "I'll give you one guess as to which 'retired' kunoichi they'll propose as the new head of that committee."

Sasuke bit back his next comment as Konohamaru slid into his seat. "Hey Boss," he said with a scowl.

"Konohamaru," said Naruto leaning forward once again. "Please tell me you have good news."

Konohamaru sighed. "Since when has the fabled Sarutobi charm ever failed?" He counted off on his fingers. "The Yamanaka clan is behind you, Sarutobi is behind you, Yueh is behind you although they indicated that they may want your help renegotiating some of their contracts with the Hyuga clan. The Shiranui clan wants expansion rights and building permits for new living space. The head of the Namiashi clan wants to talk to you about 'something personal' and wouldn't get any more specific than that. I promised him an audience."

Naruto looked over at his protégé. "Sounds like you did fine. So why the long face?"

Konohamaru gave Naruto a sour look. "Because... Just as I predicted... My Aunt Rika cornered me and talked my ear off about 'continuing the honored Sarutobi lineage' I had to promise her I would discuss suitable marriage prospects with her tomorrow afternoon." His scowl grew at Naruto's snicker. "What? Don't laugh! It's not funny!"

"What isn't funny?" asked Kakashi, limping up to the table.

"Konohamaru's love life," grunted Shikamaru. "Now could we please get back to…"

Konohamaru leaned over the table, in front of Shikamaru. "The Hokage seems to find it amusing that I have to spend an entire afternoon with my Aunt Rika, sitting through endless tea ceremonies, doing an infinite amount of gardening and having her babble continuously about clan business and how my marriage to some random woman would be such an asset 'to my dear family'." Konohamaru changed his register, making his voice higher pitched. "Oh Konohamaru-kun … It brings me such great sadness that you continue to shame your clan so… especially in their hour of need." He glared at Naruto. "Here I am doing everything in my power, sacrificing my body and soul to further his political goals and the peace of all nations, and he has the nerve to think it's funny!"

"I think it's hilarious," said Sasuke dryly.

"Hey!" snapped Konohamaru indignantly.

"Well, I for one agree that it's a tragedy," said Kakashi, pulling up a chair and settling down

Konohamaru nodded. "Thank you sensei, see? He understands that…"

"There's been many an occasion in between publishings of the next Icha-icha book that I've passed the time paging through all the incident reports involving you and your lady friends," said Kakashi cheerfully.

Naruto dissolved into a fit of the giggles. Sasuke cracked half a smile while everyone else laughed. Konohamaru narrowed his eyes and glared at Kakashi. "Not funny sensei."

"Okay," started Shikamaru again. "Can we get back to…"

"That one report… involving that kunoichi from Amegakure, the chocolate pudding and the playground swing…" Kakashi sighed wistfully. "That was an image worthy of the great Jiraiya himself."

Despite the fresh wave of giggling, Konohamaru cracked a smile too. "Yeah, that was pretty fun. She could do this one thing, with her tongue that..."

"Focus people!" barked Shikamaru. "We've got votes to gather. Kakashi-sensei?" he asked, turning. "How did you do?"

Kakashi's face sobered. "Not as well as I would have liked. There are about ten of the elders who should have been on the fence who won't listen to anything I have to say. They've already decided that things are better for them if they side with the Shimura clan. Taking into account the their staunch allies, that brings Akihiro's support to about thirty votes. Out of the remaining, smaller clans, I have promises from the Yamashiro clan, the Watanabe clan and the Gekko clan. The rest… well, they are all going to wait and see."

There was a pause as Naruto and Shikamaru turned to look at Sasuke. "This is why we have to make our case as convincing as possible," Shikamaru muttered. "We are running the risk of the Shimura clan being in the position to run rampant over us… again," he added with a pointed look at Sasuke.

"Please Sasuke," Naruto added quietly. "We need to make it look like we're being fair; we can't risk alienating anyone on the council. I promise you, if it looks like they're being nasty, I'll set up a distraction for you to pull all of your kids out of here."

Sasuke sighed. He glanced over to where Masanori was still talking to Akihiro. "Fine… They can talk to Ichisui... and Hana. They don't get to see anyone else. And if they so much lay a finger on my son or daughter… I'll kill them."

"This is what got us into trouble in the first place!" complained Shikamaru.

"Don't worry," said Naruto with a cold smile to Sasuke. "If they try anything funny with Ichisui or Hana, you won't have to move at all. I'll take care of them myself."

There was a small commotion over in the Shimura side of the hall. "Well," said Kakashi primly, "it looks like we are about to start." He reached out to both Sasuke and Naruto and pulled them closer. "Both of you, stop looking so murderous," he whispered. "I am serious about this. You are not helping."

Masanori shuffled forward. "I do apologize Hokage-sama, we had many... Mmm... matters we wished to discuss." He bowed his head, smiling. "I'm sure you can understand."

Naruto forced a smile and nodded back. "Have you and the councilor come to any conclusions about how you would like to proceed?"

Masanori smiled, showing too many teeth. "Indeed we have. The most esteemed councilor Akihiro would like to make a... Mmm... proposal to the council as a whole."

"Here it comes," murmured Shikamaru under his breath.

Akihiro tromped forward, planted his feet and scowled around the room. "I would like to put forth a motion for the creation of a committee. In order to protect the security and the sanctity of our beloved Konoha, we need to investigate this terrible assault on our place of commerce and our citizens by parties either known," he shot a brief frown at Sasuke, "or unknown. It is a poorly kept secret that traitors, spies, and shiftless vagabonds are all welcome in the Hidden Leaf these days. I am sure that it will take little effort to uncover the true cause of this terrible occurrence. Once the truth has been finally brought to light, maybe we can finally convince the leadership of this fine village to start expelling them."

There was a wave of muttering through the room as the elders and councilors reacted to his words. "Crap," swore Shikamaru softly. That was far more than what he had been expecting. It most cases a declaration like that would have been laughed off the floor. Too many clans these days were getting rich off of the international trade "He's going all in with this. They're either expecting this to be one messy meeting, or they know something we don't and are going to crush us."

"Huh?" asked Konohamaru.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, wishing that Konohamaru would spend less time staring at pretty girls and more time actually learning about the politics of his own village. "Look, when you negotiate you start at some extreme but you're aiming so you meet someplace in the middle, right?"

"Huh?" asked Konohamaru again.

"It's like adjusting a kunai thrown on a windy day," said Naruto, "you aim over there to hit the target in front of you."

"Right," agreed Shikamaru, "I'm glad you remembered my metaphor Naruto...only they're aiming so far over there that either they think we're going to put up a huge fight over what they want, or they think they will eat us alive, and are trying to take us for everything we've got. I've got the feeling they're awfully confident about something."

"So... what do we do?" asked Konohamaru.

"Well if this were shogi, we would pull our defenses shut and then start to probe for an opening. Right now I think we should..." started Shikamaru.

"Wrong game Shikamaru. We should raise the stakes," muttered Naruto, pushing himself up from the table. "We need to make these bastards sweat a little."

Shikamaru felt a momentary touch of fear. No doubt Naruto meant well, but some times when he went off on his own like this… "Naruto! Wait" he hissed.

The Hokage either didn't hear him or ignored him. Naruto walked around the front side of the table and stood, looking out over the meeting hall. "That is an excellent notion Councilor," boomed out the Sixth Hokage, smiling beatifically. "I'm certain that the citizens of the Hidden Leaf village would greatly appreciate the wisdom and patience that you would bring to such an important endeavor... In fact," said Naruto with a sly smile, "I propose that you yourself chair this committee."

Akihiro's eyes widened in surprise for the briefest of moments right before his scowl returned. "As well I should! After all the Shimura clan is well known for its..."

"Oh, most definitely chairman. I agree with you. The Shimura clan is definitely well known for a great many things." Naruto coughed. "I would also appreciate it if you tell me who else you would like to have serve with you on this committee." Naruto said flashing a grin. "Pick anyone you like ... anyone at all." Akihiro snapped his head around and stared worriedly at Masanori. Masanori gave him a thin lipped frown in return and shrugged.

Shikamaru forced himself to settle back in his seat. Wow… That's not a bad move… not bad at all… he hadn't thought that Naruto had been paying attention during that last lesson of his. "What is he doing?" hissed Konohamaru

Shikamaru hid a smirk behind his hand and waved Konohamaru back into his seat. "The next best thing to actually having some secret political advantage over them."

"Which is?" asked Konohamaru.

"Don't be so loud!" hissed Shikamaru. "First, Naruto stopped the Shimura clan from getting Eri back into power... by handing the chairmanship over to Akihiro. They can't complain they want a Shimura in charge, because they already have one. And second, Naruto's bluffing. He's making it look like we know something they don't know. That we're going to give them this committee because we think it's going to murder them and their allies." Shikamaru paused and looked pleased. "It's actually not too bad a move. Now sit down in your chair... and try to look like you're gloating!"

"Well, you are certainly being generous with your offer." Akihiro started to name elders that were fiercely loyal to the Shimura clan to the position of the newly created committee. With each person's name he called out, Naruto just stood there and smiled all the wider.

It was getting obvious that Naruto's plan as working. Akihiro was beginning to get unnerved by the Hokage's demeanor. This was not going how he had expected. He began to stumble over his words. Some of the elders started to pick up on this. A few were looking uneasily at each other wondering what they had managed to get themselves tied up in.

"A-and lastly," Akihiro continued with a slight stammer. "As the new head of the newly formed Konoha safety and security committee, I would like to start the inquiry by calling the following witnesses." He cleared his throat and glanced up. Naruto was still giving him that cold grin. "F-first from the Nara clan, Nokito, Karua and Shikasu. From the Hyuga clan, Hishyoni. From the Uzumaki-Hyuga clan Hishyota, Jiraiya and Kusumina." There was a brief stirring as a young man pushed his way through the doors and hurriedly rushed up to Masanori. He handed him a short scroll which Masanori unwrapped. "From the ANBU corps, Ookami and Tsuyoki. From the Hatake clan, Chirosu and Hebisu. From the Sarutobi clan Asuma and Konohamaru." Akihiro cleared his throat and let his gaze slowly fall down to Sasuke. "And finally from the Uchiha clan... We will need to call forth..."

Just as Shikamaru was bracing himself for the inevitable outburst from Sasuke, Masanori Shimura did the unexpected a second time... he interrupted his clan chief. "Actually my dear cousin, I don't think we will be...Mmm... needing any of those witnesses at all," said Masanori in a serious voice.

"What? gasped Akihiro dumbfounded.

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, but the Nara strategist looked as confused as he himself was. Masanori strode past Akihiro Shimura like he was of no consequence and stood directly in front of Naruto, as if he were the one in charge of the Shimura clan. "Hokage-sama, I propose that we adjourn this meeting... Mmm... right now and reconvene tomorrow at your earliest convenience.

Naruto glanced backwards at Shikamaru, who was now frowning. "Are you... sure?" he asked slowly. "It seems a shame to waste the time."

"I am positive Hokage-sama. I apologize but we have... Mmm... urgent business to attend to. We really must reconvene at a later date."

Naruto shrugged. "Okay, but since Akihiro-san is the chairman, he has to be the one to stop the meeting."

There was a hurried whispering as Masanori pulled Akihiro's ear down to him. Akihiro gave his cousin a wide eyed stare and slowly stood. "I hereby declare this meeting... adjourned," he mumbled. There was a hurried patter of feet as the entire Shimura clan retinue pushed itself out the doors and hurried down the hall. The other elders stared after them stunned.

"What the hell was that?" asked Sasuke.

"Wow Boss, you have some amazing powers of bluffing there," quipped Konohamaru. "They got so scared that they all just upped and ran away."

"That was... weird. Really weird. Kakashi-sensei... Any ideas of what that message could have been?" asked Naruto thoughtfully.

Kakashi shook his head, and stood. "Let me get back to headquarters, I'll see what I can find out."

Naruto gave him a nod. "Thanks sensei." As his friends left to go about their own small jobs, he watched the shortened meeting slowly degenerate into a twisted, milling chaos of scheming small cliques. "I wish Hinata was here," he mumbled. She always knew the right thing to say to make him feel better after he had to wade through seas of this political crap.

Sasuke sauntered back over, pointedly ignoring the cold looks from the Shimura delegates. "Is it alright if I take my kids home now, Hokage-sama?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Naruto wearily stood up. "You don't have to be like that." He nodded his head at Sasuke agitatedly drumming his fingers against the hilt of his katana. "Are you going to be okay? We can always tell Sakura there's an emergency and she needs to..."

"I'll be fine," grumbled Sasuke. "I just need to get my kids out of here."

Naruto smiled, "Hey, are you still planning on coming by tonight?"

Sasuke's head jerked up staring at his friend. "Are you crazy? The village gets attacked... Our kids almost get nabbed... and you're worried about a party?"

"I was just thinking that if you were looking for a safe place to keep your kids tonight, you'd be hard pressed to find a spot safer than the Hokage's own house, surrounded by ANBU, with two of the strongest shinobi in the world looking over them, don't you think?" asked Naruto shrugging nonchalantly. Sasuke grunted but nodded once. "Great!" said Naruto, trying to slap his friend on the back, "it should also help take everyone's mind off of this afternoon... I hope the kids weren't too shook up." Naruto and Sasuke strolled through the open door of the Councilor's hall. "I hope they didn't get into too much mischief in my office."


	71. Chapter 25: Fallout: part3

"The Hokage's office is not a playground! Get off of there!" bellowed Hishyoni.

"I'm quite sure they're not listening to you," said Karua grumpily. The Hokage's youngest son and Fugawari Uchiha had inhaled the dish of candy the Hokage had left out for visitors, and were now in the chair behind the desk, making it spin as fast as they could. "Just like they weren't listening to you when they used the Hokage's brushes and ink to paint pictures on those ANBU reports, when they opened up the Hokage's snack drawer and smeared crackers with shrimp and wasabi paste all over the wall, or especially when they pulled apart the bamboo screen for something to have that sword fight with."

The Hyuga girl was beginning to get on her nerves… more than she usually did that is. She was constantly shouting and trying to get all the kids to settle down and sit in neat little rows, when it was painfully obvious that nothing of the sort was ever going to happen. Half the kids in the room were ignoring her, the other half she swore, were misbehaving on purpose just to make her more angry. The Aburame boy and Inuzuka girl and her dog were glaring at her from across the room. She'd seen that look from Shikasu enough times to know that they were plotting something. Karua studied Hishyoni one more time, and shook her head. She didn't see what Ichisui saw in that girl. She might be built like a gymnast with big boobs, but she had the personality of a baboon. Watching her get worked up like this was just too much though. "Look… Just let them do what they want. With the attacks and all, The kids are all wound up and need to blow off some energy, " Karua said cooly... for the hundredth time. "Trying to stop them will be just too much of a drag. You'll never get them to listen."

"Someone has to do something! I don't see you trying to help!" snapped Hishyoni.

Karua gave her a superior, patronizing look. "If you'd spent any time around the Hokage, like I have, you'd know that he had no problem letting his kids run wild in here all the time. They play all sorts of crazy games. As a matter of fact, most of the time the games are his idea." That was true… she'd heard all the stories from her dad… usually when he was coming home with a headache.

A paper glider with a terrified rodent hanging to its underside floated across the room. There was a crash from the corner and a frantic cry of, "Mister Whiskers are you okay?"

"What did you just do?" bellowed Hishyoni, whirling her head toward the sound.

"I didn't do anything!" Chyrio Uchiha yelled back. "My poor little baby had a wing malfunction! I was trying to rescue him and this stupid vase got in the way!"

Hishyoni's face turned dark with rage and she started to stomp towards the little girl. "You broke the Hokage's vase!"

Chyrio cooed gently to the dazed Mister Whiskers and gently rubbed his head. She looked up at Hishyoni with wide innocent eyes. "That's okay, Uncle Naruto won't mind."

"Oh and I suppose you've broken stuff here before."

The girl nodded eagerly. "Yup. I've broken it six times already!"

Hishyoni stopped. "Broken... what?"

The girl smiled at her "That vase, silly. I've broken it before. He doesn't care." She deposited the still dazed chipmunk back on her airplane and wound up for a throw. It zipped off, the squealing rodent hanging on for dear life. "Wait for me Mister Whiskers!" the girl screamed, running after the plane.

Hishyoni stalked back to Karua. "And you're just going to sit there, while the Hokage's office is destroyed?" she snarled, gesturing to the chaos around them.

Karua hid her amusement with an indifferent shrug. "He's got spare decorative knickknacks... They're in a closet down on the first floor." Seriously... didn't she know anything? Wasn't this girl supposed to be related to the Hokage?

Hishyoni gave her a venomous glance. "You're doing this on purpose aren't you? Are you trying to get me in trouble for this mission as some sort of twisted revenge?"

Karua snorted. "Why would I want to do that?"

This time it was Hishyoni's turn to snort. "Because you're jealous your boyfriend wanted to use his medical ninjutsu on me."

A frown twitched across Karua's face before she could hide it. She wasn't sure whether the Hyuga girl noticed or not, and then decided she didn't care. This whole dating thing was supposed to be an act wasn't it? I mean even if she did kind of sort of like Ichisui… she did make a promise… and these feelings she was suddenly having would only help... "He's my boyfriend, not my slave," the Nara chunin said haughtily. "What Ichisui chooses to do with his time is his business. I won't try to control who he decides to help, or who he talks to... Even if I'm totally mystified why he would want to waste his time trying to be friends with some Uchiha hater like you!"

"I don't hate the Uchiha! I just…"

"Just what?" Karua said frostily. "Just enjoy stomping on his heart? Just enjoy treating him like dirt? Just enjoy pointing and laughing at him with all your Hyuga friends?" She suspected at least one of those hit home, the Hyuga girl was blushing a deep scarlet. Now it was time to see if she could build up some envy. "Too bad you toyed with him for so long… you missed your chance... " Karua gave the other girl her sweetest smile. "I, on the other hand, know a good thing when I see it."

"That's great! Fantastic!" growled Hishyoni, "because I don't care that he's dating you! I've never liked that little creep!"

"Fine," answered Karua, half pleased that she was making the other girl this jealous, and at the same time half wondering if she was trying too hard… I mean there was such a thing as subtlety you know...

"Fine!" spat Hishyoni. There was a long pause. "Where is the stupid jerk anyway? Wasn't he supposed to be helping us?"

Karua shrugged. "He's over there talking to his sister, the goth chick." There was another long pause. Karua glanced over at Hishyoni to find her staring at her. "What?"

"Why aren't you helping?"

Karua sighed. "I am." It was obvious that Hishyoni still didn't get it. "Weren't you listening? When the Hokage sent us all on this 'mission' he asked us to do one thing specifically... and that was to keep his son Jiraiya out of the locked cabinets." She quickly looked away from the ruckus to shoot a quick glance at Hishoyni before turning back. "That is exactly what I'm doing. You see the Hokage doesn't care what the little kids do. Broken stuff can be fixed or replaced." She smiled a coarse smile. "If Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga gets into the top secret files, there is no limit to the damage he could cause to relations in this village and with other nations."

* * *

"Is that Nara chunin kunoichi still watching us?" asked Jiraiya out the side of his mouth.

"Yep," said Mibuki scribbling furiously in his notebook.

"How can you tell? You're not even looking that way!"

Mibuki gave a quick point to the window with his pencil. "Reflection."

"Crap." Jiraiya looked around the room surreptitiously. "There has got to be something else we can use to distract her. I thought for sure Chyrio throwing around that paper airplane would do it."

Mibuki smiled. "It worked on your cousin."

Jiraiya nodded. "It did. Hishyoni almost freaked. Good job." He grinned at Mibuki. "You'll have to show me how to make that one sometime. Nice design."

Mibuki grunted and paused in his writing. "Are you sure you want to do this? Your dad seemed… you know... kinda mad."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure," mumbled Jiraiya grumpily.

Mibuki shrugged. "Your funeral."

Jiraiya pretended to yawn and stretch and leaned on the object of his desire. His father's locked filing cabinet was a treasure chest to the Uzumaki-Hyuga boy. The one time he had previously managed to get in there he had learned enough from the top secret archive to get free ramen out of his dad every night for a month. This time he was out for a more important cause... revenge. If the Hokage thought he was in trouble with Mom before... just wait until she found out about the stash of instant ramen he had 'securely hidden' in his office. Jiraiya hummed quietly for a minute, thinking happy thoughts. "I don't suppose Hana owes you any favors? We could ask her to use her genjutsu to..."

"No," said Mibuki in an exasperated tone.

"It was just an idea," Jiraiya said in an affronted voice. He rocked back and forth and hummed a little bit more, scanning the room. His eyes narrowed. "That's the Nara chunin's younger brother isn't it? The video game guy who won eight hundred seventy three ryo off of me right? Shikasu... That's his name?"

Mibuki stole a glance while pretending to rub his eye. "Shikasu Nara... yeah that's him, talking to those two over there."

"Huh," said Jiraiya thoughtfully. He rubbed his chin for a second and then broke into a cunning smile. He pushed himself off of the filing cabinet and starting a slow saunter towards Shikasu. "I wonder if we could go join the chat?"

* * *

"...was way cool when you broke your puppet apart into all those pieces and then started throwing them around every which way and smashing up the bad guys! That was awesome!" gushed Mako. There was a rapid buzzing noise from inside the paper wasps nest he was holding. He gave it a series of gentle strokes, like he was petting a cat, and the buzzing simmered down. "I mean the only way I could tell that your puppet wasn't the real you was because the wasps told me!" Shikasu smiled and nodded as he backed away slowly. He had recognized both Tsudemi and Mako and had wandered over mainly to say hi… but also to ask them just a little bit more about Inoji. His cheek was still throbbing where she had kissed it. That had been… interesting.

What he hadn't expected was an enthusiastic play by play of his entire fight with the attacking shinobi. Apparently Mako's wasps had recorded the whole thing and now the kid thought he was some kind of hero.

"I bet I could have figured out that the puppet wasn't him," muttered Tsudemi. She was angrily glaring at Hishyoni.

"Well of course you could have!" laughed Mako giving her a slap on the back. He turned eagerly back to Shikasu. "Seriously, Tsudemi here has, like, the best nose I've ever seen... barring her dad of course. Why she can..."

"Sniff out a mouse hiding in a pile of rats?" said Shikasu with a grin.

He shivered as Tsudemi slowly turned her head and fixed him with a sharp stare. "How did you know that?" she asked coldly.

Shikasu took half a step back. Oh crap, did he just insult her? He knew her reputation for violence. "Well... um… I figured that since you're an Inuzuka," he said pointing to the fang marks decorating her cheeks, "You'd be able to sniff..."

"I know who my clan is!" snapped Tsudemi. "My grandmother used to tell me that all the time. It's an old family saying. How do you know it?"

"Oh! Shinobi Legends Four." Shikasu smiled in what he hoped was a nonthreatening way. "It's really one of the best games out there. They did all these interviews and research to get everything as accurate as possible. You have to pick a team and do all these missions and then you get to reenact the Fourth war. My favorite team is the Ino-Shika-Cho combo, but I played it through once using team eight. They're pretty cool too." He relaxed a little when it didn't look like she was going to hit him. "Have you ever beaten it?" Shikasu asked eagerly hoping he could find some common ground with the girl.

He shrank back from her hard, yellow eyes. "Video games are dumb," Tsudemi said flatly. "Why would you want to sit all day in front of a TV pretending to do stuff, when you could be outside doing it? What are you, some kind of…?"

"Tsudemi," hissed Mako stepping in between them and giving her a nudge with his elbow. He turned quickly to Shikasu. "Will you excuse us for a moment?" he asked brightly, gently grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

Shikasu watched the pair of them hold a whispered conversation. He might have been able to pick some of it up if it wasn't for the frantic screaming of the youngest Uchiha kid to stop the chair or he was going to barf. Sasuko Uzumaki-Hyuga just laughed and spun faster.

Shikasu at a tap on his shoulder. "Well... Well, well, well... Shikasu Nara, How are you my dear, dear friend?" said a pair of too close, too bright teeth.

Shikasu leaned back a little bit. "Hey Jiraiya, hey Mibuki... What's up?"

Jiraiya clapped one hand on his shoulder and pulled him back up straight. "I was just saying the other day that it's been far too long since I've sat down and had a nice long chat with my good friend Shikasu-san... Wasn't I Mibuki?" Mibuki Uchiha grunted once, not looking up from his experiment notebook.

"Um… You told me you never wanted to see my face again."

Jiraiya's smile grew glassy. "You must have misheard me... I would never say anything like that."

Shikasu gave him a puzzled frown. "No… That was what you said. It was right after you set up that Shinobi Legends Three tournament and I whipped your team of Kakashi-san, Uchiha-san and the Hokage with my team of the first, second and third Hokage. I won the whole pot. I had to argue with you fro like an hour before you finally gave me the money and told be to get lost."

"Pfft," Jiraiya waved a hand dismissively. "I was so immature when I was younger. You can't hold my behavior back then against me."

"Back then? It was like, four months ago."

"Details, details," said Jiraiya, draping an arm over Shikasu's shoulder. "I'm actually here because I need a little favor."

A favor? Uh oh… granting Jiraiya a favor was a guarantee for excitement and trouble. The Uzumaki-Hyuga boy liked to think that he was some sort of big shot strategist, but his get rich schemes almost always turned into a fiasco. Shikasu tried to pull away. "No way. Not after that last time. My mom says if you ever ask me to do any more 'favors', I'm supposed to run in the opposite direction as fast as I can."

"And I suppose you always do what your Mommy says?" asked Jiraiya in a wheedling voice.

There was a weighted pause. _Damnit, he's got me there,_ thought Shikasu. He sighed heavily, "What do you want?"

"Just a tiny little bit of information," said Jiraiya with a grin. The smallest little thing, and I promise that I'll forgive you for being better at Shinobi Legends than I am." He chuckled at his little joke, but Shikasu was not amused. Jiraiya sighed. "It's about your sister... You see I..."

"What are you doing here Uzumaki?" growled Mako, returning to the group. The wasp's nest in his hands hummed ominously.

"What am I doing here? It's my dad's office... I could just as easily ask what are you doing here... Bug boy," said Jiraiya with a confident smile. He glanced over Mako's head. "Hey Tsudemi, you're looking as lovely as always."

To Shikasu's surprise, there was no outburst of violence. Tsudemi only looked away. "Shut up Jiraiya," she said quietly, looking slightly embarrassed.

The Uzumaki-Hyuga boy just widened his grin. "I don't want to cause any friction between you and your parasite, but at the same time, could you ask him to bug off? I really have to ask Shikasu-kun a quick question about..."

"You don't want to talk to this guy Shikasu," said Mako in a threatening tone. He took a step forward coming in between Shikasu and Jiraiya. "I guarantee you that he's either trying to con someone out of their money, or he's trying to play a prank on someone who doesn't deserve it."

"That's not true," said Jiraiya indignantly. "Lots of times the people deserve it."

"Oh yeah?" snarled Mako. The paper wasp nest buzzed furiously in his grasp, "So tell me this? What did Tsudemi ever do to you? Or Inoji? Huh?"

Tsudemi tugged on Mako's sleeve. "Look Mako, just forget it okay? It's not worth getting all worked up over."

Mako refused to budge. "I think it's about time that..."

"Mako!" shouted Tsudemi. Her voice hit him like a slap in the face. "You're going to start a fight with the Hokage's son in the Hokage's own office? Even I think that's a bad idea." She gave him a shake. "Did you hear that? I think it's time to walk away." Mako took a deep breath, gave Jiraiya a murderous stare and let Tsudemi pull him away.

Jiraiya shook his head for moment and then turned back to Shikasu. "Sorry about that... Now... Where were we?"

Shikasu found himself staring at Jiraiya. He did... what now? Okay he knew that Tsudemi had a foul temper and was mean and scary as hell, I mean she got into fights with people all the time, so he could see how Jiraiya, the son of the Hokage, the prince of the Hyuga clan and someone who believed all the hype that he was the top dog at the Academy could be motivated to play a prank on her, just to try and bring her down a spot of two… but Inoji? Inoji never upset anyone! "What did you do to Tsudemi and Inoji?" asked Shikasu.

Jiraiya looked pained. "It's not really that important. Could we please talk about..."

"What did you do to Tsudemi and Inoji?" repeated Shikasu, more firmly this time.

Jiraiya sighed. "Alright look... I'm not proud of it... and my mom already punished me for it okay? It's not the big deal that Mako is making it out to be." Shikasu stood there fixing him with a stare. "Fine... Osamu Yamashiro bet me 1200 ryo that I couldn't get any girl of his choosing in the academy to go out with me, and I said that for that kind of money, he could pick any two girls of his choosing and I would sweet talk them into meeting me at the swings behind the school and then confess my undying love for them." Jiraiya looked down and scuffed at the floor with his foot. "First he named Inoji Akimichi, hoping that I'd be grossed out... and then he named Tsudemi Inuzuka hoping I'd chicken out... and then he said I had to do it in the same afternoon…" Jiraiya tossed his hands in the air and sighed. "Honestly... I wasn't expecting the girls to take it so badly. I mean when everyone jumped out of their hiding spaces all pointing and laughing, I wasn't all that surprised when Inoji burst into tears, but I was kind of amazed at how upset Tsudemi got. Not like punch you in the face upset but, like, crying upset... I didn't really know she had it in her." Jiraiya looked up and shrugged. "But, you know... twelve thousand ryo is a lot of money."

Shikasu closed his mouth with a click. "Dude," he said disgustedly.

Jiraiya sighed. "Yeah, I know... It wasn't one of my finer moments." He looked up and smiled brightly at Shikasu. "Anyway, that's all ancient history. What I really wanted to talk about was..."

"Did you apologize?" said Shikasu.

"What?"

"Did you say you're sorry?"

"No!" Jiraiya snorted. "It was just a joke. I mean it was a bit of a mean one, but it's not my fault if the girls don't have a sense of humor, right? I mean, if they just start crying every which... Hey! Where are you going?"

Shikasu had turned and started to walk away. He shrugged off Jiraiya's hand. "Let go!"

"But I didn't even ask you..."

"Let go I said!" Shikasu gave Jiraiya a shove, as he stormed off. "I'm not going to talk to you. You're an asshole."


	72. Chapter 25: Fallout: part4

Hizashi had forgotten how loud it could be with other children around. It was good practice though… Wasn't his sister Hishyoni always saying a good shinobi should be able to distinguish between many different voices in a crowd. "And who was that?" he remarked to his cousin.

"Oh, that was Chyrio Uchiha. You will meet her again later tonight during the party at our house," said Kusumina Uzumaki-Hyuga.

"Does she always scream like that?" he asked worriedly. When he had first heard the scream he had worried that the mysterious attackers had returned.

Kusumina had a gentle laugh. He almost couldn't pick it out from all the background noise. "Not... always... She has decided to give her pet a ride on a paper glider. She's trying to make sure he doesn't fall and hurt himself."

"So her pet would be this 'Mister Whiskers?'" he asked confused. "Is he a cat? Just how big is this glider?"

"Chyrio collects chipmunks... It's a long story. She has quite a few by this point in time. She trains them and they put on little shows together. It's quite adorable," Kusumina said daintily.

"Until it isn't," muttered Hishyota

"I'm not quite sure I understand," said Hizashi, trying his best to be polite.

"Don't worry," grumbled his other cousin, Hishyota, "I'm sure she'll bring a small army with her to the sleepover tonight. You'll get a first hand experience."

Hizashi cocked his head to listen to a shouting match in the center of the room. "What is cousin Jiraiya so upset about?"

Kusumina coughed politely. "He's just having a… small discussion with Shikasu Nara. I'm sure it's nothing."

Hishyota snorted. "More like my brother managed to piss off yet another person today. It's too bad Mom isn't here. He'd be out of an allowance until his eighteenth birthday."

"Nara," said Hizashi thoughtfully. "During the witness accounts, there was a Nara girl who was talking about what happened with my sister and Ichisui-san prior to the attack."

Through her arm, he felt Kusumina bob her head up and down. "That's right, That was Karua Nara, his older sister."

"Older sister to Shikasu, and public smoocher of Ichisui Uchiha," muttered Hishyota in a snide voice.

Kusumina let out a shocked gasp. "She did not!"

"She most certainly did. I saw it with my own two eyes," said Hishyota proudly.

"What did Ichisui do?"

There was a rustle of clothing as Hishyota shrugged. "Eh… he looked stunned for a second or two, but then once Karua Nara left, it looked like he really let Hishyoni have a piece of his mind!" said Hishyota. He voice carried an undercurrent of vicious glee.

"But.. but... What about his feelings of pure love for Hishyoni? What about the romantic drama of his unrequited passion?" cried Kusumina in a semi wail. "He can't just give up on her can he?"

Hishyota snorted. "I bet cousin Hishyoni would prefer it if he did. She did try to kill him."

"Hmph!" exclaimed Kusumina. "True love can overcome any obstacle!"

"Not when the obstacle is being dead, little sister," chuckled Hishyota. "Trust me, Hishyoni will be happier with him out of her hair, and Ichisui will be much safer."

Kusumina shifted around. "What do you think Hizashi? You know your older sister better than anyone! Do you think that Ichisui can win over Hishyoni's heart?"

Hizashi froze, and thought quickly. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved in an argument between his two cousins over his sister's love life… He might be blind but that didn't mean he couldn't sense looming disaster. "I... don't… I don't know?"

"See?" said Hishyota triumphantly. "The Ichisui never had a chance with the ice princess. Everyone knows she is heartless."

"I didn't quite mean it like that," said Hizashi hurriedly, trying to defend his sister. "I think Ichisui is very nice. My sister does have... issues, true, but I think maybe that one day Ichisui could win her friendship."

Hishyota snickered. "We're not talking about friendship we're talking about... Oh never mind."

"We're talking about more romantic things, Hizashi-kun," said Kusumina.

Hizashi nodded. "Oh I know." He leaned forward and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Don't tell her I said this... But I think that if Ichisui-san did stop paying attention to her... Eventually my sister would miss it."

"Hah!" gloated Kusumina. "I told you true love will always find a way!"

"No way," said Hishyota. "I know Hishyoni and I've seen the way she looks at and treats Ichisui, personally I think it's far past time that he moved on from her."

"Well," said Kusumina prissily, "why don't you call Hana on over here? We'll ask her what Ichisui thinks of this Nara girl." There was a long uncomfortable pause. "Oh," said Kusumina softly. "Right... I am sorry."

"It's okay," muttered Hishyota.

"What happened?" asked Hizashi bewildered.

"It's nothing to worry about Hizashi-kun," stated Kusumina primly. "It's just that... um..."

"Hana Uchiha and I... aren't really getting along right now," said Hishyota in a flat, restrained voice.

"But I thought you two were best friends?" Hizashi asked.

"We were," said Hishyota with great finality.

* * *

Hana watched as Shikasu Nara stormed off. A faint smile crossed her lips as Jiraiya sputtered after him in frustration. _Good,_ she thought spitefully, thinking back on how he was taunting her earlier, pretending he was infatuated with her, calling her beautiful, and probably trying to set her up for some 'hilarious' prank. _It serves the little jerk right._ She briefly hoped that there might be a similar reaction from her younger brother, but Mibuki just continued to work away in his ever present notebook, oblivious as always… no doubt fooling around with his sealing scripts.

She nudged her older brother. "So... It looks like the younger Nara isn't getting along well with Jiraiya and Mibuki… Seems like he heard enough about Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga." Ichisui didn't even bother to grunt a reply. That was a little bit worrisome. She'd never know him to sulk for this long before.

Hana poked him again, trying to get a response out of him. "I hope that this isn't the start of yet another clan hating us too... that would put quite the crimp in your newly blossoming love life wouldn't it?"

Ichisui shifted a little bit. "Hm?"

"Your girlfriend over there, Karua Nara?" Hana said in an exasperated voice. Ichisui just gave a depressed little half shrug and went back to staring at the floor.

"Don't try to deny it," Hana pressed on. "Everyone saw the pair of you kiss... I mean, you were right there in the middle of the plaza... it was hard not to." Still no reaction… this was getting bad. Hana pulled her cloak a little tighter around herself. "Did... Dad say anything to you about it?"

Ichisui just sat there, not responding. _Dammit!_ swore Hana in confines of her head. _I am not the right person to be doing this... Where's Mom when you need her?_

Sakura was the one who knew how to fix people. Her mother always said that when Uchihas got in one of their brooding moods, the best thing to do was let them stew for an hour or so, let them try to figure it out on their own… But if the silence grew too long, then, it was imperative to try to talk them out of it. In Dad's case, the easiest way to get him to start communicating again was to keep pestering him with a thousand awkward topics over and over again just like clock work. Eventually he'd be desperate enough to change the subject to anything else and he'd blurt out the first thing on his mind... which usually happened to be the very thing that was bothering him.

_Gods, I suck at this_, was what was running through Hana's head as she tried once again. "So," she asked in what she hoped was passing for a cheerful voice, "if Karua's like, all your girlfriend and stuff now, shouldn't you be up there trying to help her? I mean, given how fast he and Sasuko are spinning on the chair, Fugawari is going to hurl at any second."

There was a retching noise and the frantic scream of Sasuko Uzumaki-Hyuga. Both Karua and Hishyoni Hyuga ran over to see what was the matter. Their mutual cry of disgust echoed through the Hokage's spacious office."Or maybe... you'd rather not help just yet. I don't blame you."

Hana let her gaze drift over the crowd. Hishyota was sitting with her little sister and her blind cousin. They were all sitting there together, no doubt chatting about big important Hyuga clan stuff . The damn Hyuga always thinking themselves head and shoulders over everyone else. Hishyota looked up and saw Hana watching her. The Uzumaki-Hyuga girl frowned and turned her head quickly away.

_One more person jumping on the 'we hate the Uchiha' bandwagon _thought Hana darkly, _Well then screw her. I should have expected something like this,_ pulling the hood of her cloak up over her head. She decided to take a moment for some rare commiseration with her brother. "So... When did you decide to give up on Hishyoni-chan and date this Nara girl instead? Personally, I think it's about time... I mean usually when someone heaps that much abuse on you... most people would take it as a sign that they don't want to do the dinner and a movie thing." Hana glanced over at Hishyota again… and again, her former friend looked away quickly. A second later she and Kusumina were laughing about something. Jerks. She tried to ignore them and turned back to Ichisui. "So, you and Kaura Nara… Who would have guessed. I would have sworn that you guys were only friends but she seems like she really likes you. I dunno what you did differently this time around but I am impressed! I didn't think any girl around here would ever give you a chance" Her brother sighed and seemed to collapse inward on himself. "What? What did I say?" Hana asked, surprised.

Ichisui stirred and lifted up his head from his knees by a few centimeters. "Hey Hana?" he started hesitantly, "Do you… do you think our clan is cursed?"

It was all she could do to keep from rolling her eyes. He was bummed out about that stupid rumour again? Hadn't he listened to anything mom and dad told him about the clan? "If by 'cursed', you mean that we live in a village full of mean spirited, gullible idiots, then yes... We are cursed... in spades."

Ichisui gave a tiny shake of his head. "No, I mean do you think that there is... just some great cosmic force that turns everything against us. Everything the Uchiha do always turns out horribly wrong... There has to be some reason why everyone hates us."

Hana sighed. "Now you're just embarrassing yourself. Of course there is a reason why they hate us... It's because they're jealous."

Ichisui made a sound that might have almost been a chuckle. "I think it's a little bit more than that... Look at Uncle Itachi joining the Akatsuki. Look at what Madara Uchiha did... Look at what Dad did… maybe all of us really are tainted by darkness."

Ugh! It made her so mad when he started started talking like this… He sounded so much like her father when he got in one of his moods. "That's nothing but a stupid rumour made by the Shimura clan and you know it! Konoha used Uncle Itachi as a scapegoat, Madara Uchiha was cast out because of the second Hokage's ambition, and I don't see how anything Dad did is any worse than what shinobi from any other country did in any of the first three wars! There's tons of old enemies hanging around that did horrible things to the Hidden Leaf in the past. Are the good citizens of Konoha constantly picking on them?" Hana scoffed and stretched out her legs. "The Raikage was one of the major players in the Third Ninja war. How many Konoha Ninja died by his hand?" Hana poked her brother sharply. "He even signed an order to have his men kidnap Hinata-sama when she was just three years old! Three years old! And yet, whenever he drops by for a visit we throw him a freakin' ticker tape parade." Hana snorted derision. "We're lucky if all we get thrown at us are insults."

"Madara Uchiha was the biggest villain our village has ever known," whispered Ichisui.

Hana shrugged. "Meh. He had his reasons. Even so, I would say that both Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi gave him a run for his money there. And both of them were offed in no small part, thanks to Dad." Ichisui was still depressed. When was he going to drop this stupid concept that he could personally change his family's reputation? How long would it take him to realize the constant barrage of crap his family got messed up in was not their fault? "Don't forget Sasori of the red sands, Kisame Hoshigaki, Deidara... all of them were members of The Akatsuki at one point. All of them did terrible, unspeakable things, just like Itachi... just like Dad. I'm sure that all of them left family behind in their villages. And yet... I don't remember hearing anything about their families being hunted down."

"You make it sound like we are being chased through the streets," said Ichisui with a small smile.

"We have been," she said with a half snarl. "We still are! And you're stupid to pretend it hasn't been happening this whole time!" Hana forced herself to take a deep breath. She was supposed to be snapping her brother out bummer of a mood, not pissing herself off. "Look, all this anger directed towards us Uchiha is only about one thing," Hana said, reaching up with one finger and pointing to her eye. "Ever since the Third war, people have been looking at Kakashi Hatake and saying 'Huh, he has a transplanted sharingan... I wonder if I could get me one of those.' And since then anyone with the last name of Uchiha has been on everyone's hit list." Hana waved her hands through the air. "That's all any of this is about... The Uchiha have the sharingan, everyone else wants them."

"Jealousy doesn't completely explain why no one likes me." Ichisui looked up at Hana's laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You!" said Hana with a snort. " Nobody likes me... Boo hoo hoo!" she imitated him.

Ichisui scowled. "It's true."

"Sure it is... Why don't I just go over and ask your girlfriend exactly how much she hates you. After all, she was only trying to suck your face off in the middle of the Emporium plaza."

Ichisui reddened. "She was not," he said very quietly.

"Nom nom nom nom," teased Hana with her lips slobbering every which way.

A tiny flicker of anger flitted across Ichisui's face. Which was good. Hana always felt being angry was better than depressed. "Look Hana… I'm telling you she wasn't..." he stopped talking as there was a polite knock at the door. The noise level in the room dropped a few decibels as almost everyone turned. Fugawari and Sasuko were still having a fuss over the barfing, but even Chyrio knew something was about to happen and clung to Mister Whiskers nervously.

One of the Hatake twins stuck her head in the door. "Hey," she said loudly enough for everyone to hear. "We've just got word that they're finally getting around to forming a committee. Just thought you'd like to know, they'll probably be calling you all up as witnesses real soon."

"Excuse me?" asked Hana, her hand upraised like she was in class. "Did you happen to hear who was chairing the committee?"

The chunin pursed her lips and gave a curt nod. "Akihiro Shimura." She closed the door with a click.

Hana turned to look at her brother. He was staring off at the wall again. "Well, I guess that's that," she said climbing up to her feet. She held out her hand for her brother to take.

"What's what?" asked Ichisui confused.

"Didn't you hear, or were you too busy moping about how 'nobody likes me?' There's a committee, a Shimura is in charge." She shook her hand impatiently. "It's time to get the hell out of here. I'll get Chyrio, you get Fugawari." She turned and whistled loudly. "Mibuki!" she called for her younger brother. Mibuki nodded and closed his notebook with a snap and headed on over. "Come on Ichisui, we've got to get going."

"I don't… I'm not... so sure we should," said Ichisui flatly.

"What?" barked Hana. What sort of idiocy was her brother spouting now? Being depressed was one thing… but this?

Mibuki appeared with Jiraiya in tow. "What shouldn't we do now?" he asked.

"We… are getting the hell out of here," said Hana coolly. "A Shimura is running things and Dad said the fourth rule was in effect."

"Cool!" said Jiraiya excitedly. "Mind if I come too? What's the fourth rule?"

Godsdammit, why did the that jerk keep having to shove his big nose where it didn't belong? "You," spat Hana, "are not invited."

* * *

Now this was interesting… an Uchiha jail break… led by the dark and dangerous Hana Uchiha. Normally, being grounded in his father's office and guarded by like, a double squad of chunin, Jiraiya would cut his losses and resign himself to waiting... But Hana was scary powerful. She might actually have the mojo to pull something like that off. If he could get in on this… Jiraiya nodded. "Okay, but hear me out... what if... I just happen to leave at the same time as you guys and as a complete coincidence... I happen to be traveling in the exact same direction?" He looked back and forth at the three Uchihas. Hana was glaring daggers at him. Mibuki was staring at his boots and Ichisui was staring at the wall in a morose thoughtful way. "Seriously, I hang out with you guys all the time... why can't I go with you? And what is this fourth rule thing?"

Mibuki sighed. "The fourth rule..."

"Is not something Jiraiya needs to know about… ever," snapped Hana. "It is for Uchiha only! And we are leaving... Now."

"And I'm not so sure we should," said Ichisui slowly. "The Hokage gave us a direct order. He seemed to think that it was really important that we stay here. Plus if anything does go wrong we still have The Hokage and Dad in the next room. I'm sure if we need it they can protect us."

"Yeah, just like that loser of a Hokage protected us last time?" said Hana coldly, she was still clearly very upset.

"Hey!" exclaimed Jiraiya. Nobody gets to insult his dad like that! Nobody but him that is...

Hana ignored him. "Fine," she said still staring at Ichisui, "you can stay here and get grilled and tortured by the Shimura clan. The rest of us are going away. Far... far away!" She turned and started to walk away.

"What about the first rule?" asked Ichisui in a calm voice.

Hana hesitated. "The first rule will come into effect when you stop being such an idiot. Come with us Ichisui!"

Jiraiya was starting to get dizzy from bouncing his gaze back and forth between all the Uchiha kids. "First rule? I don't even know what the Fourth rule is! How many rules are there?" asked Jiraiya turning to MIbuki. Mibuki turned a bright shade of red, caught between Jiraiya and Hana's competing stares.

"Onee-san?" called Chyrio from across the room, "Fugawari is covered in barf and he wants to go home!"

"We're going Chyrio!" Hana called back. "Bring him over here."

"Excuse me? You think you're going... where?" asked a cold serious voice.

Hana turned and stared into the icy eyes of Hishyoni Hyuga. "We... are going home," she said, refusing to be intimidated. Jiraiya felt a deep excited itch down in the palms of his hands Damn, two of the scariest girls he knew were getting ready to have a throw down, cat fight! He wondered wildly if he could somehow get a bigger audience... this was a golden opportunity to start taking bets!

* * *

Hana leaned forward another few centimeters and started letting chakra flow to her eyes. The infamous object of Ichisui's affection, the chunin who had the nerve to call her family a bunch of monsters, Hishyoni Hyuga herself, was trying to intimidate her? Hana Uchiha didn't take orders from pushy Hyuga snobs who clearly had an agenda! Given all the crap that Konoha gave her family on a daily basis, someone had to push back… and that someone was her!

"Haven't you had enough of picking on younger kids today?" growled a voice from the corner. There was a sharp bark that followed. "I mean, picking on kids and dogs?" A small smile crept up on Hana's lips. It was beginning to look like the Hyuga kunoichi had been after more people than just her.

Hishyoni turned her head just enough to look at the Inuzuka girl. Both her and the Aburame boy were staring at her. The insect nest the Aburame boy was holding thrummed in the air. "Oh... I don't think so," said Hishyoni. "The Hokage himself gave me this mission. My mission is to watch over you little brats. And I always succeed in my missions!"

"Well, I'm afraid that there is a first time for everything," Hana said to her, letting each word fall from her lips with dread certainty. "I'm taking my little brothers and sister home where it's safe. I don't give a crap what the Hokage thinks, or what your orders are. We're... going... home."

"Yeah!' said Jiraiya boldly. Both girls turned to glare at him. "What?" he said far too innocently. "It sucks some serious ass hanging out here in my dad's office. I want to get out of here too."

"Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga!" Kusumina's voice rang out across the room. "Watch your language!" She stormed up to him dragging a confused looking Hizashi behind. "Father specifically said that you are not to set foot outside of this room, unless he comes to get you. Do you understand me?"

Jiraiya was saved from the terminal embarrassment of being further dressed down by his sister in public by Chyrio's distressed wail. "AAAAGH!"

Everyone's head snapped around. "What is it Chyrio-chan?" called Kusumina instantly forgetting her brother.

"Has anybody seen Mister Whiskers?" sobbed Chyrio. "He was just here a second ago and now he's gone! I think he's lost forever!"

"Leave him! He'll be fine here in the Hokage's office!" snapped Hana, "It's past time we got going."

There was a quiet rustle as Hishyoni idly pulled one of her scrolls from her holster. The Inuzuka girl's dog whimpered. "And what are you going to do little genin... if someone… insists that you have to stay?" she asked.

Hana decided she'd had enough talking. She was just going to show her first hand.

* * *

Hisyoni Hyuga was in a bad mood again. It was bad enough she was stuck on this stupid babysitting detail, but to be partnered with the goddamned Nara girl was grating on her last nerve fraying it into oblivion.

She wasn't jealous... not in the slightest. Why should she be? She could care less that some tall leggy blonde had somehow caught the attention of that annoying idiot Ichisui… but the way Karua kept rubbing it in her face like it was some sort of achievement! I mean, how hard is it to get some guy to notice you when you're some skinny, tanned, bimbo from another land?

And the kids she was watching! Gods what a nightmare! How the hells was she supposed to know that the Inuzuka girl and the Aburame boy's parents were friends of the Hokage? Somebody was going to talk to her mom and dad and no doubt she would once again be blamed for that… just like they were going to blame her for Hizashi almost being kidnapped. Yeah that was somehow going to be her fault… even though the attackers managed to fight off of half of Konoha.

She almost started yelling when the youngest Uchiha brat started puking everywhere. Ichisui didn't help at all. The lazy jerk was just sitting in the corner like a lump while she and the Nara girl had to clean up spew.

The last straw had been when Ichisui's younger sister gathered up the rest of the Uchiha clan and her goddamn cousin Jiraiya and told her, right to her face, that they were leaving! Defying a direct order from the Hokage! That wasn't going to happen.

Of course she lost it a little. No, it probably wasn't the smartest move to threaten the kids with force, but Gods! They just wouldn't listen! She went right up to the leader, that Hana Uchiha and reached for her scrolls, just to let the brat know she meant business. "And what are you going to do little genin... "she said cockily. "if someone… insists that you have to stay?"

The Uchiha girl didn't respond. Hishyoni shivered as the air grew heavy and cold around her. Shadows crawled out of the corners of the room. The Uchiha girl slowly raised her head. Under the hood of her cloak the tomoe of her sharingan were spinning in her gleaming red eyes. "We're Uchiha… You can't tell us what to do. If you try to order us to stay, we'll go anyway," Hana said quietly, her voice reverberating in strange ways.

* * *

Hishyota was slowly inching her way towards the argument. Not because she actually cared, she told herself. I mean Hishyoni and Hana were two of her least favorite people on the planet right now. It was mostly because she was just as eager as anyone else to get out of here. Her younger brother Jiraiya might be a first class idiot, but he did have a valid point... It did suck being stuck in here.

And then her stupid older cousin had to go and escalate things like she always did. Hishyoni had lived her whole life with a chip on her shoulder. She was used to bullying her way through everyone and everything. Being an expert with weapons and taijutsu convinced a lot of people to get out of her way. Those that didn't move fast enough were shoved.

Only... Hishyota knew her friend... Hana didn't back down either… and when she shoved back, she shoved back hard.

Hishyota had been friends with the Uchiha girl for all of her life. Her father was bringing her over to the Uchiha's exile house long before she even wondered why she never saw the members of the Uchiha clan in the Hidden Leaf village. She had grown up with the strange dark little girl who wouldn't chat about toys or the classes at the Academy. Hishyota would always do most of the talking, while Hana mostly watched her in silence... Mostly... When she did say something, it was always worth listening to.

Hana could be darkly funny, and cuttingly insightful. Growing up as the child of the Head of the Hyuga clan and of the Hokage, in the Hidden Leaf Hishyota always had to keep one eye on protocol, and always be mindful of insulting anyone. Hishyota grew to relish the freedom she had when she spent time in the Uchiha house. Running around in the woods, pushing and shoving with the other children at the table for snack time, she almost felt like a normal kid.

It wasn't until the Uchiha were once again allowed back in Konoha, that she realized her friend had a more sinister side too. Classmates who bullied her family grew to avoid dark areas where it seemed like the shadows could reach out at you. Adults who spoke ill of the Uchiha found themselves plagued with a myriad of tiny accidents.

This most recent thing, trying to kill the creepy shinobi lady even though she had no idea what would happen to her friends and family... This wasn't the first time Hana had acted with pure unthinking rage like that. When Hana's temper built past the point of control, she would lash out, not caring who got hurt. Hishyota used to worry that it was only a matter of time before Hana tried to kill someone... Apparently that time was earlier today.

She could see the exact moment that Hana clamped the genjutsu down on Hishyoni. Hishyota paused, waiting for one of the other chunin there to notice, to react. Technically, they were the ones supposed to be in charge. Ichisui was focusing at some point halfway up the wall. Karua Nara was cleaning up vomit and grumbling to herself.

Hishyota really didn't want to get involved in this, she was angry at Hana and Hishyoni was consistently at the top of her list of least favorite people in the Hidden Leaf. She wanted to just walk away. She almost started to walk away, to let someone else sort this mess out… but then she had a sudden flash of the feedback from Hana's genjutsu attack from earlier. Her stomach rolled just thinking about the sensation that coursed through her head as Hana fried that pale skinned kunoichi's brain.

Hishyota, when she was growing up had been a very timid child. She was afraid of cats, mice, the dark, and especially dogs and bugs, which made things very awkward whenever any her mother's old teammates came by for a visit.

There was one time when she was five, on their way back from visiting the Uchiha's house in the woods that a wild pig had charged them. Hishyota had started to run, screaming for Naruto to kill it at the top of her lungs. Her Father had simply scooped her up and leaped into a tree. It was up there he pointed out the row of squealing piglets trailing the sow, and that they shouldn't be angry or afraid because the mommy pig was simply trying to protect her babies. Hishyota looked at Naruto and said in an awed voice. "Daddy? When I grow up I want to be as brave as you!"

Naruto had laughed, picked her up and bounced her on his knee. "Do you want to know a big secret honey?" he asked in a whisper. She nodded. "I'm not that brave. I just always try to do the right thing."

"But how do you ever know what is the right thing to do?" Hishyota asked, mystified. "How do you know when you're scared?"

Naruto smiled and kissed her on the top of her head. "You're right, it is hard sometimes... The samurai from the Land of Iron have a saying: 'To know and to act are one and the same."

Hishyota frowned. "Isn't Mommy always telling you need to think before you act?"

Naruto grinned nervously, "She usually is... isn't she."

"I don't get it Daddy. Why are you telling me not to think?" She looked at her father suspiciously. "Are you trying to play a trick on me?"

"No no no," Naruto laughed. "I'm not telling you not to is a good thing." He sighed and looked a little more serious. "When you get older, sometimes you'll find that you just don't have all the time to think that you'd want to have. Sometimes you don't have the chance to think at all." He smiled and ruffled his daughter's hair. "Given who your parents are... You're going to find yourself in some sort of a leadership position someday... Either in charge of your own squad, or leading a team... Maybe you'll be head of the Hyuga clan, maybe you'll be Hokage... But whatever you end up doing with your life, I guarantee that at some point everything will go wrong at once and you won't have any time to sit and think of the best way out. When that happens, you'll just have to do what you feel is right. Trust yourself. When the time comes, you'll make the right decisions."

"The last time I did what I thought was right," Hishyota darkly thought to herself, "I picked up my Aunt's tanto sword." Three years later and the nightmares still hadn't gone away. She swallowed and took a step closer, watching Hishyoni wobble back and forth as the fought against the illusions. "I hope I'm not making another mistake."

Hishyota sprang forward as Hishyoni opened her mouth to scream in the grips of the genjutsu. She slapped her hand across the small of Hishyoni's back. There was a short pop as Hishyota injected a wave of chakra into her cousin's chakra network. The illusion that was gripping the chunin's mind wavered and fell away. "Hana," said Hishyota quietly. "Stop it."

The hood on Hana's cloak dipped down, covering her eyes. "Oh? So now you decided you're talking to me?"

Hishyota turned her head slightly to the side but kept her eyes on Hana. "Ichisui? Could you please check up on Hishyoni-san please?"

Ichisui looked up, befuddled until he saw Hishyoni swaying on her feet. "Hishyoni? What happened?" he called out. It only took him the briefest glance to figure it out. He spun on his sister. "Hana!"

"Fourth Rule... Ichisui," Hana Uchiha said angrily. "You know better than any of us what that means!"

Ichisui looked at Hishyoni, glanced back at Hana, and shrugged. "She'll be fine in a little bit," he said. Ichisui gave Hishyoni one last look before sitting back down to stare at the wall.

"Look Hana, just because Hishyoni's being a jerk doesn't mean you had to..." started Hishyota.

"I'll do anything I have to!" shouted Hana vehemently. "And maybe if my idiot big brother would pull his head out of his ass once in awhile and stop with the moping and spending all his energy trying to get people to like us when it's freaking obvious that it will never happen, he could give me a hand, or maybe actually Gods forbid stand up for his clan for once, and I wouldn't have to keep doing stuff like this!"

All the shouting finally got Karua's attention. She pulled herself up from cleaning up after Fugawari. "What the heck is going on over here?" she asked rushing over. "Ichisui? Did something... Oof!" In a sudden burst of movement, Hishyoni tore her scroll open, her elbow neatly catching Karua in the stomach. There was burst of summoning smoke, coiling around spinning nunchucks.

"So you want to fight little girl?" snarled Hishyoni. "Let's see you try that genjutsu trick again, now that I'm ready for you!" The nunchaku spun towards Hana, who still having her sharingan active, quickly dodged out of the way. She ducked one blow, swayed away from another, and came up, weaving hand signs.

There was another much larger burst of summoning smoke. Both Hishyoni and Hana were surrounded by twenty Hishyota clones, each in a ready juken stance. Both combatants froze. "Dammit! I said stop it! Both of you!" roared Hishyota. "I'm sick and tired of the both of you going to extremes all the time... The tiniest little thing happens and all of a sudden everyone is either pulling out weapons or tossing genjutsu around. Stop acting like a bunch of whiny kids with too much power and start acting more normal!" The real Hishyota looked back and forth at her cousin and her friend. "None of this would be happening if you could just act like normal people!"

A silence settled in the Hokage's office. Everyone stared at Hishyota. Finally, Sasuko slowly raised his hand and coughed. "But Onee-san? We are normal... Aren't we?"

There was a muffled conversation outside the office. Naruto's voice could be plainly heard talking to someone. Everyone froze as the door opened with a click.

"Well, I have good news!" Naruto said in a jolly voice, rubbing his hands together. "It looks like we're going to be able to..." He stopped as he took in the room. He made note of the broken vase, the overturned furniture, the vomit covering his desk and chair, and Hishyoni and Hana surrounded by twenty very determined looking Hishyota shadow clones. There was the muffled, panicked squeak of Mister Whiskers from inside his locked filing cabinet. Naruto sighed with a pained expression on his face and turned to a scowling Sasuke Uchiha. "Do I want to know what's been going on in here, or do you think it's something that will make my day even more difficult?"


	73. Chapter 26: On the Road: part 1

**Chapter 26: On the road.**

The slow, steady rocking motion of the wheelhouse was anything but calming, which was an unfortunate thing because Neji was rather uncomfortable right now. He had been plagued by irregular bouts of vertigo and mild headaches on this trip... which he found odd as he was not a man prone to motion sickness. Was he coming down with something? He didn't feel ill… aside from his head that is. Oh Gods his head... what was the mater with him?

Neji took a deep breath and attempted to meditate in the hopes it would clear his mind and calm his unsettling thoughts. He focused intently on the scenery slowly sliding past the window and tried to ignore the two men on the seat opposite from him.

There was a narrow table attached to the wall of the carriage that was piled high with fried octopus and daifuku cakes. Honan Hyuga was chewing noisily and talking at the same time. His accounts manager, a tall gangly man with a pinched face, sat beside Honan, handing him waybill after waybill to sign.

There was a large bottle of potent spirits on the table as well. The sharp aroma of the evaporating alcohol was mixing with the smell of the fried food and tart cakes and was making him feel slightly nauseous. The decor of the coach wasn't helping either. The traveling compartment was so laden with ornaments and gold leaf that no matter which way he turned his head, there was sunlight being directly reflected into his eyes.

He couldn't even lean back and relax. The cushions he was sitting on were so thick with embroidery and hanging pearls that they were like sitting against a sack filled with acorns.

"I should have gone on foot," he muttered to himself, as his temples began to pound again.

A fainter voice, gave him a nudge deep inside his head. _You should be the one who owns this coach,_ it whispered. _You deserve it ten times more than that bloated, disingenuous buffon. _

Honan held up one bejeweled hand freezing the accountant mid sentence. He slowly turned his head and looked Neji up and down. "Are you hungry my friend?" he rumbled through a mouth packed with fried octopus. "You needn't show any restraint for my sake. There's plenty more in the icebox. Feel free to help yourself." A few large crumbs dribbled from his lips and landed on the documents covering his lap. Honan hastily brushed them onto the floor of the cabin.

"No thank you," said Neji, trying very hard not to wrinkle his nose in disgust.

"Ahh, is it the travel which bothers you? Here," Honan picked up the pitcher in one meaty hand and waved it in Neji's general direction, "try a little of this," he said with a grin. "It's a wonderful tonic to settle the stomach." He slapped his belly and chuckled. '"Trust me, it works magnificently."

Neji gave a small shake of his head forcing himself not to pull back from the overpowering aroma of the rice wine laced with sweet fruits. "Thank you for your kind offer... but I refrain from drinking."

Of course, the coarse brute wouldn't get the message and just leave him be. Honan raised an eyebrow. "Then you are missing out on one of the three great pleasures in life." An infectious grin cracked across the former pirate's face. "Don't worry my comrade. Once we have you installed as the newest head of the Hyuga clan, I'm sure that you will learn to drink... often and with great gusto." Honan started to chuckle. His accountant joined in with a nervous titter.

Neji forced himself to be polite. "When is the next stop? I feel like... I need some fresh air."

Honan's chuckle turned into a deep throaty laugh. "We are all men of the world here my dear Neji-san. If you need to take a piss just come right out and say it!" He wiped a tear from his eye. "There's no need to squirm about on your seat trying to hold it all in. This isn't some standard travelling buggy that only halts at certain towns. When nature calls, we simply give the order." Honan raised a fist, heavy with golden rings, and rapped sharply on the wall closest to the driver's side. The wheelhouse rocked sharply to the right as the driver swung it over to the side of the road and stopped.

As soon as it stopped moving, Neji abruptly stood and yanked the door open. He paused as Honan burst out laughing again. "I fail to see what is so humorous about opening a door," said Neji flatly.

Honan smiled. "My apologies. I simply found a bright spot of amusement in this situation. Either you have a truly urgent need or you are unaware that I have hired footmen for the sole purpose of opening doors for myself and my guests."

"A shinobi can open his own doors," grated Neji.

"That may be true," giggled Honan, "but if you start a trend amongst the Hyuga, my future Head of the clan, you will be depriving people like poor Ken-chan of his livelihood."

Neji nodded. "Please excuse me," he said quietly. He leapt out of the carriage and sped away.

He stopped in a small clearing about a hundred meters off the road. Neji stood very still for about thirty seconds or so, to make certain that he had not been followed. Once he was fairly certain he was all alone, he began to relax.

He took three slow calming breaths, and then leaned his head against a tree. The queasiness in his stomach didn't fully go away, but it subsided to a tolerable level. Damn Honan and his penchant for fried food. There was so much he didn't like about that man... Unfortunately there wasn't that much that he could do about it. Right now, Neji needed to stay near the wealthy merchant.

He glanced up at the sky and watched a small group of sparrows swoop and dive overhead. The four birds wheeled about in a tight circle. Their acrobatics were wild, spinning through the branches and curving amongst tree trunks. They darted this way and that in a dance of wild chaos and danger, but the four of them always managed to stay together. Neji closed his eyes and tried to calm his feelings.

There was no clear reason to him why this should be so difficult. All he had to do was keep his duty to Hinata in his mind. He was a Hyuga, sworn to protect the Head of the Clan and serve the greater interests of his family. Neji Hyuga, the man with impeccable honor, his Uncle Hiashi had named him. He could overcome any temptation these conspirators dangled before him. Wealth… Power… Recognition…

Neji put a steadying hand on the tree trunk and closed his eyes as the forest floor dizzyingly tilted. Damn... The vertigo hadn't fully passed yet. _Just think of all the good you could do once you are Head of the clan,_ the whisper cajoled in his mind. _How fitting would it be to see all those in the head family bowing and scraping to Neji Hyuga… former member of the branch family? _

Neji shook away the short vicious feeling of triumph that mental image filled him with. That joyful sensation of conquest was quickly replaced by one of guilt. Hinata was the Head of the clan… His cousin Hinata, whom he had sworn upon his honor to defend.

Neji took a deep calming breath and forced himself to remain calm. What was the matter with him today? There was no doubt in his mind that he was grateful to Hinata, she had forbidden use of the Caged bird seal on all members of the Branch family…

But he was still technically part of the Branch family… still a second class citizen in his clan's eyes. He reminded himself that anyone in his position would feel the same way. After all, hadn't he worked hard? Hadn't he served the Hyuga clan with all his might and all his strength? Didn't he deserve more? Of course not… He was Branch family… He existed only to serve...

That was the way things had always been done in the Hyuga clan. True, things were more fair under Hinata-sama's leadership than they had ever been, but even she was unable or unwilling to stomp out all the corruption and cronyism that plagued the Hyuga clan. Forcing her view on others was never in Hinata-sama's character. In some ways that worked to her advantage, it made her a much more kind and caring leader than the Hyuga had had in generations. Sometimes Neji felt as if it gave the Hyuga a much nicer leader than they deserved. One of the problems was that there were those that look advantage of that kindness and generosity in new ways. Hinata-sama was stronger and more confident now than she had ever been before in her life, but she still was not doing enough to those who took advantage of the system. Her strength lay in her kindness, in her compassion. Kindness was wonderful, but it was not fast in bringing about change. However much Neji disliked the man, Honan did have a valid point. Hinata was not the robust leader needed to bring fairness and prosperity back to the Hyuga clan.

Neji massaged his forehead with one hand, in a futile attempt to ease the pain somewhat. His thoughts buzzed in his head. Didn't the clan need a more capable leader in order to enact reforms? Didn't his family deserve better? Didn't his children deserve better? He slowly reached into the side pocket of his equipment pouch and took out the picture. Hishyoni was scowling as always. Hizashi looked so happy and hopeful, despite his injury. And Tenten... Neji's lips cracked a rare smile as he ran a single fingertip across the picture of his wife's face. Tenten looked lovely... as always.

* * *

The first time he noticed her was during the accuracy exam for kunai and shuriken at the Academy. He was ashamed to admit that at their first meeting he had not... been very polite. For most of his life, at least since his father died, Neji had only one thing anchoring his sanity. The firm belief that he was the best.

It was a necessary conviction. For he was born into the Hyuga clan. The wealthiest and most rigid of all the clans in Konoha. It was said by outsiders that the Hyuga led lives that were choreographed from the moment they were bundled into their birthing blankets till the time they were wrapped in their funeral shrouds. Among the Hyuga, there was little sympathy for those who were weak. Weakness was looked upon as besmirching the clan's honor. Of course weakness in the Hyuga clan was also a very subjective thing. If you were part of the Head family you had the automatic benefit of your wealth and position offering some protection. Branch family members had less protection due to their lower social status, but much much more from their community. There were many ways that the Branch families of the Hyuga could quietly assist each other in times of need... None of which Neji Hyuga ever saw. His position as a Branch family member with extremely close blood ties to the Head of the Clan made his life... awkward at best. The members of the Head family looked down on him, while the other Branch families glared at him with resentment under the assumption that he was receiving some special treatment. He found no friends growing up amongst the Hyuga. The few hobbies he had as a child were quickly lost amongst the drudging tasks that others seemed to heap upon him with scorn and amusement. He could hear them laughing behind his back.

He quickly learned that complaining about his lot only earned a cold stare from Hiashi-sama. The message was clear, that he was expected to bear his burdens alone. With nothing else to occupy his time, he threw himself into his duty - His duty to become a serving shinobi.

Neji had incredible natural talents. On top of that, he trained until his skills were above and beyond any of his Hyuga peers. His abilities far exceeded all of his classmates. He was a child prodigy. Everyone acknowledged him as such. For five years he was first in his class at everything. Right up until the day of the projectile weapons exam.

It was a windy day and the shuriken were catching every small gust. At the end of the exam there were only two students who hit the targets with all their shuriken. It had been rather difficult but of course Neji was not about to let any of his classmates see that. He stood there cool and quiet and awaited the inevitable acknowledgement of his superiority. Except after the teachers conferred amongst themselves, they decided that the clanless orphan girl, some ragamuffin with the ridiculous name of Tenten had the tighter grouping and the higher score was awarded to her. All the students gathered round to congratulate her, much to his annoyance. No one would ever think of congratulating him. No one ever had. They always pointed at him in stunned silence or in jealous awe... and now.. now that some weakness of his had been revealed he knew everyone would pounce like wild dogs on a wounded deer. Before anyone could speak to him, he turned away from their cheers and strode off home..

The next day, during the lunch hour, the girl had the nerve to approach him. "Hey Neji-kun!" she said beaming. "Do you want to practice shuriken with me?"

Of course she wanted to rub it in. Neji ignored her and kept on walking. "Hey! Neji-kun!" she said louder. "I asked if you wanted to practice shuriken with me?"

There was silence on the playground. All the other students turned and stared. "You've made your point," Neji said in a grating voice. "Now leave."

"My point?" she asked with genuine confusion. "What are talking about? I was just wanted to know if you wanted to practice..."

"You bested me once. I'll acknowledge that... but it won't ever happen again," he said stiffly, starting to stalk off.

There was a fast patter of feet and a skid in the dust. Tenten slid to a stop in front of him. She tilted her head to one side, the hideously old fashioned bun hairstyle she wore bobbed slightly as she shot him a quizzical look. "Are you mad because I got a higher grade than you in shuriken throwing? I don't see why. It was luck really... With all the wind it was just..."

"Of course you don't see why you stupid girl!" Neji spat. "Someone like you... Someone who has no grace, someone who has no manners, someone who has no sense of their station in life... Someone who has no clan could never understand a concept like reputation or honor!"

The girl's eyes, which moments before had been looking at him with sympathy, turned cold, like a steel gate had shut down behind them. "I see... Well then pardon my intrusion Hyuga-sama... I'm sorry a peasant like myself wasted your time!" she snarled, displaying a temper worthy of the most cantankerous Head family member. Giving him one final glare, she stomped away angrily.

* * *

He found himself keeping a closer watch on her after that exchange, marking her skills. Out of everyone in their class, she was the only one who had ever come close to matching him in one of the traditional shinobi tests. He shuddered to think that his one rival might be a girl, but there was no changing the destiny he had been dealt. Little by little he found himself taking more and more of an interest. Not a lot mind you, but just enough to take her measure.

She was driven. He would watch her as she trained for long hours with the shuriken targets. Neji marked the different patterns her hands wove as she plucked shuriken and kunai from various folds of her clothing and threw them.

She was proud. Most of the girls in his class would ornament themselves with ribbons or jewelry. Tenten never did... as a matter of fact, he didn't think she had any accessories, let alone any clothes that began to approach the concept of 'new'. But she never let the shame of that affect her. During class he would not hesitate to answer the sensei's questions, or speak her mind.

She was fierce. She once came across a group of older boys picking on the absolute worst student in their class, some thick eyebrowed deadbeat who couldn't even use ninjutsu. At that time, Neji had never even bothered learning the boy's name, he was so sure he wouldn't graduate. Anyway, Tenten was like a whirlwind of shrieking judgment, battering the older boys around, screaming at them to pick on someone who could fight back. She used an unusual close combat style, one that was more like brawling than any formal martial art he had seen, but he had to admit, it was effective. Her multiple opponents quickly fled, nursing bloodied noses and bruised egos. The boy she rescued was babbling with thanks and begging her to train him in her way of the Ninja. Neji found himself smiling as Tenten hurriedly backed away from his promises to be her disciple.

Over time Neji was surprised to find himself feeling... well, a little bit of kinship with the girl. She was alone with no parents, and she was trying her hardest to be the best she could... just like him. Of course they were from completely different worlds and of course it wouldn't be proper for him to associate with someone like her... but at the very least he could be civil.

There were two more shuriken accuracy tests. Again it was close, but she took both of them. The third time Neji made himself stay and congratulate her.

And she refused to even look at him! She refused to give him any acknowledgement other than a nod.

Well, that was it. It was clear to him that this... coarse, stupid girl was so full of herself that she couldn't even grant someone the smallest common courtesy. Neji turned away and derided himself for his naivete. Of course there was nothing they shared. He was just being a fool. He ignored her almost completely after that... only noting that she managed to graduate.

The next day the new squads were announced: Rock Lee, the bumbling dead last student who through some miracle happened to graduate. Tenten, the uncouth, impolite, intriguing yet barely civilized girl. And himself. He was trying his best to ignore his two new teammates when their sensei entered through the door.

And what an entrance it was. One moment Pazu-sensei was droning on about duty and responsibility and how their new squad captains would be picking them up shortly, and the next thing he knew the classroom door exploded in a hail of splinters. An athletic man in indecently snug green tights stood in the middle of the swirling wreckage. He posed and gave the gawking students a grin. "My, my Pazu-san... What a splendid group of shinobi have graduated this year." He spoke in the slick tones of an eager salesman. "I'd like to apologize in advance for the heart rending disappointment the rest of you students must feel, but alas... There is only one beautiful blue beast of Konoha, and he can only captain one... very... lucky squad." His finger wavered around the room and jabbed forward right at Neji. "Team Three!" he bellowed. "Summon all your youthful energy and follow your handsome team captian! Adventure and glory await!" He catapulted himself out the door howling, "Dynamic exit!"

Everyone was staring at them. Pazu-sensei waved them off. "Well? You heard Gai-sensei... Go on." Tenten and Lee were exchanging a stunned glance while Neji pushed himself up out of his seat and skeptically followed his new captain.

If he were a lesser man, he would have protested at this time. He would have complained that being on a team like this was beneath his talents… beneath his dignity. But no doubt, that was what someone was expecting. One of the other advantages of growing up as a Hyuga was that by the time you reached age five, you were very used the intrigues and cruel games that could be played. No doubt someone, somewhere, had pulled some strings and gotten him placed on this one squad full of losers. Instead of making a fuss, he listened politely to his new sensei and made sure he went to bed early enough to get a good night's rest.

* * *

Neji was up as the cold mist was rising from the koi pond. It was a habit he had picked up from his father. Hizashi had always been an early riser, awakening while it was still dark and completing many of his duties before the sun had a chance to rise. He buckled on his shuriken holster and silently padded through the halls of the Hyuga compound. He hesitated, passing the kitchen, and with a smug smile, went inside.

"...Prepare yourselves for the harshest survival training you will ever encounter!" Gai-sensei had told Neji and the rest of Team Three, on the day of his graduation. The over eager team leader paused in his excitement and lifted a finger as if remembering something. "Ah yes, you may want to skip breakfast. The tasks we will perform are so challenging you do not want to attempt them on a full stomach."

Heh... Like he was going to listen to his new 'sensei'...that overzealous fool. Neji knew the real secret behind this 'survival training'.

He knew because, two years ago Neji had been hiding from that Head family idiot, Hikaru Hyuga. Hikaru had an average skill with his byakugan, and was mediocre at using jukken. But because he was part of the Head family, he would always be above Neji in station. Hikaru took great pleasure in victimizing those who could not fight back... Like oh, say... any members of the branch family who happened to cross his path when he was in a bad mood. He especially delighted in tormenting the younger members of the branch family and often singled out Neji in particular.

For most of his life, Neji's best course of action was to hide whenever he heard Hikaru approaching. Which he had to admit, was usually not that difficult, given how lacking in talent Hikaru was. Anyway, it was two years ago, silently waiting in the shadows under the outside walkway, that he heard the older boy boasting. "...of course he said it was going to be survival training, but it was really just another stupid test! They made us try to get a pair of bells away from our sensei, but there were only two bells and three of us!"

"How is that supposed to work?" asked one of Hikaru's friends.

"Tsch! It's obvious dummy! Whoever didn't get the bell would fail and have to go back to the academy! But that's not the worst part... He had told us not to eat breakfast! But then, once we got there, the sensei said that who ever failed would also have to stand there tied to a training stump and watch while the other two got to eat the bentos he brought!"

"So what happened?" asked another one of Hikaru's hangers on.

"What do you think happened? I wasn't going to lose!" There was a pause and the Hikaru continued in a whisper. "When no one was looking I gave a palm strike to Akane... she was just dead weight anyway, the stupid girl. Goro spent most of his time just getting in my way, so when he stepped into a snare trap, I just left him there dangling from the tree."

"So it was just you and your sensei then," said one of the other boys slowly. "No one else to hold you back... how come you couldn't get one of the bells?"

There was a loud thump from the walkway above, as if someone had been shoved and fallen. "I would have gotten a bell... if the stupid Sensei hadn't cheated," snarled Hikaru. "He was fast... Nobody can move that fast... And then he hit me with some forbidden S-rank taijutsu move. It would have killed a lesser man... He called it 'A Thousand years of Death." Hikaru sneered.

There was an awed gasp from the other boys. "So what are you going to do?"

Hikaru chuckled, and started walking away, there was a patter of footsteps as the other boys followed. "Easy... I've already complained to my Dad... He'll have a word with the Hokage, and then that stupid Kakashi-sensei will be out of a job..."

Neji waited until the voices were long gone before crawling out of his hiding spot. He made sure he never forgot that information.

* * *

Even at this early hour the kitchen was bustling. One of the chefs saw Neji enter and turned to intercept him. "What are you doing here Neji-san?" He said irritably. "Surely none of the Head family are awake yet? You know the Branch servants aren't allowed to eat until after they've they've carried out their duties."

"I require a meal." Neji said, returning the man's bitter glance. "I have my first mission today."

The chef hesitated for a moment, as if he was considering ordering this uppity Branch family member out of the kitchen. It was obvious he was weighing Neji's position in Hiashi-sama's household against his own. Finally, with a deep frown, he stepped to the larder and tossed him a small wrapped bundle. "Here," he grunted. "That's the standard fare for a Hyuga shinobi." Without another word, he spun on his heel and went back to his chores. Neji was hardly surprised. The only people who were more jealous of his talents than the Head family... were the other members of the Branch family. This was always the case, no matter who he was dealing with.

He finished the ongiri before he left the compound gates. There was no sense in undertaking this mission on an empty stomach. And there was even less sense in saving any of the ongiri for lunch. He knew who his teammates were. If anyone had a chance of passing this 'bells test' it would most certainly be him.

He bumped into his squadmates on the way out the main gate. It was that chill grey moment as the night ends but the morning has yet to happen. Neji could feel the lack of sleep putting him on edge. Thankfully he had his iron self-control to keep it all stowed safely away.

It was obvious Lee hadn't slept a wink, he was vibrating with adrenaline-fueled sleep deprivation. His hair stuck up every which way, adding to his air of madness. Tenten... well, underneath her well worn attire, and aside from a few massively obvious yawns, Tenten looked as graceful and as poised as ever. He nodded politely at her. Crass as she might be, she should have no issues becoming a shinobi.

"Good morning Neji-kun!" Lee yelped deliriously. "Are you ready for a fun-filled day of Shinobi brotherhood?"

"Don't touch me!" grunted Neji, dodging his enthusiastic hug. "You won't last a minute up there!"

Lee stepped away, "Why not? It's only training. I can handle anything that you can."

"Yeah Neji," yawned Teten. "Don't get so down on Lee, he tries harder than anyone I know. It may take him a couple of dry runs but I'm sure he'll be alright."

"Oh thank you Tenten-chan!" Before she could dodge, Lee's sweaty palms caught her hand. He stared up at her with big teary eyes. A rivulet of snot was dripping from one nostril. "Your faith bolsters my spirit! Come! Let us race to the top of the hill!"

The look of horror Tenten gave Lee's enthusiasm bolstered Neji's spirit. He took the opportunity to speak to her again. "It's not going to be training this morning," Neji muttered, as Lee dashed away. "It's another test."

"What?" asked Tenten, desperately wiping her hand repeatedly on her pant leg. "How do you know?"

Neji smirked. "I am a genius you know... It was easy to figure out."

"So why are you telling me and not Lee?"

That stung. Why should Tenten care what happened to Lee? Did this stupid girl care more for that loser than she did for him? Couldn't she see he was standing here trying to reach out with the hand of friendship? "Why should I help him?" he found himself saying with disgust. She stood there quietly, staring at him. There were not many people who could meet the gaze of a Hyuga for an extended period of time. Many claimed that looking into the pale, pupiless eyes, a trait of those who possessed the byakugan, was unnerving at best. Among the more ignorant, it was said that a Hyuga could steal a part of your soul if you met their gaze for too long. Tenten stared at Neji for so long he started to feel uncomfortable, not that he would ever show it, but he began to wonder just what she saw when she looked at him like that. "Why would you want to give him any advantage? What does that loser mean to you?" he said more harshly than he intended

"He doesn't mean any more to me than you do!" Tenten gestured up the hill to their new teammate. "But he's still our comrade! Why wouldn't you tell him?"

If he hadn't had years of practice keeping his face still, he would have definitely reacted. He didn't mean any more to her than Lee? Surely she must see that he would be the preferred choice to partner with than that bushy browed failure. "Because the test is designed so one of us is guaranteed to fail. The one who fails must go back to the Academy." He glanced at the rapidly disappearing Lee, and felt a quick stab of jealousy. "Between the pair of you, I would much rather have a... a mediocre kunoichi on my squad... than a loser like him."

"A mediocre kunoichi?!" screeched Tenten. "What the hells is that supposed to mean?"

Neji turned away smirking at the reaction he got. "Exactly what it sounds like."

He ignored Tenten scowling at him the whole time they ascended the hill. If she couldn't recognize his genius, then it was her loss. He trudged up the hill, certain that he was going to be only one of the three of them that passed.

* * *

They crested the top of the hill and made a loose circle around their new sensei. He stood there, doing one handed handstand pushups. "Two hundred fifty three, Two hundred fifty four... Oh that's too bad, you all arrived early. I was hoping I'd have time to do at least five hundred push ups. No matter," he said flipping up to his feet, "I'll just have to finish it up during lunch." He grinned at them.

"During lunch?" asked Tenten cautiously. "You mean you're going to skip it?"

"Oh no, I do the push ups while I eat," he said with a grin. Gai sensei raised his eyebrow at her incredulous faces. "What? There's no better method to keeping your form nice and deep… It ensures that you get low enough in order to a bite and if your arms happen to fail you," Gai clapped his hands together, "you smash everything. Automatic punishment." Neji rolled his eyes at the shocked look on Tenten's face. It had taken her this long to figure out that their new sensei was insane? "Now you may be wondering why I have called you here to the training grounds," Gai-sensei said, gently stroking his chin.

Lee's hand rocketed into the air. "Ooh! Ooh! Is it because you are going to teach us some new jutsu sensei?!"

"Hmp," snorted Neji. "It's obvious he's going to give us one final test before we are accepted into the ranks of genin." He stared coolly up at the sky, and tried to keep his gloating to a minimum. "I do wonder if all of us are going to pass?"

"Another test?" Lee blurted out in horror. "Didn't we just take the graduation exam?"

Gai laughed a great belly laugh and pointed casually at Neji. "Well, now, it looks like someone in the Hyuga compound has been talking about Konoha's secret testing trials." Neji scowled and turned his head away. "Don't you worry Neji-kun, I admire your information gathering abilities. For you are correct. There is a long standing tradition of having one final exam..."

"But Gai-sensei..." started Tenten, glancing at Lee.

"... I however do not believe in holding such a test. Weeding out candidates with such a surprise audit is against my ninja way. I am a firm believer that with enough hard work and youthful passion any obstacle can be overcome. I refuse to reject any student who is willing to learn by my side and try their hardest, no matter what any silly test says!" Lee was staring up at his new sensei with wide eyed adoration. "So, let's begin our first day together with a little team building exercise."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" yelled Lee, bounding to his feet.

"What sort of Team building exercise?" asked Tenten.

Neji shuddered as his new sensei struck a heroic pose against the blossoming sunrise which did nothing to hide the view of his spandex clad behind. "We'll start off with a short run, five kilometres should do it, and after that we'll bang out two... no three hundred pushups. After that little warm up, we'll start some real Team building." He saw Tenten's jaw drop. Even Neji himself was feeling a little perturbed. "Right! Let's go!" yelled Gai. "The last one to finish has to do an extra fifty... no... one hundred punishment pushups!"


	74. Chapter 26: On the Road: part 2

Gai-sensei's idea of a team building exercise was exactly just that. Exercise... a ludicrous amount of physical challenges. Mostly involving push ups, sprinting from place to place, never ending sparring matches, walking on one's hands, and mud. Lots and lots of mud. It didn't take long for Neji to regret ignoring Gai-sensei's advice about skipping breakfast. He had to excuse himself during an endless bout of free squats, and make a run for the bushes as those hastily eaten ongiri declared open rebellion in his stomach. Upon his return he was half expecting his newfound 'comrades' would make some sort of pointed commentary on the the retching noises emanating from the shrubbery. Instead, he found Tenten giving him a sympathetic glance… and in that moment, her pity was somehow worse than her scorn. He snorted, and turned his head disdainfully away. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the kunoichi clench her jaw in anger and go back to the drill. By the time they switched from free squats to performing hand to hand attack combinations at training field's target logs, she was ignoring him completely.

The last sparring match of the morning consisted mostly of Tenten dropping kunai from her numb fingers as Neji wearily leaned away from Lee's tired swings. It was then that Maito Gai finally relented and called and end to the 'team building'. He sat them all down in a circle.

"Now!" boomed their new sensei in that overly cheerful voice of his. "We have trained your bodies a centimeter closer to the peak of physical perfection. But muscles need fuel! I hereby declare our lunch break!"

'Lunch' for Gai-sensei was exactly what he said it would be. He opened a small packet of ongiri, lay it reverently on the ground, and proceeded to do handstand pushups over them, eating while he exercised. Lee took a few small bites of his lunch, watching his sensei in wonder. Suddenly he spread out his food and attempted to do the same, with much more predictable results. Within moments there was rice mashed in his hair.

With no lunch of his own, Neji ended up seating himself against a tree, trying to meditate. He heard everyone eating noisily and his stomach gave a small gurgle. He tried to ignore it all, but something smelled good... too good to overlook. A scowl twitched across his lips as his stomach grumbled a second time. He heard the girl set down her chopsticks on the edge of her bento and stare at him. _Great,_ he thought wearily. _Now I've gone and ruined her meal. Why is it that I simply can't maintain my manners around her?_

To his surprise she didn't leave, and she didn't reproach him, like any self respecting Hyuga would have done. "You didn't bring a lunch?" Tenten asked scooting closer to him.

There was a third rumble from Neji's stomach at the word 'lunch'. He sighed wearily and opened one eye. "No... The so called 'test' as it was described to me mentioned that there would be a bento offered to those who successfully passed." She was looking at him... and smiling. Perhaps this would be a good time to try to make a new overture for civility? In a squad like this... he could see how having an ally… any ally might be useful. Neji decided to try a small joke. "Apparently I did not take into consideration that our new team leader might be insane."

Tenten gave him a nod and a giggle. "He is a nut job... isn't he?" She poked around in her bento for a moment, and held out a boiled egg. "Here..." she said offering it to him.

Unlike most Hyuga, Neji did not blush easily. He was very glad for that trait now... Among the oldest customs of the Hidden Leaf village, sharing a meal with someone was a declaration of romantic intent. When the village was first founded, many courtships among the clans would start their long slow dance when one party made an offering to share something innocuous, like a boxed lunch, with the other.

There were few clans that clung as tightly to the original traditions of Konoha as the Hyuga clan did. There were few clans left that would take the sharing of a simple egg to be the first steps towards a marriage contract. The Hyuga however, always on the prowl to expand their ever widening power base, was one of them.

Neji looked at the egg. His stomach rumbled again. He glanced up at Tenten and back at the egg. Just what was this girl thinking? Did she not realize the implications of what she was doing here? Did she really think that she was an acceptable match for Hyuga? He licked his lips. "I'm afraid I must decline."

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "What... It's not poisoned!" She nibbled the end off the egg, and held it out to him again. "Shee?" she said with her mouth full.

This time a faint color blossomed across Neji's cheeks. "I... um... I must..." Oh Gods, he knew that the clanless were supposed to be crass and all but didn't she realize how forward she was being? Sharing food that had touched her lips? His eyes widened as he stared at the egg. This was... well... this was far beyond a mere courtship ritual... sharing food was reserved for two people who were... well, intimate. He glanced up and saw Gai-sensei taking an interest. He looked at the egg. His stomach practically roared this time. "No," he said forcing himself to reject it.

Tenten sighed. "Look, just eat it." She pushed the egg forward on the end of her chopsticks. Neji made a small yelp and ducked away. "What? It may not be as fancy as what you get in the Hyuga compound but it's edible... Just try it!" She darted forward with the egg again. He'd been warned about women like this. He'd had his share of classes taught by sour faced Hyuga clan matrons who muttered darkly about resisting the temptation presented by seductive mongiakan that would try to lure them away from clan approved pairings. The clan came down very hard on anyone who defied the will of the clan and dared to 'dilute' the power of the byakugan with outsiders.

In a panic, Neji blocked the malevolent, enticing egg with one hand. It popped off the end of her chopsticks and rolled away in the dirt. Tenten glared at him. "Fine then! Why don't you go running back to the big fancy Hyuga compound then? Maybe your Mommy and Daddy can make something that doesn't offend your palate!"

Neji, who had been very flustered up to that point, froze and gave her a look that was pure ice. "My parents are dead... you clanless bimbo," he snarled.

"Tenten!" called Gai-sensei. "Stop flirting with Neji and finish eating. We start training again in ten minutes!"

Tenten whirled indignantly on her teacher. "Gai-sensei, I would expect that kind of stupid, sexist remark from an idiot like him," she said jabbing a finger at Neji, "but as our teacher, you should know better than to say something like that!"

Gai tilted his head, confused. "But... you're trying to feed him, aren't you?" Neji turned away from them embarrassed. His sensei, this spandex clad dolt, had seen his shame. Soon everyone would know how a clanless orphan girl had been trying to feed him. He could imagine the stern face his uncle would make. Neji glanced over at the furious Tenten and then quickly glanced away. Her hair was strung out with sweat, her clothes were caked with drying mud and her face was red with exhaustion and anger. He imagined her standing in front of Hiashi-sama and the rest of the Head family in all of their finery, stating her intentions. He could hear the echoing laughter that would follow him to the end of his days...

Tenten gestured at Neji with both hands. "Of course I am!" she shouted. "He's starving! I was trying to be nice! It's not my fault he's acting like a two year old!"

Gai regarded both his students for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Oh my goodness! I do so apologize!" he said, his laugh dying down to a chuckle. "Tenten, your concerns for your comrades do you credit. Truly, you are brimming over with the Power of Youth!" He waved at Neji. "Go ahead and eat Neji-kun... I will testify to anyone in your clan who asks that she intended to make no claim."

"I will be fine Gai-sensei," said Neji bluntly. He moved away and began stretching, but not so far away that he couldn't hear the conversation between Tenten and Gai-sensei.

Gai slapped a fatherly hand on her shoulder. "Do not take it personally Tenten-chan. The Hyuga clan are known for being strict traditionalists."

Tenten frowned after Neji. "Traditional what? Traditional jerks?"

Gai chuckled. "They can seem a little uptight at times can't they?" He delicately cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "I was referring to the old Konoha custom of showing a… deep emotional fondness for another person by offering to share a meal with them."

Tenten gaped at Gai-sensei, horrified. Her eyes flicked quickly over to Neji and she caught him watching. They looked at each other for an uncomfortable moment before Neji turned his head, feigning interest in something on the other side of the field. "Really?" she asked awkwardly.

Gai nodded sagely. "Oh, yes... If Neji had accepted in front of witnesses, you could have gone to the Head of the Hyuga Clan claiming that you had proposed a marriage contract, and he found the terms agreeable."

"What?" cried Tenten, flinching. "Ewww! We're only twelve!"

Gai shrugged. "Not an uncommon age to be wed in the olden days… Even in this modern age, contracts between people that young are not unheard of among the more traditional clans... it is considered a tried and true method to ensure alliances." He smiled at the horrified look on her face, and gave a short laugh. "Do not worry. It was an honest mistake that anyone could make. I'm sure that no one could possibly believe that you had anything... nefarious in mind. Things like that hardly ever happen these days."

* * *

The training lasted until mid afternoon. It ended because the three genin could not continue. "Well then," said Gai-sensei brightly. I guess that will have to be enough for today. I now have a much fuller idea of your talents and weaknesses." He grinned and gave them all a thumbs up. "Go home and rest knowing that you have made your sensei proud! We will reconvene bright and early tomorrow!" He paused thoughtfully. "Actually, let us make it later. We will try for about eight AM or so." He turned and started back to the training field.

"Sensei! Where are you going?" the now exhausted Lee called after him.

Gai's laugh boomed through the trees. "Why, to finish my training of course! Why do you think I want to make tomorrow's meeting so late? That little bout was nothing more than a warm up... If I want to keep my endurance up I'll have to get much more of a workout that this." Gai gave a great sigh. "I mean no disrespect my beloved students, but I will need the extra time tomorrow morning simply to finish my daily routine. Anyway, I will see you later! I'm moving on to the serious strength conditioning!" He gave them all a huge grin filled with gleaming white teeth and began an easy jog.

"Wow!" said Lee with muted awe. He forced himself to stand and quickly limped after his teacher. "Gai-sensei! Wait for me!"

Neji stared at them running off in the hazy afternoon sun. "I find it disturbing how much alike those two are... Our teammate seems to want to follow Gai-sensei around like some sort of pet."

Tenten, sweaty and scuffed from the training, stretched her arms over her head and cracked her back, something that a proper, perfumed, kimono clad Hyuga gentlewoman would never do in public. Neji watched with mild fascination. "Yeah well, if that's what he wants... then good for Lee I say. The poor kid could use a father figure."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Tenten sighed. "Lee's mother manages a small rice farm up north. He's got nine brothers and sisters."

Neji sputtered. "Nine?"

Tenten shrugged. "That's what he says. He told me he wanted to become a shinobi so he doesn't have to spend the rest of his life picking rice. He says his family barely even noticed he's gone." She gave him a sidelong glance. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Neji shook his head. "I do have a pair of cousins... but..." He stopped, anxious and unsure about how much of his past he should share with this girl. "Do you have any?"

Tenten shrugged again. "Dunno... I was a foundling after the Nine Tails attack."

"Oh," said Neji in a small voice. Everyone knew that the Nine tails attack had resulted in a huge jump in the number of orphans in the village. He'd heard his father tell of young babes discovered crying in piles of debris. He'd just never made the connection to Tenten's orphan status before. "I'm... sorry to hear that."

Tenten focused on something far off to his left and gave a reserved shrug. "It's okay... I've dealt with it," she said with brittle cheerfulness.

Neji didn't press her on her obvious lie. And after a moment of quiet introspection she turned to him with an earnest look on her face. "I'm really sorry about your parents too... I wouldn't have said anything but... I didn't know." She shuffled closer to him by half a step. "Did you lose them when you were young?"

This time it was Neji who turned away. He considered ignoring the question, but there was something about the way she asked... "My mother died in childbirth with me... My father he... he died... on a mission... when I was five."

"I'm sorry," whispered Tenten.

Neji shrugged, still keeping his head turned away. "There is no apology necessary... It wasn't your fault," he mumbled.

To his surprise, she danced around, till she was meeting his gaze again. "Well you can at least let me apologize for the whole 'trying to feed you' thing... I am... so embarrassed about that."

Good… It had only been an honest mistake. With any luck, the clan would never hear about it. Neji gave her a nod. "For that, I will accept your apology," he said magnanimously. She grinned at him. To his wonder, Neji found himself giving her a small smile in return. "I am sorry about your egg. I shouldn't have reacted that strongly." The words just slipped out of his mouth.

She laughed. It was a surprisingly pleasant sound. "I don't blame you… You thought I was trying to marry you on the sly." She snorted. "Good thing nobody cared about that tradition in the orphanage growing up… otherwise I'd have been married to about a hundred different strangers by now!" She looked up at his stunned expression. "We'd go around to the open air food stalls and grab whatever the customers left before the staff could clean it up," she explained. "There wasn't enough for everyone to eat, and if you didn't want to go to bed hungry…"

Neji shut his mouth. Were things that bad in the orphanages? He knew they weren't luxurious but he had heard various members of the Head families complaining multiple times to his Uncle on how unfair the extremely high taxes the clan had to pay to the village to support those 'clanless parasites' was. The way they told it, the orphans were living like kings off of the honest sweat of the Hyuga clan. An obvious exaggeration… but still... there were people in Konoha that were that desperate?

Neji recovered his voice. "Yes… well… Even I will admit that at times I find it to be a rather ridiculous custom."

Her smile grew. "It's good to hear you admit that. I was beginning to worry that I was the only sane one on this team." She leaned in and gave him a friendly nudge, and then gave him a sheepish look as Neji flinched away. "Sorry! Let me guess... that's against your clan traditions too."

"Um... Well... Yes," lied Neji. Truth be told, as far as he knew there weren't any specific clan traditions forbidding contact with members of the opposite sex, because there didn't have to be any. It was just understood that any such dalliances would be 'Frowned upon'. Boys and girls of the Head Hyuga clan were groomed to be pristine, perfect little dolls, to be moved about into whatever alliances their parents were seeking. The Branch family members could not even trust that it was their own parents plotting the course of their future. Far often the Head family they were bound to would seem to grant a marriage proposal on the thinnest of whims.

And all that was just between Hyuga... inside the family. He shuddered to think of how certain clan members reacted whenever a Hyuga received approval to actively court or be courted by an outsider. Every Hyuga knew of Junko-sama, an iron willed old matron they called the Mistress of Hyuga Husbandry, and the mysterious 'accidents' that befell those who would dare 'pollute the noble Hyuga bloodline'.

Neji's side tingled where Tenten had bumped him. He looked down at the dusty, perspiring, scraped up girl who was a diametric opposite to the typical, proper, Hyuga woman. He nodded uneasily. "Yes... It's definitely another tradition... Another... foolish tradition."

She grimaced. "Sorry... I just keep messing things up, don't I?"

The words just fell out of his mouth before he could even think about it. "Oh no... It's not your fault... I wouldn't have known about any of this foolishness if I hadn't grown up with them."

She flashed a smile at him so wide that dimples appeared in her cheeks. Again he found himself smiling back. "Cool," she said cheerfully. There was the briefest flicker across her face as if she wanted to ask him something more. But the moment passed and she stepped back. "Well," she said giving him a small wave, "I guess... I'll see you tomorrow!"

* * *

For the first time in a long while Neji felt... Happy. He was almost positively buoyant up until the moment he walked in through the gates of the Hyuga compound... When he realized there was some sort of clan function going on. Wagons and carriages were slowly pulling through the entrance. The watchful eyes of his Uncle's majordomo, Ko, spotted him out of the chaos and he was recruited into helping with the unloading. He was already tired and sore and hungry. The furious screams of the porter crews to "Hurry it up boy!" while the perfumed and silk clad Head families lounged about and engaged in their whispered scheming, quickly destroyed what little good will he had. The warmth of his brief moment of camaraderie with Tenten evaporated into the night.

It was well past sundown when the multitude of bags and trunks were finally removed from the wagons and placed in the proper quarters when he finally received permission to enter the main house. Not that he was allowed to enter through the main entrance, oh no... He and all the other Branch members who had spent the better part of four hours unloading and unpacking had to enter via the smaller tradesman's entrance. When he questioned the reasoning behind this, Ko gave him a cold stare and told him it was 'so the aroma of their labor would not disturb the guests'.

They were told to strip and hose themselves off in the laundry area. If it wasn't for his exhaustion, Neji was certain his hostility would have boiled over and he would have ended up in trouble yet again. He quickly dragged on a clean set of clothes and hurried to main dining hall. Eating with the smarmy courtiers and tittering sycophants of the Head family was hardly anything he looked forward to, but right now, as long as it involved food, he would be able to tolerate it.

He could smell the food, hear the polite conversation, and the noisy clatter of eating when he was stopped in the hallway, just outside the entrance. "Um... Excuse me... Neji-nisan..." He stopped. His pathetic cousin Hinata was so made up and dressed so elaborately that it took him a second to recognize her. "Um... Father said... Father said..."

"Hiashi-sama said what?" asked Neji, impatience filling his voice.

Hinata swallowed and stared at her feet. "I'm sorry," she squeaked. "My father said that only his... invited guests were to be joining him in the dining hall tonight." She nervously started to fidget with her fingers. "The rest of us were supposed to eat in the servants hall... but they cleared everything out of there an hour ago." Hinata glanced up at his silence and then looked back down at her feet again. "I'm sorry, there may still be something left in the kitchen, but..."

Neji was clenching his jaw so tight he thought his teeth might crack. "I see," he said coldly. "Well, I guess I'd better be elsewhere like all the other undesirables. Gods forbid Hiashi-sama allow his nephew to be seen in front of his guests."

"I'm sorry Ni-san," Hinata said quietly.

Neji halted in his tracks. Being ordered away from dinner because he was of the Branch family one thing, but having his feeble younger cousin be the one to lord it over him? He felt his anger flare. "Don't lie Hinata-sama, It's unbecoming of a proper Hyuga lady," he said coldly.

Hinata's eyes widened in fear before she looked away. "I… I mean no disrespect Ni-san I was just…"

"Don't you dare try to pretend you aren't enjoying this humiliation!" hissed Neji. Hinata yelped in surprise as Neji whirled around, pointing a finger under her nose. "You're in the same situation as I! Anyone can see that Hiashi-sama didn't want your presence marring his perfect little dinner party either!" He ignored Hinata's snivelling and stalked away.

* * *

All that was left in the kitchens were the the tepid remains of the appetizers for Hiashi-sama's visitors and cold rice from the servants meal.. Normally he would have been only mildly bitter about having been excluded from this function, but tonight he was ready to explode. Every mouthful of leftovers from the Head family's table tasted acrid in his mouth. He forced himself to eat anyway. As Gai-sensei had so eagerly put it earlier: His body needed fuel.

He collapsed into bed that night and stared at the ceiling. He scowled, awaiting tomorrow with the vague feeling that things could only improve from here on. At the very least, he would be able to spend the majority of the day away from the Hyuga compound, away from his clan.

Neji woke up late. When he realized what time it was he gave a muffled curse and dressed quickly. He made only the briefest stop by the kitchens for a few simple onigiri he could eat on the go. It had been his hope to avoid the Head family guests and their Branch family attendants and leave straight for the training grounds before he could get recruited into any unwelcome business. Instead, he ran straight into the spiteful presence of Hikaru.

The older boy and a group of friends were swaggering about the koi pond in the center of the compound. Hikaru had been keeping himself entertained by bossing about the servants and making flippant comments to a group of formally attired Hyuga girls who would giggle and hide behind their fans. Most of the aforementioned young ladies were fawning over his no doubt embellished tales of the shinobi life and hanging on his every word. Hikaru was paying them no attention, he was constantly trying to chat up Hinata-sama, who stood at the rear fringe of the group doing naught but nodding and staring at her feet, much to Hikaru's obvious distress. As soon as Hikaru caught sight of Neji, trying to walk nonchalantly through the yard, his eyes lit up.

"Hey little bird," he called out, his voice ringing with bravado. "Where do you think you're going? Come on over here!" His friends stopped their roughhousing, and glanced up at Neji with cat-like interest.

Neji cursed his ill-luck and quickly made his face go blank. "Hyuga-sama," he said as politely as he could, carefully keeping all emotion out of his voice. "How may I serve you?" Always a safe question to ask. With luck, he would be able to escape after the bully satisfied his inferiority complex by making him do a few menial tasks.

But luck was not on his side. "You can serve me by telling me where you think you're sneaking off to... bird," the older boy barked, once again using the derogatory term for all sealed Hyuga. The other boys with Hikaru, nudged each other and started to step forward eagerly. "Are you trying to get out of doing any real work today?"

Neji carefully looked into Hikaru's eyes. "I am merely leaving to meet my Team leader for a mission. I have recently graduated from the academy and become a shinobi... Hyuga-sama."

"Oh yeah?" sneered Hiraku. "And what sort of mission is the great genius Neji Hyuga doing these days? Shoveling manure? Bathing the old people at the retiree center?" The other boys and girls laughed, there were a few isolated smiles from the servants in the courtyard as well. Hikaru puffed up his chest with pride. "I just partook in a dangerous assignment to obtain some stolen documents! What was your most recent mission?"

"Actually I haven't had any missions yet... There was only a training exercise," Neji said forcing himself to stay humble. "You see, yesterday was my first day as a shinobi."

"A training exercise?" asked Hikaru. "They didn't give you some sort of test?"

Neji slowly shook his head, still hoping to be able to leave with a minimum of fuss. "Oh no... there were no tests."

"I knew it," said Hikaru with disdain. He turned quickly to his friends. "I knew my father would make the Hokage change it," he said as an aside to them. He turned back and snorted at Neji. "That's way easier than what happened to me on my first day... A little squirt like you could never handle the tasks I had to accomplish to gain my status as a ninja." Hikaru looked down on Neji with a sneer. "Imagine... a weak little weasel like you calling themselves a bring shame to the clan and your parents."

He insulted his parents… Neji couldn't help himself. His anger blossomed and the words just popped out of his mouth. "Oh I have no doubt of that Hyuga-sama," Neji said obsequiously, as Hikaru's comrades chuckled. "All we had to accomplish was to take a pair of bells away from our sensei. Can you not imagine a more simple task?"

The laughter stopped abruptly. The other boys' attention turned to Hiraku. "Bells?" asked Hikaru with a tremor in his voice

Neji nodded, "Yes, bells... can you imagine anything so straightforward? Every single one of the members of my team passed. Even the simpleton on my squad who is completely incapable of using ninjutsu. I could not believe they would use so simple a task as the final trial." Neji grinned at Hikaru's discomfort and continued. "You see, there were only two bells but three of us, so it looked like one member of our team was destined to fail. However," Neji continued, making things up as he went along, "I figured out that if we divided the two bells into three pieces, each of us would have enough of one to pass. Our sensei praised us for our ingenuity, he said we were finest examples of shinobi he had seen in a very long time." Hikaru's associates stopped their chuckles and began to whisper.

Hikaru looked anxiously back at the whisperers and then turned to give Neji a waxy smile. "Well... your sensei must be some kind of idiot."

Neji nodded, he kept his face calm, but inside his belly his fury was raging. "He is a bit odd, that is true, but he is also the chief rival to the famed Kakashi 'the copy ninja' Hatake... Surely you have heard of him? Gai-sensei claims to be superior, having bested him in their ongoing challenge competition forty two times to Kakashi's forty one. Anyway... he told us a story about how one of Kakashi's previous students tried to ensure his success in the test by knocking out his comrades, can you imagine?" He nodded to each of the other children in the now silent group. "He said the only reason that that ex-student of Kakashi-san's was even a shinobi right now was because his father had to get on his knees and grovel in front of the Hokage. Can you picture the shame of it?" Neji stared Hikaru in the eye and made a small laugh. "I wouldn't want to be that shinobi..."

Hikaru's face flashed bright crimson. Neji knew he had gone too far, he had crossed the clan's boundary of impropriety and traveled far into the realm of disrespect, and yet he found he didn't care. Hikaru ground his teeth together for a few moments before giving Neji a thoughtful smile. "You must think you're something special... don't you little bird?" he said with barely restrained fury.

"Special?" said Neji with deadly quiet. "You will find one does not have to be 'special' to be better than you." Neji ignored the wide eyed stare and the gasp from Hinata. There was a murmur from the other youngsters. The Branch family simply did not insult the Head family in this way.

Hikaru glared at him. "Well," he continued with a feral smile. "If the little bird thinks it's so special, then the little bird must honor us all by showing us his skill, don't you think?" He turned and spoke to the rest of the courtyard. "Neji Hyuga I propose the challenge of the Dance of the thousand forms... Do you think you are skilled enough to defeat me?" There was a short gasp from the watchers followed by a eager titter from Hikaru's friends.

The Dance of a thousand forms. It was as close as two Hyuga who were not yet adults could get to a formal duel. Basically each party would go through a randomly selected series of juken kata, and use the forms for attack and defense. Younger children would practice with their parents as a way to get used to the forms. Older children would play at it as if it were some sort of dance. Once a member of the Hyuga clan achieved the rank of genin though, they were supposed to take it seriously. It could be a very dangerous exercise, as both competitors were trading very real juken blows. But still it was very rarely fatal.

Rarely fatal. Neji looked at Hikaru's eager grin and had to caution himself of that. This was starting to get dangerous. While didn't show it, he found he was slightly concerned. He would have to be careful. The potential for getting into trouble was quickly rising. There was a hushed pause as the group held its breath. "I accept no such challenge from you Hikaru Hyuga."

"No?" said Hikaru with a raised eyebrow. "What's the matter? Are you scared?" He waved behind him with one hand. "My friends all heard you make the statement that you are better than I." There was a muttering of assent from his group. "Are you going to call each of us a liar... little bird?"

Neji stood there stiffly and shook his head slightly. "I am only suggesting that if you want to spar... We do so at another time. I could never agree to any such challenge right now... I am on my way to train with my new squad."

"Oh... Your new squad," sneered Hikaru. "Well, that's fine then... You run along and train with them." He waved his hands at Neji as if to shoo him away. Surprised that he had escaped so easily, Neji turned and took a step towards the main gate. "I never thought that the son of Hizashi Hyuga would be a coward," Hikaru called after him. "I wonder what your father would say if he could see you now?"

Neji froze. "You have no right to speak of my father," he said quietly. There was the quick clatter of feet and the sliding of a door as Hinata sprinted into the main house..

"I have every right to speak of Hizashi Hyuga. Your father was nothing but a humble member of the Branch family, dependent on us for everything." Hikaru stepped forward again and gave Neji and ugly grin. "Everything you have you got because of the Head family's hard work and guidance, you ungrateful little bird." He slowly leaned a finger forward and prodded Neji in the chest. "From the clothes you wear, to the training you received... From the roof you sleep under, to..." Hiraku slapped his hand downward, scattering Neji's breakfast and lunch in the dust, "the very food you stuff in your greedy little mouth. All of it belongs to us... So yes... You belong to us... just like your father belonged to us."

Neji stiffened and clenched his hands into fists. Hikaru noticed this and smiled. "That's right," Hikaru hissed in a soft voice, "I remember your dear old daddy. He used to brag to any ear that would listen how you were going to be the perfect shinobi... How you were going to accomplish so much... I bet he is so proud of you right now... After all what did dear old Dad accomplish, Hmm? Not much aside from being a dead-ringer for Hiashi-sama." Hikaru turned and gave his friends a small laugh. "Heh! Dead-ringer... get it?"

Growing up a Hyuga gave Neji lots of practice holding in his anger. Usually he could contain it all within his heart... this time it needed a release. "I accept," said Neji coldly.

"What was that?" asked Hikaru, an arrogant grin on his face.

"I accept your challenge for the Dance of a Thousand Forms." Neji gave the older boy a polite bow he did not mean. "When shall we begin?"

And he promptly leapt aside to dodge the leg sweep aimed at him. Hikaru popped back up into the first juken fighting stance, activated his byakugan, and laughed. "I believe we'll start right now!" He lunged forward into a series of sixteen finger and palm strikes. They were nothing special, Neji managed to slap the majority of them away, the rest he dodged. It didn't help Hikaru's attacks that he was ranting at the same time. "I hear all about you... 'Oh Neji can do this... Oh, Neji has so much talent'... Come little bird, I want to see what the vaunted Neji Hyuga can do with my own eyes."

"Then see you shall!" growled Neji. His byakugan snapped on as he spun a backhanded open palm strike, into a rising four blow combo, first targeting Hikaru's knee and then working his way upward, hitting the hip, elbow and shoulder.

Hikaru staggered a little and fell back as Neji pressed the attack. Hikaru was physically larger and therefore stronger than Neji, but that didn't matter much in juken where the blows did damage via chakra. He also had a longer reach, but Neji's natural agility more than made up for that. Little by little Hikaru was being forced back.

The group of boys started to yell encouragements. A few of the girls watching called out Hikaru's name. Neji continued to neatly stop each of his counter-attacks all the while pressing his advantage.

At some point Hikaru slid on a pact of loose gravel in the courtyard and stumbled. he looked up fearfully as Neji swooped in. He had been planning to hit Hikaru with a crescent kick to the midsection. Nothing too damaging, but enough to knock the older boy over and give him some much needed humility. Neji was lining up the blow, when his head suddenly felt like it was going to shatter with a searing pain and pressure.

As fast as the pressure came it was gone, leaving him squinting against the too bright sunlight, feeling woozy and breathing heavily. It was all he could to to remain upright. There was nothing he could do to dodge Hikaru's palm strike.

He was very lucky. The strike landed clumsily on his right side, missing any major chakra points. There was however a burning cold sensation that flowed through Neji as the injected chakra wave caused his breath to hitch and his heart to stutter.

"Not so much of a genius now... Are you?" said Hikaru gloatingly. The bigger boy dropped into the high juken pose and shuffled forward. As Neji braced himself for Hikaru's next charge, a second spear of pain shot through his forehead again.

This time, through the haze of the hurt, Neji saw why. Hikaru was surreptitiously making the seals to activate the Hyuga family juinjutsu branded on Neji's forehead. Hikaru didn't have the strength to keep it active for long, not when he hadn't been added to the family ledger, and given permission to administer discipline to Hiashi's branches, but it was long enough to give him the edge in this fight.

Neji took eight hits this time. One of them found the tenketsu in his left forearm as he attempted to block the finger strikes. A wave of agony rolled down his left hand leaving dull, nerve tingling numbness in its wake.

"You see?" murmured Hikaru, so low that only the pair of them could hear. "This is why I am superior to you. It has nothing to do with training, for can a man not train a dog to do tricks? It has everything to do with breeding. I am bred to be a leader, and you are nothing but a dog. You can bark and learn to be clever and impress everyone else, but in the end you only have you status at the head family's sufferance... at my sufferance." Hikaru split his lips in a slow smile. "It's up to the Masters to teach all young pups how to be good little dogs isn't it? Your father knew his place... giving up his life for his master... I think it's time someone put you in yours." Hikaru set his right hand in the sign to focus chakra, ready to activate Neji's caged bird seal again, and readied a palm strike with his left.

The Juken fighting style places a heavy emphasis on 'soft' open handed strikes, mostly with the palm or fingers with the occasional kick or leg sweep thrown in. Its advantages are that the attacks are blindingly fast. Combined with heavy internal damage from injecting chakra and a frightening accuracy provided by the byakugan and you have a devastatingly powerful close combat technique.

So powerful that its users tend to ignore other close combat techniques... like grappling. The sparring portion of Gai-sensei's training yesterday had consisted of many reminders of the many different fighting styles out there, and why not familiarizing yourself with them could be a great mistake. Hikaru stood there, shocked as Neji's right hand shot out, seized the hand sign Hikaru was using to focus his chakra, and twisted the two fingers back sharply.

There was a loud 'Pop!' Hikaru screamed a high pitched wail and stared at his hand, his digits hanging at an impossible angle.

Neji's first palm strike knocked him down on his backside. The second flattened him, leaving him squirming in the courtyard, gasping for breath like a dying fish. Neji was bringing his hand down a third time as a commanding voice boomed across the yard. "Neji!"

Neji looked up to see Hiashi-sama glaring icily at him from the walkway surrounding the mansion. There was an ashen faced Hinata by his side, and a gaggle of other Head family members behind him muttering angrily. "Is this the way you treat my guests Nephew?" Hiashi said in that dispassionate way that covered up his anger. "I had thought you to be better than this."

Neji climbed up to his feet and bowed respectfully. "Hyuga-sama, I apologize for my actions but you see, he was..."

Flaring agony exploded behind his eyes making his vision swim with spots. A tortured scream escaped his clenched teeth as he rolled in the dust. Before he blacked out he thought he heard Hinata say something in a pleading voice.


	75. Chapter 26: On the Road: part 3

Hinata was seated next to him when he woke up half an hour later, his head pounding. "N-Neji-nisan? Are you awake?" she asked timidly. Neji said nothing. He just slowly sat up and glared at her. Gods he despised his cousin. She was a pathetic hesitant little mouse, who, through an accident of birth, was considered more important than him in the clan's eyes… far more important than any mere branch family member. After a very long pause she somehow finally found the courage to go on. "Um... Father is... very upset with you. This contract he is trying to negotiate with Hikaru's father means a lot to him and..." Her voice timidly faded away and she quickly began to play with her fingers. "He says there must be consequences for your… abhorrent behaviour toward a guest in our home."

Neji opened his mouth to speak, but nothing but a small croak came out. He took a deep breath and tried again. "So why are you here? Where is Hiashi-sama?"

Hinata blanched but answered his question. "Father returned to his negotiation. He told me... He said I should learn how to regulate... those who will one day serve me..." Her voice faded into a nervous whisper.

There was a long pause. Was she waiting for him to ask for mercy? Neji decided he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing him beg. " Fine. What is to happen to me?" Neji rasped.

Hinata cleared her throat and stared out the window. "First he says you are to continue in your duties as a shinobi. He says it is obvious you need discipline. So you while your punishment is ongoing you will continue to carry out missions and train with your squad." Hinata looked up at Neji to see his reaction and then quickly looked away. "Father says your punishment is that every other waking moment, you will wait on Hikaru hand and foot. You are to obey his every order." Hinata looked down and mumbled something else.

"What was that?" prompted Neji.

"He also said that for the remainder of his stay at the compound... Cousin Hikaru will have the authority to activate your seal to discipline you if he finds your ," Hinata whispered. She tried looking into his eyes again, but guiltily looked away. "I'm so sorry Ni-san... I only went to fetch my father because I was worried about what would happen to you if you and Hikaru fought... He is scheduled to take the Chunin exam This is all my fault... I tried to tell father what happened, all of the mean things that Hikaru was saying to you... but he just wouldn't..."

"You are correct," interrupted Neji in an emotionless voice. He swung his legs over the side of the small cot and slowly stood.

"Excuse me?" blurted Hinata.

"I said you are correct... This is all your fault," he said bluntly. "Now get out of my way. I'm already late for training."

* * *

The next four days were torturous. When he was with his squad, Gai-sensei ran him ragged. When he was at home Hikaru spent all his time trying to find new and inventive ways of making his life a living hell.

The first day started out being merely difficult. The training wasn't too much different than the day before. The only difference was the incredible emptiness in his stomach. Again, Tenten sat next to him during their lunch break.

"You didn't bring a lunch today either?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"A true shinobi can will his mind over his body," he said with forced control.

Tenten pulled the lid off of her bento and started eating. She giggled at the long gurgle his stomach gave. "And how is that mind over matter thing working for you?" she teased.

It was probably the the hunger... or maybe the exhaustion, but his rage flared at her taunt. "I am training for the time when I will be away on a mission and not have time to eat," he snapped at her. "If you have nothing better to do than make snide comments, I would appreciate it if you sat somewhere else."

Tenten's eyebrows oscillated once, as an expression of surprise, quickly followed by an angry hurt look, crossed her face. "Fine then," she said getting up. "Just I thought maybe you'd like some company... You don't have to bite my head off."

* * *

When he returned to the compound in the early evening, he was met at the gates by Hikaru cradling his splinted fingers. Neji was promptly subjected to the punishment of his seal being activated until he passed out. He woke up to find the eager face of Hikaru staring down at him for a few seconds right before his seal was brutally triggered again, sending him back down into unconsciousness. This happened four more times.

The fifth time he opened his eyes, it was morning. He was ravenously hungry, which was no surprise, seeing as he had barely eaten anything the day before. When he got to the kitchens however, Neji found Hikaru seated on a high stool staring at the door with his head resting in his good hand. His friends were surrounding him staring at Neji and whispering.

"Hey there little bird! It's good to know that you're an early riser," he said cheerfully hopping off the stool. "We can get so much more accomplished before you run off and play ninja."

Neji forced himself to bow. "Of course Hyuga-san," he grated. "I will begin to assist you... the moment after I eat."

"You? Eat?" chuckled Hiraku with mock surprise. "Oh... I don't think Hiashi-sama said anything about me having to give you a meal break." The bigger boy stepped right up to Neji and stared down at him. "He only said that you were going to tend to my every need. So quit stalling, and get out in the courtyard."

Neji was led out to the large enclosure on the south side of the mansion. There the group of boys stood him up against the courtyard wall. "Hold this," said Hikaru bluntly, shoving the wooden lid to a rain barrel into Neji's abdomen.

Neji eyed Hikaru and the other boys as they formed up into a rough line about ten meters away. "What is this task that I am supposed to perform?" he asked calmly, refusing to show his anxiety.

Hikaru gave him a thoughtful look. "My friends and I were just saying how our extended stay here has dulled our shinobi skills somewhat. We all thought... who better to help us train than the great Neji Hyuga?" He pulled out a kunai and ran his thumb down the edge. "We're just going to be doing a little target practice... Oh, and try not to jump around too much," he said with a faint smile. "We wouldn't want to 'accidentally' cut you or anything."

* * *

By the time Neji finally made it to the training field, not only was he starving, but his eyes were throbbing with the strain of using his byakugan to help him dodge kunai for the past two hours.

He dragged his way through the entire training session. Gai-sensei did what he probably thought was his best to encourage him, saying things like: "Come on Neji! Get it together! Feel the power of youth burning through your veins!" As Neji hunched over, sucking wind, the look Gai-sensei gave him made it clear that his performance was far below his teacher's expectations.

Neji made it a point to apologize when Gai-sensei finally relented and let them break for lunch. "Please excuse my failings Gai-sensei... I was unable to sleep much last night."

"Are you ill Neji?" his teacher asked worriedly. "I could send you home if you..."

Neji vigorously shook his head. Home was the last place he wanted to be right now. "No... I shall recover after a bit of rest." If he went home he would be back in Hikaru's hands.

It was Tenten who saw through his bravado. "Are you absolutely sure you're okay?" she asked sitting down next to him. "You don't look so good."

"As I told Gai-sensei I will be fine," Neji said grouchily. "All I need is to rest... undisturbed."

Tenten shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said opening up her bento. As the scent of food wafted into his nostrils, Neji's stomach gave a very loud growl. "Let me guess," she said testily, "no lunch again. Do have some sort of phobia against eating in the middle of the day?"

"I didn't have the..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah.. Excuses, excuses." Tenten grabbed the lid to her bento and began piling rice, fish and vegetables onto it. She eyed the divided lunch to make sure it was more or less even and then slid the lid towards him. "Here," she said and resumed eating.

His stomach grumbled. Neji looked down at the lid and then up at the girl. For a moment he was at a loss for words. "Um... Tenten? Tradition dictates that..."

Tenten sighed explosively. "That crap again? Okay... Fine." She put down her lunch and abruptly stood and spread her arms wide. "Oh no!" she cried theatrically. "I have accidentally, and definitely not on purpose, misplaced half of my lunch! It has positively vanished! Wherever can it be! Whatever shall I do? I do hope at least that some poor, desperately hungry person will find it and get some nourishment out of it!" she promptly sat back down and resumed eating. "There," she said mid-chew, "problem solved. The food is 'lost'... Gone... It's not mine any more... so now you can eat, and not catch my 'tradition cooties'!"

Neji glanced over at a staring Lee and Gai-sensei. They looked at each other, shrugged, and almost in unison resumed doing push ups into their onigiri. Neji looked down at the food again, and then back up at Tenten. "Tenten, while I appreciate this gesture, I simply cannot..."

"You can and you will!" growled Tenten. "You've only been on my squad for only three days, and every day you just sit there, next to me, pretending not to notice my food and all the while your stomach is snarling like a dragon... I'm sick of it! Now eat!"

"But..."

"Dammit Neji!" she exploded. "You are going to eat that if I have to hold you down and feed you myself! Don't make me get married to your sorry butt just because you're too proud to take some charity!" She glared at him for what seemed like an eternity before she burst out laughing. "I can't believe I just said that," she said stuffing her mouth with rice. "You Hyuga are a weird bunch... Did you know that?"

She leaned over and gave the bento lid another nudge, so it slid even closer to him. "Well?" she said pointedly "Hurry up... If you don't, I might go over there and start licking your food... According to your precious clan traditions, you'll have to fall in love with me or something."

Tentatively Neji reached out and scooped up a small finger full of fish and rice. A tsunami of saliva filled his mouth. He popped the morsel in and blissfully began chewing.

He ended up bolting down the small meal faster than Tenten could finish hers. "Well that was slightly terrifying," said Tenten sardonically as she watched Neji scrape the lid of her bento with his nails. "I'm almost surprised you didn't try and see if the lid was edible."

Neji wasn't full by any means, but he was starting to feel slightly drowsy as his body rushed to restore his depleted reserves. "You do know," said Neji, more intent on licking his fingers than the words coming out of his mouth, "That if you were to... touch my meal with your lips that it would have the traditional connotation that you had romantic feelings for me... Not the other way around."

Tenten snorted. "Don't get your hopes up Hyuga," she said teasingly. "It'll take a lot more than a bento to win my heart."

Neji jumped, shocked at the exchange they'd just had. Did she just… flirt with him? Even worse… did she think he was flirting with her? He gave her a surreptitious glance, and felt relief that she appeared to be completely absorbed in putting her bento box away. He quickly muttered some polite thanks for the food and hurried back to where Gai-sensei was limbering up. _In the future,_ _I will have to be extra careful around this girl_, he thought to himself. _There is something about her manner that makes it far too easy to be careless... to be... improper._

* * *

The third day of Hikaru acting as his impromptu master, was much like the second. There were only two major differences. First, while he was being used again for morning kunai practice in the courtyard, Hinata-sama happened to look out of a second story window just as a thrown kunai went whistling past his ear. "Stop!" she yelled out in a shrill voice.

"Stop?" asked Hikaru, his tone brimming with curiosity. "Why?"

Hinata reddened as everyone's attention turned to her. "Um... because..."

"Your very own father said that during my visit, he," he pointed at Neji, "had to serve me my every whim!"

Hinata started to fidget nervously. "Yes... But... Um... You see, he's a member of my household," she said timidly.

Hikaru shot a glance back at Neji. He thought for a moment and then suddenly turned and bowed to Hinata. "You are quite right my lady... If your father was generous enough to loan me the use of one of your Branch family servants, it would be impolite of me to let him come to harm." Hikaru shook his head sadly. "Gods forbid I was to damage your property," he added giving Neji an evil grin.

Hikaru turned and motioned to his friends. "Put the kunai away gentlemen." He turned back to Hinata. "My humblest apologies Hinata-sama. We shall stop right now."

Neji was amazed. Hinata had actually done something useful. She nodded, smiling from the window and hurriedly scampered away.

Neji relaxed and lowered the barrel lid that they had been using as a target. He took a step away from the wall. "Where do you think you're going bird?" snapped Hiraku

"To join my squad for our morning training," stated Neji.

Hikaru grinned. "We promised Hinata-sama that we would stop throwing kunai at you, not that we would stop using you for target practice." He turned to one of his friends. "Go get the garbage bins from the kitchen."

* * *

Neji tried to clean himself off while running up to the training field, but there is not much you can do about the splatter from rotten vegetable matter. There were yellow-green stains caked into his hair and his clothing. His nose had long since shut down, but he knew he smelled ripe from the way Gai-sensei and Lee kept giving him incredulous looks and tried their very best to stay upwind.

Tenten however, just stared at his lack of lunch disapprovingly, sat down right next to him and began divvying up her lunch again. Neji cleared his throat gently. "Sorry about the... the smell," he said quietly.

Tenten nodded. "Yeah... well, compared to cleaning up the orphanage bathroom shared by thirty six kids the morning after 'two-day-old fish stew night'... this is nothing." She handed him the lid and started eating.

"Thank you," said Neji politely.

Tenten nodded at him. "You're welcome... So... Do you feel like telling me why you look and smell like you decided to roll in the vegetable discard pile at the end of a very warm summer market day?"

Neji paused in his eating. "Not particularly, no." Tenten stared at him long enough that Neji began to feel uncomfortable. "What is it?" he asked.

She looked down and started to pick thoughtfully at her food. "You know, when I was younger... back in the 'Konoha Group home for Children' I mean, there was this kid that all the bigger kids used to pick on. They used to do all this crazy mean stuff to him all the time and he'd just stand there and take it." She looked up at the sky, chewing thoughtfully. "I suppose he tried complaining to the grown ups in charge once or twice, but let's face it, they weren't the most tender loving bunch." Her eyes slowly drifted back down to Neji. "Whenever something obviously bad had happened to him, like getting a chocolate swirly or something, and you'd ask him what happened he'd always say he didn't want to talk about it."

Neji didn't look up. "Hmph," he grunted noncommittally, and decided it was time to delicately change the subject away from the inner working of the Hyuga clan. "I'm unfamiliar with a chocolate swirly. What is it?"

Tenten shook her head. "You're better off not knowing." She gestured at him with her free hand. "Can you at least tell me... this…" She waved vaguely at the stains on his clothes, "Isn't some sort of Hyuga tradition... is it?" Neji gave his head a very small shake. "Didn't think so." Tenten said curtly and continued eating.


	76. Chapter 26: On the Road: part 4

It was a real struggle for Neji to rise on the fourth morning . The constant exercise, the lack of sleep and the lack of food left him feeling as weak as a newborn kitten. He shuffled outside his door to find Hikaru and company all waiting for him. It took all the stubborn pride and anger he had left not to break down right there. "Hyuga-sama," he said as cordially as he could. "What are your commands for today?"

The group of older Hyuga boys surrounded him, pressing tightly on all sides. "You'll see," was all Hikaru enigmatically said.

They marched Neji outside and headed straight for the construction site out back. Hiashi-sama wanted a new small pavilion placed at the far end of the garden, but it was taking forever to be built. The structure right now consisted of little more than a bolted series of large beams forming the frame, and a huge pile of assorted lumber.

One he got closer he noticed the new addition to the construction site. A noose had been thrown over the top crossbeam.

Neji panicked. "No!" he yelled as the older boys seized his arms. He managed to knock two of them away before Hikaru wove the hand signs triggering the seal. Neji collapsed on the ground screaming. His last thought before blacking out was, _I wonder if I will ever wake up again?_

When he came to, the first thing he noticed was that he was being held up by at least two people. He was high enough that the tips of his toes could barely touch the ground. The second thing he realized was that both his arms were bound tightly behind him at the elbows, nullifying any chances he had of loosening the ropes and freeing himself. The third and final thing that his mind finally accepted was the rough hemp rope, snugly tugging on his neck.

Hikaru's face swam into view. "He's awake," he said bluntly. "You can let go of him now." Neji was released and there was a frantic scramble on his part to figure out how to hold himself upright. The noose around his neck slid about and grew uncomfortably tight, but it was just bearable.

"Are you still breathing little bird?" Hikaru asked gloating. "I hope so... This is the first time I've actually gotten to do this without my father's supervision." He started to slowly pace around Neji looking him up and down. "He uses this as a last resort to break the spirit of unruly Branch members. He says the hardest part of the trick is know how to go just far enough without actually damaging the body." He finished his circle and stood in front of Neji eyeing him critically. "I bet Hiashi-sama will thank me for improving your attitude." He leaned forward and whispered. "Maybe he'll thank me enough that he'll finally consider me as a possible match for his heir."

Neji opened his mouth to curse at him and found that while the rope left him enough room to breath, it was too tight for him to anything but croak. Hikaru snickered at him. "Don't try to talk. It only makes things worse... I can guess what you're going to ask... Why this? Well, to be perfectly honest it's for two reasons: First, you are really too much of a hassle to have around... You're making the rest of us look bad! We can't have some bird showing up us! This is the last ditch effort to see if you'll get the message. Be a good little bird Neji... Please, for your own sake!"

Hikaru paused and thought for a second. "The second reason is... well... We've gotten a bit tired of throwing stuff at you. Everyone thought it would be interesting to see how long you could dance for." He took a few steps to the corner beam and smirked at Neji. "Dance little bird!" he sang out cheerfully as he kicked the post.

The vibration that traveled along the rope nearly jerked him off the precarious balance he had on his toes. There was an excited whoop from the group of boys as Neji twisted wildly trying to keep himself from slipping and tightening the noose further. It quickly became a game, with the boys darting up and either giving the post a kick, or feigning a kick which, when Neji tried to brace himself for it, ended up being almost as bad as the real thing.

This was apparently highly amusing to them at first, but it grew dull after about half an hour. The day was beginning to heat up and Neji was already dripping with sweat from the anxiety and the constant exertion. The other boys one by one began to drop out until finally only Hikaru was left. Eventually after stepping up for the umpteenth time and giving the post a shove, even Hikaru looked... unsatisfied. Neji was expecting him to laugh, like he had every time before, but all he did was watch him swaying about with a disinterested look on his face.

"Hey... Hikaru-kun," called one of the other boys, "This is... getting kinda boring."

Hikaru shrugged. "It's necessary though... The little bird who puts on airs is getting his due... But you're right... I think we might be able to spice things up a bit." His eyes began to dart around the construction site looking for something that would 'liven things up'. "Hey!" he exclaimed with a grin, and headed off into the flower beds.

He returned dragging a large burlap sack "We're in luck!" he exclaimed. He paused and shot a snide glance at Neji. "Well, we're in luck," he said indicating himself and his friends. "You... not so much... You see birdie... I changed my mind. I think we will be throwing stuff at you after all.

He opened the sack. A small cloud of flies buzzed away followed by the clinging stink of manure. Hikaru reached in and pulled out a sticky brown ball. "Too bad for you," he said to Neji gloatingly. "It looks like one of you lazy Branchers only fertilized the garden halfway. "Everyone grab a turd," he ordered. "Let's see how well he can dodge now!"

There was silence as the other boys looked at each other. "Um... Hikaru? That's... poop," one of them volunteered.

"Yeah?" said Hikaru pointedly. "So?"

"Like... You're holding... crap… In you hand," the boy tried again.

"What? It's not like I'm going to run off and eat breakfast without washing up first now is it? Come on everyone grab a handful!"

There was a sudden attack of acute navel staring and sky gazing amongst the other three boys. "Oh for the God's sake!" exploded Hiraku. "You're all a bunch of wimps!" He wound up his arm and got ready to throw.

There was the hiss of shuriken through the air. The rope holding Neji up by his neck snapped, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground, milliseconds before the turd Hikaru was holding exploded in a fine shower of droplets.

"Alright you assholes!" shouted a familiar voice through the haze fogging his brain. "The first one who moves, breathes funny, or does that weird veiny eyeball trick gets a shuriken to the face. Let's see your pretty looks survive that!"

The boys froze. Neji heard booted feet trodding heavily along the garden path. Something fell at his side with a thump. He stared stupidly at the wrapped bento. "Hey Neji," said Tenten grimly. "I finally got sick of you mooching off of me and decided to make you your own lunch for a change. I asked some girl to deliver it to you, but she got all shy and giggly and said I should deliver it to you myself. She said I could find you in the back garden." She shifted her stance slightly. There was the whisper of steel on leather as she pulled out a kunai. "Your house is freakin huge! I wasn't sure I'd find you... But I did... and it looks like right in time too," she said, her voice dropping into a low growl.

There was a muffled giggle. "Oh this is too much," muttered Hikaru. "A mongaikan is in love with Neji Hyuga!"

"Hey! You'd better not be calling me names!" yelled Tenten. "I'm a fully qualified kunoichi I'll have you know!"

There was a snicker amongst the boys. "The mongaikan doesn't even know she's a mongaikan!" one of them snickered.

Hikaru laughed. "Really now Neji... didn't you teach your mongaikan anything?" He sighed and idly rubbed his nose, leaving a brown streak. Oblivious, he grinned at Tenten. "You're bringing him food, that means that on some level you and he have entered a relationship," he said very slowly and simply as if he were talking to an idiot. "That makes you his mongaikan. A mongaikan is a layperson... in the standard meaning that is true, however amongst the Hyuga it has the connotations of a someone who is not a Hyuga... an outsider... " He waved a vague hand at the bento. "No matter what sweet promises Neji has made, you will never be accepted by the clan... If you continue this relationship with him, the best you can hope for is to be a non-Hyuga mistress... a concubine." He paused and grinned evilly. "A whore."

"Very interesting... Tell me, does the Hyuga clan have some sort of special term for a goat-fucking douchebag who just wiped shit all over his own nose?" asked Tenten idly.

Hikaru went beet red as there was a snicker from one of his friends. "You shut up right now!" he snarled taking a threatening step forward.

"Hey!" Tenten yelled back, waving her kunai. "I said no moving!"

Hikaru chuckled evilly and took another step. "And what are you going to do about it.? You yourself said you were a kunoichi." He took another step forward. "Everyone knows that Kunoichi are only good for being Medical-nin or seduction missions... So... what's it going to be?" He was easily an arms length away from Tenten now. He stopped and eyed her thoughtfully. "You wouldn't dare to throw your little kunai at me... you can't afford to lose them. Given the state of your dress, I'm surprised you can even afford shinobi tools… Neji, exactly how much are you paying this mongaikan of yours?" He pulled himself up to his full height, put his hands on his hips and gave her a condescending grin. "Maybe if I offer to pay her more she'll be willing to use her seduction skills on me?"

Tenten's kick was blindingly fast. Hikaru made a high pitched keening sound and folded up, clutching his groin. As he lay there mewling, she booted him again in the ribs.

The other three boys lunged forward. There was the hiss of steel and yelps of pain. The boys stumbled to a halt clutching bleeding ears, fingers and toes. Tenten's fingers dipped down to her holster and her hands were once again a nest of sharp points. "Last warning assholes... I avoided all your vital points on purpose. I'm trying to nice here and give you idiots every chance I can! It's not going to be my fault if the next bunch ends up in your thick skulls!" The other three boys took one look at her face and bolted for the house.

Tenten watched them go. After awhile she reached down and pulled Neji up to his feet. "Seriously Neji... What the hell is the matter with your clan?" Her kunai came up and sawed through the ropes binding him.

Neji rubbed at his sore arms. "You had better leave before you cause any more trouble," he said flatly.

Tenten grunted. "You know... most normal people would say 'Golly gee Tenten, I'm really glad you came along to save my sorry butt!'"

Neji looked away from her eyes, but nodded. "Thank you. That was... helpful."

Tenten smirked. "Helpful? I saved the god damned day! This bonehead," she nudged the whimpering Hikaru again with her toe, "had you hanging by the neck! You could have died! Which reminds me... how the hell did those jerks get you trussed up like that without anybody else noticing?"

Neji sighed. "Actually, according to the clan head, they had every right to do this to me."

Tenten stared at him blankly. Slowly her face transformed into a grimace. "Please oh please, tell me this isn't another one of your clan's stupid traditions."

"No... This was not a tradition."

"Thank the Gods for that," muttered Tenten. "I'm getting pretty sick and tired of everyone thinking we're dating just because little old stupid me can't bear to see someone go hungry. I don't think I can stand getting caught up in another one."

Neji was torn. There was a long standing tradition that Hyuga matters had to be settled by Hyuga, outsiders were not allowed. On the other hand, the girl had completely and selflessly come to his aid. He did owe her some explanation. "This wasn't a tradition... It was however... something that I do have to suffer through. You see... it is my... I am..." Neji's voice drifted off as he saw the group of three adults leave the house and quickly start walking towards him. "Tenten," he said quietly. "I think you should leave... now." He made a small gesture to the approaching party.

She snorted. "Why? I didn't do anything wrong."

There was a wheeze from the ground that could have passed for a chuckle. "You're going to get it now mongaikan," hissed Hikaru. "That's both my father and his good friend, the Head of the Hyuga clan coming over here. You're going to be handed over to the ANBU for assaulting me for sure. My father is going to make sure that you..." Hikaru yelped and started to cry as Tenten kicked him in the groin again.

"Shut up shit face. If I'm going to go to jail for kicking you in the nuts once, then the way I see it, a few more kicks down there won't make matters much worse for me... now will it? You on the other hand..."

Hiashi-sama and company had started moving faster when they saw Tenten give Hikaru another kick. Neji could foresee very few positive outcomes for this situation. Both he and Tenten would probably end up in a significant amount of trouble... or it could be just him.

Neji strode boldly forward, stopping about three meters away from the Head family members. He bowed quickly. "Hyuga-sama," he said politely.

"What have you done to my son?" screamed a plump, red faced man Neji assumed was Hikaru's father. "I'll see you flayed alive you worthless piece of..."

His tirade stopped at a raised hand from Hiashi. "Neji," he said coldly. "It appears that Hikaru-kun has been assaulted... again. Have you anything to say for yourself?"

Neji resisted every urge not to look back at Tenten. He would be punished, no doubt about that… But his punishment would come from the within the clan… To be arrested by the ANBU would mean that she would be declared a criminal… her career as a kunoichi would be over. "It was my doing Hiashi-sama… But sir, there were circumstances..."

"Do not waste my time with excuses Neji." His uncle's lip twitched in disgust. "You were given a simple instruction by my eldest daughter... were you not? Your punishment was to accept any task given to you by Hikaru, and to do it humbly and with diligence. Is this what you have done?"

"No Hiashi-sama... but..."

"There are no buts Neji," said Hiashi sternly. "I gave you the opportunity to regain your honor, and you threw it in my face. I had hoped to avoid this again." He barely saw Hiashi-sama's hands flicker before scorching inferno of throbbing agony ignited behind his eyes. He grabbed his head in both hands and frantically clawed at his forehead like an animal. The pain was far sharper than anything he had experienced so far. Neji lost all rationality in the desire to free himself from the torment. His hi-ate headband was yanked away, as were the wraps he used to further hide the caged bird seal. Flashes of light were bursting in his vision and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. His ankles grew rubery and he teetered.

"Neji!" squealed Tenten. She sprinted up behind him and caught him before he could fall. As he flopped about with pain, he heard slow measured footsteps coming closer on the garden's gravel path. Tenten stiffened and took in a deep breath. "You stay away from him you bastard!" she screamed. He felt one of her arms jerk as she launched her kunai.

The pain in his head abruptly ceased. He groggily lifted his head from her arms and beheld Hiashi-sama, holding her flung blade centimeters away from his left eye. He stared at the pair of them with a curious expression.

"Who are you and what are you doing on Hyuga property?" he asked coldly. "How dare you interfere with the dealings of the Hyuga clan."

"Neji is my teammate!" yelled Tenten. "But even if he wasn't, I'd still stand up for him. From what I've seen... he's the only one out of all you that isn't a complete asshole."

"You dare insult the noble Hyuga clan?" roared Hikaru's father. He took a wadling step forward.

Another kunai appeared in Tenten's hand. "I'll do more than insult you if come any closer to Neji, fatso!"

With a deft move Hiashi stepped in between them hands upraised. He froze Hikaru's father with a glance and then turned to Tenten. "Child," he said slowly as if talking to someone who is mentally deficient, "you are obviously quite upset... It would be best if you went about your way."

"And leave him alone with you jerks? I don't think so! You jackasses have been starving him, beating him, dumping garbage on him, throwing crap at him," Tenten paused for a breath and gestured sharply at the rope dangling from the trellis behind her, "hanging him by the neck, and when he manages to get free, you try to kill him with some jutsu... and you wonder why I feel the need to stop all this? What the hell kind of sadistic freak are you?" Tenten cried incredulously holding her kunai out in front of her in an attempt to hold the adults at bay

Hiashi Hyuga did something Neji had never seen before. He blinked. "Neji?" he asked after a moment in a detached voice. "Does this girl speak the truth?"

She didn't give him the chance to answer. "Why the hell wouldn't I?" Tenten jutted out her chin. "Do you think I could make any of this crap up? This slimy creep over here," she pointed at Hikaru, "was getting all suggestive asking me to use a seduction jutsu on him. Right before I kicked him in the balls!"

"Don't listen to her!" yelled Hikaru, awkwardly pushing himself up to a seated position. "She's the one that attacked me and my friends! She wants to be Neji's mongaikan!"

There was a hiss and a thump. Hikaru yelped and scrambled back from the kunai that appeared in the ground between his thighs. "Shut your mouth. If you make me come over there again numb-nuts, your grandkids are going to regret it!" snapped Tenten.

"Neji?" prompted Hiashi, ignoring the exchange.

Neji nodded once. "I did make a honest attempt to serve Hikaru-san, Hiashi-sama…"

There was a pause. "And?" asked the Head of the Hyuga clan.

"Think carefully on your answer... little bird," Hikaru's father muttered angrily. He was clearly ordering Neji to keep his mouth shut.

He was in enough trouble already for inadvertently involving an outsider in Hyuga affairs. Upsetting the Head family further would be a terrible idea at this point. They would very definitely make his life a living hell … but he definitely owed it to her. " Sir… It happened exactly as Tenten said." Neji tried not to glance at the girl beside him. "I was undertaking the… task that Hikaru-sama had given me... hanging by my neck from the unfinished gazebo… When my teammate happened by to fetch me for training this morning. She grew concerned and cut me down. During which Hikaru made several improper references to Tenten-san." He coughed. "After which, Tenten-san took it upon herself to remonstrate his words and correct his errors."

"I see," said his uncle. There was a long thoughtful pause. "The sun is getting higher in the sky and I believe your sensei would not want the pair of you to be late." stated Hiashi matter of factly. "I would suggest you hurry along to the training grounds."

Neji nodded once, relieved that he was being dismissed. "Thank you Hyuga -sama," he said with a bow.

"What... that's it?" Tenten grumbled angrily. "You're just going to leave?"

Neji deftly rolled the wraps around his forehead and re-tied his headband. "Yes...Come Tenten," he said and jogged for the main gate.

"That ass-monkey was treating you like a toy and you're just going to walk away?" she asked incredulously, jogging beside him. Thankfully she had the good sense to hold back her commentary until they were out of earshot.

Neji was so tempted to ignore her question, but she did just risk a lot on his behalf. "That 'ass-monkey' is Hiashi-sama, the Head of my Clan. He will admonish Hikaru, but not in our presence. It's not done to dress down Head family members in front of 'lesser people'... Look… It's best we just go."

They exited the main gate and started a little ways down the street. "Like hell we will!" grinned Tenten. She ran around to the back wall of the compound.

"Where are you going?" yelped Neji, chasing after her.

"This 'lesser person' wants to hear that fat douchebag get what's coming to him!" she said gleefully as she ran. They stopped right behind the garden wall, where she cupped a hand behind her ear and theatrically mimed listening to a conversation.

"... obviously coddling the boy. I have never seen any Branch member that acted so unruly to his betters! At any rate, I fail to see how any of this is an issue Hiashi-sama," said the plump Hyuga, his voice echoing over the garden wall. "You asked my son to punish the bird and punish him he did." The rotund man said haughtily. "It's no different than what goes on in my mother's household."

There was a chilly pause. "I left instructions that Neji was to learn humility and discipline by serving your son. I gave permission for him to be chastised, not tortured. I am most displeased by this." Neji gave her a tug to pull her away, but Tenten refused to budge.

"Come now Hiashi... He's just a bird, a member of the branch family. He can't be of that great import... Or can he?" There was a note of quiet realization in the fat man's voice. "Perhaps the great Hiashi Hyuga still has a soft spot for his nephew? I wonder how the clan will react to that bit of news?"

The contempt was plain in Hiashi's voice. "Neji is of the Branch family, as was his father before him... They were both bonded to me with the caged bird seal and receive no special treatment. The fact that my brother carried out the order to commit seppuku for the good of the clan and the village is proof of that." Tenten whirled around and stared at Neji wide eyed. Neji looked down at his feet. "With his father gone, Neji's destiny is tied to my house. His fate belongs to me. He is a servant... Expendable flesh, as your charming mother would no doubt refer to him... nothing more." Tenten reached out for Neji, but he quickly stepped away. "I will deal with Neji myself...I think it would be best if your son returned back home," ordered Hiashi.

There was a whisper of cloth as Hikaru's father reached out and grabbed Hiashi's sleeve. "If you force him to leave... If you are thinking about ignoring that part of the offered contract... Then this whole negotiation is off."

Hiashi shook away from his grasp. "If your son and three of his friends can be bested by a single clanless genin girl, then I would be doing my daughter a great shame by entertaining the very thought of him as a son-in-law," he called as he walked back to the house. "Ko! Our guests are leaving, we need to prepare for their departure!"

"My mother will hear of this Hiashi!" yelled the fat man. "She will take this as a snub of the highest order!"

Hiashi paused. His voice was far away. "Then tell Junko-sama that if she expects me to respect her sons, then she must instruct them better in the ways of honorable men." The fat man cursed and stalked away, his feet crunching on the gravel.

"That's... Um... They were talking about something else. Right?" Tenten asked nervously.

Neji felt a burning shame, but forced himself to answer. The girl already knew and saw much of how the Hyuga clan operates. He slowly shook his head. "No. I was sealed into the Branch family at age four. The seal on my forehead both protects my byakugan from being taken from me, and provides a means of... control. My father, Hiashi-sama's twin brother, was ordered to kill himself to produce a convincing body double for the Head of the Clan."

Tenten stared at him for a long time. "Holy shit Neji," she finally whispered. "Why the hells are you still here with these jerks? Why haven't you run away?"

Neji looked up. There was a small flock of sparrows flying overhead. "I am bound by clan tradition and clan honor." He shrugged away her look of incredulity. "It is my greatest pain, and at the same time it is my destiny... I wouldn't... I can't expect someone who... isn't a Hyuga to understand."

Tenten gave him a worried stare. "Yeah… I guess not..." And with that she turned and started to walk away. Neji forced away the hurt and nodded once to himself knowingly. He was used to being alone... there was some part of him that always expected things to be that way. It was nice while it lasted, but he was sure that the pangs he felt at Tenten's withdrawal would fade in time.

"I have only one request," Neji asked her back quietly. "Please do not mention anything that you have heard or seen today to anyone. It would be... awkward."

"I won't tell." Neji started to leave as well, he decided he would take a different route to the training grounds… make things less awkward.. To his surprise, she forcefully held out the bento she made him, blocking his exit. "Hey Neji? I may not be able to understand... But if you ever... you know... need someone to talk to, or vent at or something..."

It was a good thing she wasn't looking his way, otherwise she would have seen his mouth drop open in surprise. He recovered, bowed and graciously took the wrapped box. "Thank you Tenten."

"Yeah, well... just make sure everyone knows I only made it for you because I got sick of you eating half of my lunch day after day... okay? Gods… That mongaikan thing..." She shuddered.

He nodded again. "Certainly."

She looked cagily up the street and started walking in the direction of the training grounds. "We'd better hurry. If we're late Gai-sensei will probably make us do a hundred extra squats or something."

"Tenten-san!... One moment please," Neji called. She stopped and looked at him expectantly. " I was wondering if you might be willing to do some... extra training with me this afternoon... If we have the time?"

Her smile warmed him. "Sure Neji. What did you want to train?"

Neji spoke without hesitation. "Your specialty of course… Shuriken and kunai."


	77. Chapter 26: On the Road: part 5

Neji raised his head up from the rough bark of the tree, and stared back to the road where Honan Hyuga was sitting on his soft cushions, in his far too plush coach impatiently stuffing delicacies in his mouth, no doubt. Neji despised the man. Tenten didn't trust the former pirate. He was everything a Hyuga shouldn't be. And yet despite all his character's failings... Honan had never once criticized 'Neji's choice'.

'Neji's choice.' You could hear the apostrophes dropping around the phrase like tongs used to handle something unpleasant, whenever it was uttered by certain Hyuga elders. You could hear the disappointment... the disgust in their voices that this paragon of Hyuga excellence, the genius of the clan, would be allowed to throw away all that potential, all those generations of good breeding... all for a mongaikan.

Neji remembered the exact moment he made his choice.

* * *

He had opened his eyes to find himself between starched white sheets, staring up at the bright, fluorescent lights of Konoha hospital. This wasn't the first time he had woken up to a sight like this. He knew it well enough.

Then there was the quiet rhythmic rasp off to his right, He turned and saw something new. Slumped forward in her chair, leaning on the hospital bed, her arms a pillow for her head, was Tenten, snoring softly.

She was wearing hospital issued scrubs and a robe. Her face was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was still done up in her trademark buns, but they were beginning to lose their tight shape, they way they always did when they were on an extended mission, and she hadn't had the chance to re-braid them in a while.

She paused mid snore as a loose strand slid across her forehead and landed against her nose, causing it to twitch. Slowly Neji reached out with his right hand and brushed it away.

Tenten's eyelids fluttered and then flicked open. She stared at him dumbly. "Um... Hello," Neji croaked, his throat painfully dry.

She launched herself up with a very un-Tenten like squeal, "Neji!" and threw her arms around him.

At his yelp of pain, she promptly let go and backed away spouting profuse apologies. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, I completely forgot! I'm so sorry!"

Neji nodded weakly "It's alright… I'll live." He paused, feeling her wide joyful smile slowly, infectiously spreading to his own face. "I take it we won the war?"

Tenten nodded, turned away and immediately started filling him in on all the things that had happened since he had thrown himself in front of Hinata who was in turn trying to take a blow for Naruto. Neji very pointedly ignored the fact that Tenten was constantly wiping at her eyes. She hated to cry in front of people. He heard how she had thrown his mortally wounded body over her shoulders and sprinted as fast as she could towards the rear medical area, only to meet Sakura Haruno rushing to the front lines. Sakura had somehow managed to restart his heart and keep it beating long enough for Naruto to overcome his shock and give everyone their own version of the Nine tails chakra cloak. The medical-nin then took the chakra from that cloak and blasted two thirds of it through his chakra circulatory system.

It was crude. It was wasteful. But it kept him alive until he reached the rearward medical unit where his real treatment could begin. Apparently he had spent a week in a medically induced coma as a team of trauma specialists rebuilt his internal organs, and then a further week unconscious.

Neji waited until she turned back around, eyes dry, before he asked his next question. "So... I notice that... while you are better dressed than I," he nodded downward, gesturing with his chin at the flimsy hospital gown that barely covered the drainage tubes snaking in and out of his chest, "You are still dressed like a patient here... Were you injured?"

Tenten smiled at him. For a moment all the pain faded away and all that existed for him was her face. He knew right then in the core of his soul that he wanted every morning to start this way... with her smiling face.

She gave a small, laugh brimming with relief and shook her head. "Nothing like you... I only suffered some chakra burn out from the battle with Sasuke."

He tried to listen to Tenten's story of how Sasuke had shown up right as the Ten tails and the masked Madara had been defeated. He understood the Uchiha had then attacked the Allied Shinobi force. Neji tried to pay attention to Tenten's enthusiastic description of some amazing 'new weapon' that she had found on the battlefield, and that she had used to help drive Sasuke away.

He really tried to listen, but his body was demanding sleep and he couldn't quite keep his eyes open. The last thing he remembered before drifting off, was the warmth of her hand on his and a whisper of "Go to sleep Neji."

He felt himself smile, and did as she asked.

* * *

Even though he knew what he wanted, it took him such a long time to build up the audacity to act. In the hospital Neji had plenty of time to think... and he found himself spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about Tenten. The way her eyes sparkled when she spoke to him. The way he always was comforted, just knowing she was nearby. It was Tenten, more than anyone else, who had always been there for him. In his darkest moments growing up, when he was so full of hatred and resentment and despair, despising and looking down on everyone he came into contact with, she still remained alongside him... supporting him. She was a comrade that had changed into a trusted friend without him even noticing... and now, after all this time Neji had just begun to seriously wonder to himself... what life would be like if they became something more.

Once, while changing his dressings on her rounds, Sakura offhandedly asked him if Tenten was going to be coming by today as well. "I don't know... I didn't ask her to come," had been his embarrassed reply. "She has been to see me these past three days already... I'm sure she wouldn't want others to get the erroneous idea that we were engaging in... something inappropriate."

Sakura laughed and told him that while he lay in his medically induced coma, Tenten had sat by his side every day in the ICU. "It got to the point that the ICU ward's nurses station knew it was 10AM because Tenten-chan is walking down the hall." She smiled and tucked him back in. "I don't think she's worried about what anyone else thinks."

Tenten visited him constantly in the hospital while he went through his slow recovery. She brought him homemade bentos, joked with him, relayed the latest idiocy that Gai-sensei and Lee had gotten themselves into. She always stayed late, well past visiting hours were over. Even with all her kindness, even with all of the attention she was lavishing on him, it still seemed the most reckless thing in the world to ask her to go to the Spring festival with him... just him this time… not as part of a team.

Neji still remembered their first kiss under the fireworks at the festival. After that moment it seemed all their training sessions would degenerate into steamy, make out sessions. On the one hand it was very embarrassing, this lack of control was highly capricious... on the other hand, as they rolled in the tall grass, Neji kissing her neck while Tenten buried her hands in his hair, electricity crackling along his fingertips as they fumbled under her shirt and caressed her bare skin, all of his pent up passion coursing hot through his veins and pooling in his brain, he couldn't think of a single reason why this shouldn't have happened sooner.

There were so many memories... The way he dogged Hiashi-sama for months, trying to corner his Uncle, so he could make a formal declaration of his intentions to court the clanless orphan kunoichi. The Head of the Hyuga clan managing to avoid him at every turn.

Tenten lying unconscious in his arms, suffering once again from chakra exhaustion. Konoha had been invaded and the walls of the Hyuga compound were being overrun. The vaunted Hyuga shinobi of the Head family had turned tail and fled, leaving him, Lee and Tenten as the sole defenders of the main gate. She had over used the bashosen in a frantic attempt to protect his clan… to protect him.

The night before that desperate attempt to storm Kabuto Yakushi's mountain, when she pulled him into her tent, insisting that they make love... here... now... for the first time, because there were no guarantees that they would come out of this alive... and she wanted no regrets.

There was that small tea house they stopped in on the way back from a mission, where he finally worked up his courage... tentatively, nervously he leaned forward and offered her one of his dango. Tenten didn't say a word for the longest time, she just sat there studying the dumpling. Finally she cleared her throat, "Um... Neji? I hate to have to ask this... but are you.. you know... being traditional?" she asked with raised eyebrows. There was a glisten in her eyes when Neji nodded the affirmative. Tenten's knee rubbed up against his as she kissed one of her own dango, and popped it into his mouth.

There was that time she stood proudly at the front of the Hyuga Clan meeting, dressed in all the borrowed finery Hinata and a gleeful Hanabi could convince her to wear. Tenten ignored the frowns and the whispering as Hiashi-sama praised her virtues as a welcome addition to the clan... Neji was listening to none of it. For him, everything else in the meeting hall just seemed to fade away. All he could do was stare into her eyes and smile.

He had a flash of Tenten looking up at him. Her face was wan and her bangs were plastered to her forehead with sweat. But she still gave him that dazzling smile as she clutched the wailing bundle of their daughter her arms. "She's so beautiful, Neji," Tenten whispered, "You name her... I can't think of a name wonderful enough to suit her."

There was the way she looked in the reflection of the ICU window, quietly watching over their son in the aftermath of the Kurokaze attack. Neji had to leave her to assist with the clearing out of the enemy. Tenten had merely nodded and bid him farewell, once again refusing to let him see her tears. He heard later about how she not only cared for Hizashi, but also helped to take care of Kiba's daughter as well. She was such an amazing woman. So strong and caring and gentle.

Surely she deserved better than the life he had provided to her.

* * *

Their problems started with Hizashi's... injury, the attack that led to his blindness. Both he and Tenten were getting on in years. It was past time for them to give up on the high intensity, hazardous missions they were accustomed to. Only... they couldn't afford to.

Specialists, hospital stays, experimental treatments, nothing worked, and they all had their price. The special tutors, the occupational therapists, the specialized ninjutsu trainers, all came with their promises and their lesson plans and their vast collection of bills.

Six months after the Kurokaze attack, Neji was off on a fairly routine bodyguard mission escorting the Daimyo of the Land of Grass when there was an assassination attempt. The Daimyo was fine, but Neji was in the hospital for three months with a gut wound. That added expense had almost put them under. Neji had to do the unthinkable. He had to ask for financial help.

Tenten was smiling and cheerful when they left the house that morning. They were going for a quick stroll about town, visiting the various Hyuga moneylenders, asking about loans. It wasn't hard for them to secure a meeting. Everyone was willing to associate with Neji Hyuga... legendary genius, hero, veteran, cousin to the Head of the Hyuga clan, friend to the Hokage. The lenders all complimented him, remarked on the remarkable skill that Hishyoni had, expressed sympathy for what had happened to Hizashi. They were all smiles and politeness, right up until Neji stated the purpose for his visit.

The first one flat out refused, saying he simply couldn't make a loan of that amount, right now at this time. The second offered a loan for three quarters the amount needed but at an interest rate thrice what was expected. The third refused to do business with him until Tenten left the room. "It's not fit to hold a negotiation between Hyuga when outsiders are present," was his excuse. It quickly became clear that he was less interested in discussing the loan than using Neji to exert influence on Hinata on some upcoming clan decision. When Neji tried to explain that his cousin only occasionally consulted him on matters, and then usually made up her own mind, the terms of the loan suddenly grew much more punishing.

"It can't be helped Neji," Tenten said to him later that evening. The pair of them were relaxing in the garden after they had put their children to bed. "We're just going to have to find some way to get through this without any outside help." Neji sighed and stared up at the sky. That was easy for her to say, Tenten had been orphaned since the day the Nine tailed fox had attacked the village. She had been making do without any outside help for most of her life. Her whole life she had done without the trappings of status. She could care less about how she was viewed by others. Although he hid it well, this would never be the case with Neji. Every time something like this happened, every time his clan disappointed him, it was a crushing act of betrayal. Neji was raised as a member of the Hyuga branch family. He had been taught from a young age to obey the Head family, to listen to the Head family, and in return the Head family would care for you.

On some level, Neji hated it. He hated that at the center of his being was this little voice, constantly nagging him to support the clan. At that moment he resented nothing more than his sense of duty to a clan that constantly asked so much of him, but never seemed to give back what he was owed.

"I can't bear it." Tenten looked up as Neji whispered. "I can't bear to see you and Hizashi and Hishyoni lose what we have."

Tenten smiled and nudged him. "It wouldn't kill us to move to a smaller house you know."

Neji made the smallest shake of his head. "No... It would be worse. We would have lost face and prestige within the Hyuga clan."

Tenten scoffed. "No offense Neji, but if we never get invited to another clan meeting or have to go to some stupid function... I will dance for joy."

Neji absentmindedly stroked her cheek with one hand. "It's much worse than that. We will lose the clan payments, the rights to hold clan lands, if we ever have to make deals with any Hyuga contractors we will get less favorable terms... In the long run losing face may cost us much much more than any gains we will make by moving." He looked down at her and shrugged. "It is just the way my clan works."

Tenten gave him a skeptical look, "You Hyuga and your traditions," she murmured snuggling closer. "The clan may work that way... But I bet your family doesn't. Why don't you go talk to Hinata and see if she can help us?"

Neji vehemently shook his head. "No. I could never take advantage of my relationship with Hinata in that way."

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And I suppose that Naruto and Hinata were taking advantage of their relationship with you when you saved them during the fourth war?" She tried to keep the tone of her voice light, but Neji could hear the hidden undercurrent of her bitterness. He had almost died (Or had died, depending on whether one wanted to ask Sakura Uchiha for her professional medical opinion… after all his heart had stopped…) for their sake. She didn't quite understand the reluctance on his part to ask them for help.

"That was different," Neji said quietly. "It was my duty to protect them."

Tenten lifted herself up and and kissed his lips gently. "And as the Hokage and Head of your clan… don't they have a duty to protect you as well? This is Naruto and Hinata we're talking about… Talk to them Neji. If this Clan opinion stuff is as important as you say it is…"

"I have my dignity Tenten. I will not beg."

She sighed and clambered over into his lap so that she could stare down at him. "If I know Hinata, that's the last thing she'll want… If you can't talk to her for your own sake… then do it for Hishyoni and Hizashi's… do it for me."

He swallowed his pride and went to see Hinata next morning. She was happy to see him as always, "Neji-onisan!" she called out. "Please come in!" The wounds she had received during the Kurokaze attack had healed well, you could hardly notice any stiffness when she walked at all. She was still pale and had bags under her eyes, but whether that was from the injuries or her giving birth to Sasuko, Neji couldn't tell.

Hinata dismissed his apologies for disturbing her and sat him down at the kitchen table. "It has been far too long since I've seen you," she said, pouring him some tea. "I keep meaning to drop by to have a chat, but Sasuko..." she sighed. "He's up every two hours like clockwork, screaming to be fed." Hinata shook her head and her hair rustled. "How are you? How is Hizashi's training coming along?"

"My family is... mostly well, Hyuga-sama," said Neji hesitantly. "I am honored that you would ask after them."

Hinata sighed. "Please Neji-onisan, he is your son… my nephew... there is no need for such formalities… Besides, any minute now I'll have to run off to change a diaper or feed Sasuko. This is an unofficial visit. You are just stopping by for a cup of tea and a chat."

Neji took a deep breath. "Actually, Hyuga-sama I came to ask for your assistance."

Hinata's face creased with a thoughtful frown as Neji told her all that had happened. Unlike Tenten she understood all of the complexities that came with the Hyuga name. "I see," she murmured. "The charming members of our clan have surprisingly decided that you are a high risk for a loan, and of course you are unable to take action for fear of losing face to the clan."

Neji kept his face still, but his eyes glanced away. "I never expected that there would still be this much resentment towards me. I know that my marriage to Tenten wasn't widely viewed as popular but..."

"Resentment towards you, dear cousin, has nothing to do with it," spat Hinata. "The cowards in our family are just trying to avoid showing me too much support."

"I don't understand."

Hinata sighed. "With all the difficulties that you have been through recently, I couldn't bear to burden you with my own." She glanced up at him shyly. "The recent attack has weakened both Naruto as the Hokage, and my position as the Head of the Clan. There have been rumors that Naruto is no longer fit to lead the village and that I am better suited to being a fulltime housewife." She pressed her teacup to her lips. "Someone is very subtly making a grab for power. No doubt some in the Clan have already begun picking sides, the others are just trying to keep their head down until the dust settles."

Neji leaned forward very slightly in his chair. "How can I help you Hyuga-sama?" he asked, an eager note in his voice.

Hinata gave him a genuine smile. "Thank you Neji. I can't tell you how glad it makes me to know that I can always count on you." She put down her teacup. "Right now, however, I need you to do nothing. I'm going to try to negotiate with the parties, find out what their demands are, and if they are worthy, put them into action, or if not use them to negotiate for something else that we need." Hinata finished her tea and sighed wearily. "There are times Neji, when I can feel this clan sucking the life out of me. Sometimes I wish..."

She was interrupted by an ear splitting wail. Hinata winced and slowly stood up. "Apparently Sasuko is awake again."

Neji stood as well. "I'll leave then so you can attend to his needs."

HInata shook her head. "Nonsense, you've been around infants before. Come with me, at the very least it will give us a chance to chat more about how to deal with your situation."

Neji waited outside Sasuko's room staring stoically at the wall as Hinata comforted Sasuko, changed him, and started breastfeeding. "Unfortunately, with the current situation in clan politics, I cannot afford to intercede on your behalf... But that doesn't mean that Naruto and I couldn't give you the money you need."

Even though she couldn't see him, Neji still shook his head. "I refuse to accept charity."

Hinata laughed. "Proud as ever. Well I'm quite sure that after all you have done for us, Naruto would find offering terms on a loan to you to be reprehensible." There was a pause and Sasuko made a mewing cry. "How would Tenten feel about accepting field missions again?"

"She is still quite capable, although neither of us are what we once were." Neji shifted uncomfortably. "To be honest Hinata-sama we have been trying to avoid combat missions, doubly so since my injuries."

"Well that is good," said Hinata with a pleased note in her voice. "Naruto was complaining to me the other day about how the medical supply convoys are getting ambushed with alarming frequency. He was asking me if I thought contacting Honan Hyuga about arranging an overseas shipping route would be a good idea. I told him that Honan charges high rates and I would be surprised if any less than a quarter of the cargo didn't mysteriously disappear along the way... I was just thinking that a small team of shinobi would be a much more difficult target for bandits than a long wagon train." Hinata stepped out of the room, bouncing a happy Sasuko in her arms. "I'm sure the pay would be much higher than for a typical C-rank mission, this being a special field assignment and all. Do you think that Tenten might be interested?"

Neji squirmed, but nodded. Tenten would be pleased. He could almost hear her now. 'See Neji? I told you we could handle it on our own!'

"I am quite sure she could handle it. She once sealed away a whole sailing vessel." Neji followed Hinata as she carried her son down the hallway. "Hinata-sama, I must thank you for this... suggestion, but I'm not sure that I can..."

Hinata turned to face him "Oni-san... Please... just accept our help. Neither the Hokage or I will think any less of you for doing so. How many times have I relied on you over the years?" Sasuko waved his tiny fists and let out a short, high pitched cry. Hinata tossed him over one shoulder and began vigorously patting him on the back. "Consider this the first repayment of our debt to you."

Neji lowered his head. "If anything, I am the one who should be in your debt... "

Hinata ignored him. "Your loyalty is a shining example to all shinobi, and loyalty should always be rewarded, It's one of the few points that Father and I agree on wholeheartedly." She smiled dreamily. "Who knows, maybe if the reward is impressive enough, it will convince those fools in our clan to act honorably once in a great while, as opposed to being cowardly, greedy, self centered idiots." She shook her head and got a faraway look in her eyes. "There are times Neji, that I really despise being the Head of the Clan." Hinata giggled quickly. "Please don't tell Naruto I said that. He complains so much these days about being the Hokage. I'd hate for him to think that he was rubbing off on me."

Neji smiled and bowed quickly. "I understand Hinata-sama."

"Now let's see, we were thinking about a position for you. It would have to be something that you could preferably do in your home, to be near Hizashi." Hinata paused and smiled. "Hishyota graduates from the academy at the end of the following year. What would your answer be if we asked to retain you to give her private Jukken lessons? You could hold them at your own house, Hizashi could call on you if he needs you, and you could hold them at times of your choosing." She smiled. "You might just have even more students asking for training if word gets around you are teaching the Head of the Clan's daughter."

Neji hesitated before answering. "If that is your command, then..."

Hinata sighed. "It's not a command, I'm simply asking my dear cousin if he is interested in training my eldest daughter in the art of juken." Sasuko let out a loud, wet sounding burp, and then cooed happily. Hinata made a face. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better, little one. Unfortunately, now I need to change my top." She shuddered, and then laughed.

"What is so funny?" asked Neji.

"Oh I was just wishing that I could pat the whole clan on the back hard enough to let them burp up what is ailing them." Hinata bounced Sasuko and made a silly face at him. "It's too bad your mommy can't do that... isn't it? Yes it is!"

* * *

Hinata's ideas had worked for the last few years... somewhat. The money coming in almost equaled what he and Tenten could earn by taking frequent higher ranked missions. Tenten was away for at least one week every month, which wasn't ideal, but it was almost made up for by the fact that Neji could now work out of his own home.

The major downside was the rumors. He'd heard them bandied about at various clan meetings, he'd seen the dark looks and the pointed fingers, but the last straw had been early this morning, at his very own front gate, when Honan Hyuga had thrown them in his face. Neji had agreed with Honan on all of his points, except the part about Hinata needing to be replaced. "She is managing just fine on her own," Neji had insisted. "I have every confidence that she will be able to achieve her goals of reuniting the Head and the Branch families."

Honan had scoffed. "Maybe if she had five lifetimes to achieve it. At the rate it's taking her, your great-grandchildren will be in the grave before we see the Branch families accepted in the same way as those of the Head." He rubbed his chin and eyed Neji thoughtfully. "I must admit Neji-san, if I didn't know you personally to be such an honorable man... I would have to start believing the rumors."

Neji stiffened. "And which rumors would these be?"

Honan reached across the gate and gently prodded him with one fat finger. "Oh come now... I'm sure that you've heard them too." Honan's jolly grin melted away. "Your loyalty has been bought by the Head family. Both you and your wife have a very nice income, all thanks to your cousin." The finger jabbed him again in the chest. "There are those in the branch family who looked up to you," Honan growled. "You were one of the first one of us to take a stand against the traditions that held us down. You made quite the name for yourself as the field commander for the Hyuga in the fourth Shinobi war. You boldly flaunted the wishes of the Head family by actively courting and then marrying an outsider." Honan dropped his finger and gave Neji a disgusted look. "If you can't be convinced that the branch families have waited long enough, that we deserve equality in more than name only, if the great and noble Neji Hyuga can turn away from his brothers and sisters in need all in exchange for a handful of gold, then we might as well go back to branding ourselves with the caged bird seal."

That last comment of Honan's sparked a deep seated resentment that Neji had long since thought he'd buried. While he might have tempered his anger against certain member of the Head family, the vast majority did seem entirely too eager to maintain the status quo.

_I am only here to hear out this plan of Honan's,_ Neji had repeatedly told himself as Honan's wheelhouse ran through the streets of Konoha, leaving his house and heading to make a brief stop at the Hokage's compound. _I have made no commitments. I have sworn no oaths. Just listening to what another has to say is not anything dishonorable. And if I hear of any threat to Hinata-sama, I will report my findings to her at once._ The very notion that he would even contemplate anything else was insulting!... He was after all, still a Hyuga and sworn to protect the Head of the Clan...

But if there was no threat? What if this was just an honest peaceful voicing of a need for change? What if there really were scores of Branch families all looking up to him, imploring him to lead them… If that were the case, as Honan was implying, what would he do then?

As the Head of the Clan, he wouldn't have to worry about finances. As the Head of the Clan, he wouldn't have to worry about losing face in front of the clan, after all he would be the face of the clan. As the clan head, he could easily get the help that Hizashi needed, he could spend more time with Hishyoni, turn her away from this path of anger and resentment that she was set upon. As the head of the Clan, he could give Tenten the life that a lovely woman like her deserved, something far above this current course of hardship and pain he was dragging her back down into now.

Besides, hadn't Hinata herself complained to his face about the stress that came with being the Head of the clan? By her own admission wasn't she just going to continue her own current slow pace of negotiation? By her own admission didn't she wish that someone would come along and jostle the clan enough to get all of its pain and misery out in one go?

This morning his path had seemed so clear as he said his goodbyes to Naruto and Sasuko and walked up the steps of the carriage. Talking to Naruto had built on the uncertainty and unrest in his mind. He sat down on the too soft cushions across from Honan Hyuga, determined that he could never betray Hinata-sama's trust in the shadows like this. Neji had decided that he would stay just long enough to learn all the particulars of Honan's plot, and then, even if it was the most peaceful, well meaning offer he would still leave the carriage. He would proceed on foot to the Clan gathering where he for a private meeting with Hinata where he would honestly reveal all.

He held back the temptation all the way through the Hidden Leaf village. Once out on the open road however, his head started to pound. A sultry voice seemed to whisper up from the dank cellar of his mind each time he looked at all the gilt and jewels obnoxiously decorating the interior of the coach. _Don't you deserve something like this_? it hissed at him. _Something much more tasteful of course, but don't you deserve a reward for all the effort over the years you've given to everyone?_ His eyes drifted lazily over Honan Hyuga. _That man wants to crown you. You could be the Head of the Clan... Wouldn't that be the ultimate reward? To smash them all?_ The voice murmured._ Show everyone in the Head family, show everyone who's wronged you, everyone who has looked down on you, what you are capable of._

Neji recognized that voice. It was the same one that filled him with hatred in his youth. The same one that drove him to almost kill Hinata in the one on one combat trials in his first chunin exam. He hadn't heard it since his uncle had handed him his father's letter and begged Neji's forgiveness.

_Killing Hinata… now there's an interesting idea… _ The words rolled through his mind like a cold fog. _She has yet to officially name a heir… I wonder who the clan would choose?_

Neji had shuddered, which Honan had noticed. "Has the morning chill gotten into your bones?" the merchant asked curiously. "I could easily ask Ken-chan to shovel some more coal into the heater?" He gestured toward a small cast iron stove glowing a dull cherry red in one corner of the carriage.

"Thank you, but no," said Neji politely. "It is plenty warm in here." He had squirmed in his seat to get comfortable and found he couldn't do it. All his life he had depended on his sense of honor and duty... Why was it failing him so miserably this time? He passed the miles, battling his discomfort until he could bear it no more. Finally, like a coward, he had fled the coach to clear his head.

* * *

The birdsong in the wilderness helped. So did the fresh air and the rustling of the leaves. The voices of enticement weren't as bold now. His memories of his wife and family helped soothe his troubled mind. He pulled his head off the trunk of the tree it had been resting on and he looked up at the sky. "What am I thinking? This is not who I am… I am better than this." Neji repeatedly muttered to himself. "I will never betray Hinata-sama's trust like this." To hell with finding out the rest of this plot. He needed to part from Honan's company and he needed to leave it now! He would continue on foot to the clan gathering. When he got there he would do his duty and tell Hinata everything... Even his own doubts. Yes… that was the honorable path. His breath started to slow down and he felt this brow relax.

He took a purposeful step away from the clearing. _It's a pity... Your father would have been very proud... wouldn't he?_ whispered the dank voice seductively. _His only son, forced into the Branch family… yet becoming leader of all the Hyuga... Don't you think that would bring a tear of joy to his eye?_ Neji froze, his legs trembling. _Surely it couldn't hurt to travel with Honan a little bit longer... You could learn more of his plans... Maybe they won't be so bad after all... Wouldn't it be worth this small discomfort to achieve such lofty heights?_

Neji tried breathing deeply again, but the voice just chuckled. _What was it your father told you right before he went off to his death? Oh yes... __**'Neji… you must live. You are a man gifted with the Hyuga talent more than anyone in the clan… I wish I could've born you into the Head Family.' **__Here's your chance Neji... Here's the solution to your father's last wish staring you right in the face... All you have to do is reach out and take it..._

* * *

His accountant placed another stack of those flimsy yellow forms in front of him. Honan stared at it. His hand ached from signing, his eyes felt dry and itchy. He glanced thoughtfully at Neji's empty seat for a moment, then burped loudly and shoved the pile back. "I need a break from this nonsense. I'll be back in a minute." He pushed himself up off his seat and walked down the creaking steps.

Ken, his new 'footman' was standing well away from the carriage, his byakugan activated, his eyes focused on something far off into the woods. Honan was tempted to activate his own byakugan and check up on the boy, but supposedly Ken was a professional. Honan settled for taking a few steps closer to observe this mystery jutsu in action.

Ken's lips were moving endlessly, but the words coming from his mouth were but the faintest whispers on the breeze. "... wish I could've born you into the Main Family. Here's your chance Neji... Here's the solution to your father's last wish staring you right in the face... All you have to do is reach out and take it... Wouldn't he want you to live life to the fullest? Wouldn't he want the same for his Daughter-in-law? His grandchildren?"

Ken paused in his speaking. He kept his byakugan fixated into the wood, but he sagged a bit and wiped at the sweat on his brow with his hand. Honan nudged him and handed over a handkerchief festooned with lace. "So... how fares our guest? Do you think this will be taking much longer?"

Ken shrugged and blotted his face dry. "He is requiring some convincing... I've had to dig quite deep into his memories to find the right levers to move him."

"But you have moved him?" rumbled Honan.

"It's… difficult... He is a very honorable man. He lives a very... restrained existence. He is not used to giving in to his impulses, and that makes things tricky. It is very easy for me to push him too far. When that happens he notices my influence and rebels. Then I have to start all over."

Honan chuckled. "That sounds like the famed Neji Hyuga... too honorable to have desires like the rest of us."

Ken jerked his head around and glared at Honan. "No man is too honorable... Everyone succumbs to temptations... It's just... a matter of finding the right way to justify them," he said testily.

"Of course, of course," Honan chuckled knowingly. "And by any chance have you found that way yet?"

He let out a great exhalation of air and deflated a little. ""Possibly. I am still working on him. The good news is that I believe I have convinced him enough to stay with our party."

Honan laughed heartily and slapped him across the back. "Good! That's fine news. At best we have him... and at worst, we can work on him some more. Good job my young friend."

"Totoko-sama will not be pleased that I haven't turned him yet," the young man said bitterly.

Honan snickered. "Totoko-chan will not care one wit, as long as the great Neji Hyuga is with us when we arrive at the clan gathering. If needs be, I can arrange for a few inconspicuous delays." Honan paused thoughtfully and eyed the young man. He was most clearly a Hyuga, the byakugan marked him thus, but his cheekbones and hair pointed to a mixed parentage… Not unheard of in this day and age where the Head of the clan herself was wed to an outsider… but still... "Your mistress is certainly lucky she has someone like you in her employ. May I ask if she... appreciates your talents?"

Ken turned back to stare into the woods. "Neji has left the clearing. He is headed this way."

"Good!" said Honan with a smile. The ability to bend a man's will… and at long range… He could think up a great many situations where something like that would be useful. "If you ever tire of serving with Totoko-chan, I am always on the lookout for people with marketable skills."

The young man stared at Honan frowning. "You sir, could never command my respect... Or my loyalty. I am only here at Totoko-sama's command." He turned to walk away.

So… money wouldn't move the lad… A pity, but that didn't make the task impossible. There were plenty of other ways to motivate someone. "I must ask," said Honan casually, stopping him with one meaty hand, "What is your lineage? I have never heard of any Hyuga with abilities like yours... Nor do you have the typical clan colorings... blonde hair is so very very unusual among the Hyuga." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Almost makes one start to wonder where you got them pretty eyes from don't it? Tell me boy… Which one of your parents is from the Yamanaka clan? Your mother or father?"

The air seemed to drop ten degrees as Ken built up his chakra. "Get your hand off of me," he said in what he was probably hoping was a controlled voice, but Honan could hear the edge of panic in it..

_Interesting... how very curious __that__ would be such a touchy subject with the lad now isn't it?_ _It's not like anyone who looks at him wouldn't be able to notice, _thought Honan as he narrowed his eyes._ I haven't heard of any approved Hyuga/Yamanaka pairings... I wonder where Totoko-san's been hiding him?_ _This might be worth looking into more at a later date. _"In my own time," he said patiently. "You see lad, unlike most of the stuffy old Hyuga clan, I don't really care what your lineage is or what side of the sheets you sired on. I especially don't care about whatever stains on your soul have tied you to Totoko-san. Gods know, I have a few of my own."

The boy jumped at that comment and Honan felt a small bubble of satisfaction. So then ... it was coercion binding him to Totoko. That was a welcome tidbit of information. That Branch family girl had come out of nowhere ten years ago and quickly climbed up the ladder of power. And then increased it exponentially by marrying that cold fish Mikio Hyuga, Junko's eldest son. Honan smiled to himself. A definite sign of the changing times that was… Right now Totoko and he were rough allies in this… endeavour to change the leadership of the Hyuga clan. But today's allies were often tomorrow's competition...

Honan pitched his voice friendly and low, and made sure to smile at the lad, but there was no humor in it. The boy needed to understand the right message here after all. "Don't fret Ken, I'm not going to try to blackmail you. I just want to establish one thing... That I may look fat and jolly, but I am a very dangerous man with a very long reach. If I ever get the inkling you've used that special little jutsu of yours on me... I'll make sure I take out my displeasure on you and everyone who was ever close to you." Honan's cold grin widened. "I've lived my life amongst 'friends' who wouldn't hesitate to gut a man for the rags on his back. More people have tried to do me in than I can properly count, I've been left for dead six times now and each time I've gotten back up... I lead a charmed life me, and I ain't afraid of nothing. Not death, not ruination. If either you or your Tokoto-chan try to cross me, kill me, put the whammy on me, or break me down and leave me with nothing...Well," Honan smiled and straightened Ken's livery, "let's just say you'd better spend the rest of your life with one eye looking over your shoulder."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Are you quite finished?"

"I believe I've said all I need to... Please feel free to share any of the more interesting bits with your mistress." Honan slowly pulled his hand away and watched the boy stalk off. Now that was interesting... the threat of death and dismemberment didn't effect him half as much as the subject of his parents… "A dangerous lad, that one is," the former pirate muttered under his breath. "Dangerous because he's so useful to have around, one would always think twice about getting rid of him... and I'll bet he knows it. I really must find someone to take a look into his past… and soon. A weapon like that needs a proper sheath."

There was a rustling in the trees behind him. He turned and welcomed Neji with open arms. "Ah, there you are my friend! I was beginning to worry that you had been eaten by a bear! Please join me back in the wheelhouse. The footman was just about to set out the steps again for me." Honan grinned defiantly as the young man stiffly bowed. "Weren't you… Ken-chan?"


	78. Chapter 26: On the Road: part 6

"So let me get this straight... To this very day Naruto still has no idea that girl was you?" Sakura asked incredulously.

Hinata shook her head and mischievously giggled. "No! To make certain, one day I took him and the children to that very pool under the waterfall for a picnic. It was such a picturesque spot. The whole time we were there, Naruto kept twisting his head around at the slightest little noise. He spent such an inordinate amount of time staring at the trees and peering into the pool that finally Kusumina asked him what was the matter."

"And what did he say?" asked Sakura.

Hinata smirked. "He told some story about how this looked like the exact spot where once when he was away on a mission he was almost abducted by a river spirit."

"He did not!"

Hinata nodded furiously. "He did! Naruto said that he camped by the waterfall one night on that mission to find the bikochu beetle. He then said that around midnight he was awoken by the sound of the most beautiful singing he had ever heard. When he went to investigate, he said he saw a beautiful naked girl, the spirit of the river dancing on the water."

"Ah-hah! So he did remember!" said Sakura triumphantly.

"Well, not exactly... You see he then proceeded to tell how the river spirit took one look at him and fell totally in love with his 'awesomeness'. He then went on to tell the children how the spirit tried her best to capture him and make him her slave forever, but a great battle ensued, and eventually he beat her off with a rasengan. Naruto then said she cried so much and was so sad that he felt bad for her and gave her a single kiss before leaving and heading back to camp."

Sakura snorted. "That exaggerating idiot," she said, amused.

Hinata grinned. "Well it was a fun story to tell the children. Jiraiya was pretty skeptical though. He asked Naruto if he was really sure he kissed a water spirit. When Naruto said yes, Jiraiya asked 'Oh yeah? Then who was the better kisser? The spirit or Uncle Sasuke?' And then Kusumina bopped him on the head."

Sakura stretched out her legs and laughed. Hinata was right. This was a better way to pass the time. The distraction did seem to help. As long as they were talking she could forget about how much her butt was hurting.

Sakura reached over for her canteen. She had to turn it almost completely upside down for a few drops of water to dribble out. "Dammit," she muttered.

"Here, take one of mine," said Hinata handing over a water bottle. "I brought plenty."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Why? Just in case someone at the clan gathering gives you trouble?" She took a long drink as Hinata blushed slightly.

Sakura put the bottle down with a thump. "Okay Hinata it's your turn now. Ask away."

"Oh... I don't know what to ask… I don't want to offend you."

Sakura grinned. "Offend me? Come on, you've already told me about how Naruto proposed to you in all its steamy detail." Hinata blushed. "You've told me about the first time he saw you naked." Hinata's face turned a deeper crimson. "And all you've asked me in response is about the time I studied for two days straight to pass the Level three medical exams, and about the time I fought with Sasori of the Red Sands... I feel like I'm taking advantage of your good nature here!"

Hinata started to play with her fingers but stopped herself. "Well... I don't really want to..."

"Oh come on, ask me anything! Ask me what you've always wanted to know! This is fun!"

Hinata paused nervously. "Well... There is something... but it's kind of..." Her voice trailed off.

Sakura laughed. "I know you aren't this timid when you're being the head of the Hyuga clan, and from what you've said they're ten times scarier than me... Ask!"

Hinata looked away shyly and nodded. "Very well... I've tried to talk to Naruto about Sasuke and how he convinced him to come back to the village, but each time he..." Hinata glanced up. Sakura, who had been so animated before felt her smile go frozen and stiff. "I'm sorry," said Hinata quickly. "I shouldn't have been so curious."

Sakura liked her lips nervously. "What did Naruto tell you?" she asked in a small voice.

"N-nothing, he said that the only person who had any right to tell anyone the whole story was Sasuke... He said if I wanted to know... I'd have to ask him."

Sakura looked away and back. "Truthfully? That's all you know?" Hinata nodded. Sakura exhaled and sagged down in her seat.

"I'm so sorry Sakura. I had no idea it was such a sensitive subject for you. Please forget that..."

Sakura shook her head. "It's not that." She turned and looked out the window. "I was actually... hoping that you might have known something about it."

"What?"

Sakura turned back, a sad smile across her face. "Sasuke... Well, Sasuke has never… exactly... told me what happened either. He just... won't talk about it. He says the only thing that matters is that he's back in Konoha now."

Hinata tilted her head. "Really? He's even refused to tell you?"

Sakura nodded, a faint smile teased her lips. "Really. The closest answer I've ever gotten is 'because I love you."

"Ohh," squeaked Hinata. "That is so romantic!"

Sakura's smile blossomed "Isn't it though? Most people would never have believed it but he does have a little bit of a poet in him."

"Well that's a lovely thing for him say something so tender hearted like that."

Sakura shook her head. "Well... The thing about Sasuke is... sometimes he is absolutely wonderful. He is everything I ever dreamed he would be. Sometimes he is like a little boy, and he just needs constant comforting and attention. And then... well... there are the times that he is a royal pain... and I wonder what I ever saw in him."

Hinata sat back and studied her friend carefully. "I hope that most of the time, things are okay?" she asked delicately.

Sakura smiled reassuringly. "Oh yes. These days almost everything is fine." There was a bit of a pause as she took in a breath. "Okay… I've still got a question to answer truthfully… ask away Hyuga-sama."

Hinata leaned back and pursed her lips together, "So... You and Sasuke…"

"What about us?"

"I've heard some of how you two got together, but that was mostly through Naruto..."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Naruto and his exaggerations again."Great."

Hinata smiled. "I'd like to hear how it really happened though... So... How exactly did the pair of you start your relationship?" Hinata leaned forward a little. "There has to be quite the story behind it. When was the exact moment that you knew?"

* * *

"_Come on... come on... I know you're in there somewhere, you little bastard!"_

_Sakura often talked when she worked. It was the natural progression of a childhood habit to babble when she was nervous. Back then it had been the source of untold mountains of embarrassment._

_Even as jonin, she still had this little issue, only now it manifested itself in a different way. Instead of finding the nearest person and talking their ear off, she would start to talk to herself, or even worse, to inanimate objects._

_The harder the job, the more she would chatter. Being a fully qualified, Level four, Battle certified, medical-nin, a lot of the jobs she had these days were quite difficult._

_Patching up a mortally wounded, half naked Sasuke Uchiha, in a dimly lit cavern, after a cave in, was to date, number one on her all time difficult jobs list._

_When she had first started her medical training, Tsunade-sama told her that there were two reasons why Medical-nin avoided combat. The first was an obvious one: if the squad's medic got wounded... who would patch them up? The second was a practical reason: battle used up a lot of chakra. The amount of chakra a person had would eventually regenerate itself with rest, but in the short term, it was finite. Chakra used during battle could not be used to heal a comrade later. There was a reason why medical-nin left the showy, high energy, ninjutsu attacks to others during the course of a fight._

"_Ha! Okay, that's number five," she muttered as her probe found yet another shard of bone lodged inside Sasuke's thoracic cavity. Sakura wedged a pair of retractors in the entrance wound and slowly ratcheted them open. Despite two ampoules of morphine and her admittedly somewhat less than optimal anesthetic jutsu, Sasuke still grunted._

"_Hold still Sasuke," she whispered under her breath. "Hold still... I've got to get out another one... I need you to stay with me okay? This is going to hurt for a moment."_

_Sasuke's eyes fluttered. "Not like I'm going anywhere," he grumbled. That was another thing... No matter what she tried, he just wouldn't go under. It was driving her crazy that he was treating all her nervous talk as if she was trying to actually hold a conversation with him._

"_Okay... on three.." She took a deep breath "One... Two..." Her forceps darted in and dug for purchase on the bone projectile._

_Sasuke's body bucked. Sakura mashed herself up against his chest and arms as best she could to hold him still. "Just stay with me Sasuke, just stay with me... It'll be over in one second... Just.. let... me..." There was a grating pop and the fragment came loose._

"_You said you'd go on three!" Sasuke grumbled accusingly._

_Sakura grinned triumphantly down at him and reached for her suturing kit to start closing. "What are you complaining about? I got out the..." She stared at the steady stream of dark red blood running down his chest. "Shit!" she swore. "It nicked a vein." She tossed down her kit and put her hands directly over the hole. She started burning the bottom of her chakra reserves to find the bleeder and force it closed. A cloud of pulsing blue-green energy covered her hands._

"_You didn't say three," Sasuke complained again._

"_Yeah, well... Dammit!" Her preliminary scan showed her the blood was starting to pool up inside his right pneumatic cavity. She had to find it fast otherwise... well, he'd lose lung function. In a hospital that would be a crisis... Here it would be a disaster. "Dammit dammit dammit! Stop bleeding dammit!"_

"_I'll try my best," he half coughed, half snickered._

_She found the bleed, but it was deep, very deep. If she was at full chakra strength she would just pulse all the way down there and not care about the chakra insertion loss. But now, in her weakened state, she needed to get closer. "Okay Sasuke...hold still... this is going to feel... weird."_

"_Weird ho...OOOOOW!" he howled as she jammed her finger, bright with concentrated chakra into his wound and sealed off the bleed._

_Sakura pulled her finger out, and left her hands resting on his chest. After a brief moment, Sasuke looked up at her. "Ouch?" he gasped breathlessly._

"_Don't worry I got it," she said grinning. "I'm almost done, I just want to start your body on reabsorbing some of that blood in your thoracic cavity before I close you up." She took a deep breath and started doing what she could with what little wisps of chakra she had left._

_Sakura was exhausted enough that it took her a second to realize that the healing glow was brighter than it should have been. She looked down to see Sasuke's right hand, bright with healing energies hovering over the long gash on her thigh. "You're not a medical-nin! How are you..." she glanced up. In the sickly glow of the jutsu she could just make out the red glint of the sharingan under his half closed eyelids._

"_I'm cheating," he croaked. "I'm copying your jutsu... But I figure it's for a good enough cause." His hand wavered, whether intentionally or accidentally she couldn't tell, but at any rate his fingers brushed her leg._

_It took all of her training to suppress the warm quiver that ran through her body. "You... you should stop that... please... Save your chakra. I was just going to use a bandage on that."_

_Sasuke smiled at her. "I just wanted to help out." His hand slowly came to rest on her thigh. There were waves of heat where his chakra entered her body, slowly, clumsily knitting the gash on her leg closed._

_Sakura became very aware of her hands pressing down on his bare chest. She attempted to focus on something else, and ended up staring at his hand as it gently ran up and down her thigh. "You can stop now," Sakura said nervously. "It will leave a scar, but you did a fairly good job... for a first attempt."_

_Sasuke's hand fell away. "I'm sorry," he said in a low voice._

_She shook her head slightly to get some semblance of decorum back and smiled at him. "There's nothing to be sorry about," she said. "You've done a wonderful job... with... with everything. Everyone will testify to that! Tsunade will have to let you back... for sure!"_

_Sasuke slowly shook his head. "I'm glad you think so... But that's not what I meant..." He looked up and his sharingan met her green eyes. She felt like she was falling into its swirling red depths. "I'm sorry," Sasuke said again. "I'm sorry I ever left you."_

* * *

"Sakura?" Hinata prompted. Sakura shook herself out of her reverie.

The matron of the revived Uchiha clan sighed. "You're right… this is going to have to be a very long story... but I guess we have time." She shifted a bit to get comfortable and took a deep breath. "Do you remember that night when Naruto ran off to go fight Sasuke by his lonesome?" Sakura glanced up at Hinata who was looking very ill at ease. "Of course you do... stupid question... Anyway, it pretty much starts right when the pair of them walked back up to the village gate..."


	79. Chapter 27: Sakura's Tale: part 1

**Chapter: 27 Sakura's tale: The Return**

_Tsunade is growing up so fast. Various clan matriarchs are beginning to trickle into our home casually asking about her health, sending out feelers for a marriage contract._

_Tsunade herself is quite nervous with all the added attention. I suspect it is because she already has a particular sweetheart in mind. I haven't told her mother yet, but a handful of months ago she asked me: "Grandmother… How can you tell when you are in love?" At the time, I gave her the same cowardly answer that most women of my generation would give…. Speaking only of duty, and honor, and the respect one must give to one's clan and one's husband._

_As my granddaughter stands on the edge of becoming a woman, I find myself wishing I had spoken more honestly... about myself, about Hashirama…_

_I can still recall the day so many years ago… I had arrived in the aftermath of that latest battle. The enemy had almost broken through our last line of defense, but thanks to the valiant actions of Madara Uchiha and the brave shinobi under his command, our fledgling village was spared._

_Prior to this, I had scarcely seen new husband since the wedding ceremony. Most of his time had been spent at the front. My sisters-in-law and I would spend our days putting on brave faces, cheerfully talking of our loved ones even as we silently prayed for their return. It was during these discussions with his kin that I learned all I then knew of the Hokage. His sisters and cousins, at least those that had chosen to break from the Senju clan and join him, gossiped about him constantly. My ears were bombarded time and again with awed tales of his virtues and faults… Frivolous girl that I was, I gave into the impulse to see him in action and, without letting any of my new clansmen know, left for the battlefield._

_Our houses and people were safe, but the cost was high. I watched Hashirama work his way through the scores of wounded, doing what he could to help them. He approached a young Leaf shinobi whose leg had been almost completely severed. My husband knelt and lay his hands over the boy's wound. Within seconds the torn flesh began to knit itself back together. Ten minutes later the boy was up and walking on the leg as if he had never been hurt. He thanked my husband with a dull look in his eyes and mechanically marched back to the front line. The other three Founders of the Leaf all praised the Hokage's skill and moved to congratulate him, but Hashirama just waved them off and sought solitude. I found him in a small stand of trees gently weeping._

_This was not how I expected a victorious hero to behave. It frightened me and piqued my curiosity at the same time. In the end, my curiosity triumphed. Aware that I should not be there, I approached him cautiously. "What ails you my husband? Surely you should be rejoicing? Were it not for you, certainly that boy would have lost his leg."_

_He looked startled for a moment, but no admonishment crossed his lips. Instead, Hashirama's hand sought out mine. "Dearest Mito, that boy has lost all his comrades. He saw both friends and family perish this day. I can heal the scars from his flesh till his skin is as smooth as the day he was born... But I can do nothing about the wounds on his soul."_

_Our marriage had been arranged as a matter of political and strategic importance. Being with him was not an affair of the heart, but one of duty and honor. As the eldest, eligible daughter of the Head of the Uzumaki clan I told myself many times that I should count my blessings to have been pledged to Hashirama. He was young and handsome. He was polite and gentle. He was the first Hokage, the founder of the greatest shinobi village, acknowledged as one of the strongest men in the world... Since that first day I had arrived in this land full of trees, so unlike the island of my birth, I had been consoling myself nightly, telling myself I was lucky, that I should consider what other alliances might have been necessary for the good of the Uzumaki clan, and where else, or who else I might have been sent off to._

_I sat there in that small shady grove, comforting this living legend in his hour of need, holding him as he wept for that poor boy he barely knew and all the others he had been unable to save…_

_In that moment, I realized how much I loved him._

_-From the personal journal of Mito Uzumaki_

* * *

Hinata's smile crumbled. The Hyuga woman looked like she was going to start sobbing again. "What if he's gone Sakura? What will I do?" Naruto had gone off alone to face Sasuke's challenge… leaving behind his comrades and friends… Leaving behind everyone who ever cared for him.

They had found the scarred remains of the battlefield… but no sign of Naruto Uzumaki.

Sakura put her arm around Hinata. Somehow, without anyone else saying a word, she had been the one elected to comfort Hinata. In a way, it all made sense. She was a medical-nin, everyone expected them to be able to comfort the wounded. More than that, she was Sakura Haruno: Trusted student to the Fifth Hokage, following in her master's footsteps with her strength and her medical knowledge. She was a war hero, having served in both the medical corps and on the front lines. She made a name for herself treating injuries and healing many critically ill patients. Shinobi from every nation owed her their limbs and lives. Everyone said she was a rising star in the medical profession. Everyone remarked on her quiet competence and how capable she was in a crisis. Everyone talked about how her poise and maturity were far beyond her paltry eighteen years.

If only they knew.

Still, she supposed it was logical that she should be the one who was taking care of Hinata. There was no one in the village who had spent more time with Naruto than she had. They had been on countless missions together, fought together, bled together, trained together and mourned together. After all, she and Naruto were about as close as you could get without… well... without being romantically entangled... like Naruto and Hinata were.

Not that Sakura and Naruto weren't romantically involved through any lack of trying on Naruto's part. His infatuation with her had begun that first week at the academy... The day she found him sitting by himself on the playground swing. All the other children were playing wild shrieking games across the yard. Sakura had politely asked three different groups if she could join them in their play and three times had been rebuffed with a 'Go away forehead girl!'

She was in such a bad mood that she yelled at the spiky blonde haired boy who had been hogging the swing. "You know … Other people might want a turn too!" she had snapped.

He barely glanced up as he shuffled off. "Sorry," he mumbled.

He looked so... despondent, so lonely... That Sakura found herself calling him back. "Excuse me?" she said quietly. He stopped in his tracks. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that... I'm just having a bad day and nobody wants to be my friend."

The boy spun around, a wide goofy grin splitting his face. "Heh. Me too!" he chuckled. "I don't suppose you'd want to share the swing with me?"

The teasing didn't stop. As a matter of fact it got worse. It wasn't until she formed a friendship with Ino Yamanaka that she realized just how much her association with 'that boy' as all the adults referred to him on low tones, was escalating the harassment she had to go through on a daily basis. "I don't know why you keep talking to him," Ino would hiss urgently. "Can't you see that nobody likes him? He's nothing but trouble!"

Trouble he was. The pranks he pulled and the mischief he got into... He was always being punished for something or other. She thought they were funny at times, but heeding Ino's advice, she began to slowly distance herself from Naruto.

The problem was, he refused to distance himself from her. He was constantly trying to talk to her, to get her attention... and things got worse when she noticed Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke. Darkly handsome, arrogantly adroit, sharp cheekbones and a intense smouldering gaze that was guaranteed to melt the knees of any girl caught in it. It was weird in a way... Back when they all started together in the Academy, Sasuke had just seemed normal... smart and talented, sure, but still an ordinary kid...

And then there was that incident. It was all anyone in Konoha could talk about. How one of the Uchiha went mad and killed his entire clan… almost his entire clan. Sasuke was out of school for one month, but when he came back... he had changed.

All the girls noticed him then. He was more serious, more grown up. He pushed himself hard and was soon at the top of the class. Sakura watched him along with everyone else and felt the first stirrings of a crush in her young heart. It led to a huge falling out with her first friend, Ino. It also led to Naruto becoming almost unbearable… He was constantly trying to become the focus of her attention... he would regularly pick fights with Sasuke that he had no chance in winning. She didn't think it was possible for that idiot to get into any more trouble at school, but somehow he managed it.

Her mother would always grumble when Sakura would return home with some story about the problems Naruto had caused at school that day. She always warned Sakura to stay away from the Uzumaki boy. "That boy is nothing but trouble," she would grumble darkly to her husband. "That evil little brat will one day be the ruin of us all!" Sakura's father would laugh and try to make a joke about it and reassure her that the Third Hokage must know what he was doing.

At the time, she didn't know exactly why her parents disliked Naruto so much, and to be honest she didn't care. She was already doing everything she could to avoid him. That was much easier said than done. Naruto never left her alone. He was constantly trying to get her attention, to bring her presents, to sit next to her, to impress her. It was painfully obvious he had a crush on her. Everyone noticed this of course and regularly teased her about it.

The day team seven was formed was the happiest and most awkward day of her twelve year old life. She was overjoyed to be placed on the same squad as Sasuke... The Sasuke... By this point he was the object of fantasy of every girl in her class, and he was on her squad! The Gods were finally smiling down on her! Nothing could ruin this moment!

And then she was promptly horrified to find herself stuck with Naruto. It was the absolute worst situation she could have imagined. She could see it now, every perfect moment she arranged to draw Sasuke out of his cold hard shell, would be horribly ruined by that idiot Naruto. It made her shudder to think of it; her life was going to turn into a shoujo comedy.

Except it didn't... Naruto was still an idiot, but he was growing into a stronger, slightly more reliable idiot. Sasuke started warming up to her, complimenting her, treating her as if she was something other than an annoying nuisance. Sakura even managed to get closer to him. He saved her multiple times on missions and during the Chunin exams. She hugged Sasuke when the legendary Tsunade healed injuries he received fighting his brother Itachi and he finally woke up. Sasuke didn't complain once as she sat with him as he was recovering in the hospital. She made it a point to bring him something every day. She'd chat with him, feed him…

She had felt that their relationship was on the verge of blooming. There were moments when it finally felt like Sasuke was just beginning to open up to her, to appreciate her. It felt like her dreams were finally coming true. Sakura did everything she could to show Sasuke how much she cared for him...

It wasn't enough. These days, when she woke up in the middle of the night Sakura would wonder to herself if there was anything she should have done differently. She wondered if there was something that she had overlooked that would have somehow managed to touch him in some way… turn him away from the path that he had chosen…

Sasuke's defeat at the hands of Itachi was bad enough, but the realization that Naruto's strength had caught up to, and possibly surpassed his own was too much for him. The Uchiha boy's tentative acceptance of his teammates slowly turned back into a dark brooding.

He eventually left to go train with Orochimaru. He left for the promise of power, the promise to get strong enough to kill his brother and avenge the rest of his family. Nothing she could do or say would convince Sasuke otherwise. When she threatened to scream, and bring the village guards to stop him from leaving, he knocked her unconscious.

Naruto and seven of their classmates and friends went after Sasuke. She met with them just before they departed at the gates of Konoha. She tearfully begged Naruto, if he could never do anything else for her, please... just bring Sasuke back. The promise of a lifetime, was what she called it…

Naruto swore to her, that no matter what, he would bring Sasuke back to Konoha. He gave his word he would do it... for her.

Naruto failed. His team returned badly injured. Naruto swore to her that he would never give up. He swore to her that he would train harder than ever before.

Sakura felt proud of him, and at the same time a crushing sense of self loathing. She was worthless. All she had done this whole time was cry or whine or wait for someone else to rescue her. Sakura made herself a promise. She vowed she would change.

And change she did. She had spent her time learning medical ninjutsu under the grueling tutelage of the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju. She had always been a quick learner, she could remember things after reading them only once. Combined with her abilities to logically disassemble and grasp the important parts of a problem gave her the best academic grades in her class at the academy. She used them to their full extent during this time.

She almost quit so many times in the beginning of her training. Tsunade was harsh mistress, she rarely gave positive feedback. Often the only times Sakura would know she was doing something wrong was when Tsunade would suddenly appear behind her: "No!" she would bellow without warning. "Start over!"

There were two reasons she hung on. First, was Tsunade's private library. She had thousands of books and scrolls written by all sorts of famous shinobi. She loved wandering in the dim light amongst the dusty stacks, running her fingers down the spines. She would smile with pleasure each time she found an author that she had heard of.

Ever since her mother taught her her first kanji Sakura had been an avid reader. Her first few years at the Academy were bookish and lonely. Before she became friends with Ino, she would spend almost every free moment with a book, her mind traipsing through the words of an author to some far off time or place... learning at the feet of of the strong and the wise. Even at that young age, Sakura's memory was exceptional, and her mother and father would clap their hands with glee to hear her recite some saying from some shinobi of yore.

While studying under Tsunade, she would often find herself augmenting her studies with a few extra books each week that were just too enticing to pass up. It was this access that often kept her coming back when Tsunade was on a bender and unbearable to be around. Somehow, reading those old inspiring words helped convince her to keep trying for one more day.

The second, and much more important reason, had been her promise to herself. Her promise that she would be useless no more.

Driven by her desire to change, by the example of Naruto's promise to retrieve Sasuke, she pushed herself to unheard of heights. Tsunade herself was known to compliment her on her abilities every now and then. Sakura had grown from a fairly average genin, to a striking kunoichi with poise, skill and confidence. She had learned to depend more on herself and trust in her abilities.

When Naruto returned from training after three years with Master Jiraiya, he had grown some. He was taller than she was now, and he carried himself better. When Sakura first laid eyes on him, she was surprised that he had become almost... cute.

The moment he opened his mouth though, it was clear he was still the same old idiot.

There was one other small thing Sakura came to realize over time. It was slowly dawning on her just how much Naruto had done for her. He was always there when she needed help. He was always there to reassure her. So many times, they got close to finding Sasuke only to have him slip away again. Every time she failed, the person she turned to for comfort was Naruto. Underneath all his lack of manners he had such a kind heart. Each time she got discouraged, his unyielding resolve managed to fill her with hope.

The apex of her hope came when she heard the news. Orochimaru was dead... killed by Sasuke himself. It wasn't hard to figure out that Sasuke's next step would be to leave whatever location he was hiding in and find his brother, Itachi.

Everything seemed so rosy when they set out a combined mission of Teams Seven and Team Eight... They got closer and closer to Sasuke's reported location. There were some setbacks, but working together, they drew closer and closer to him.

They were stopped dead in their pursuit by a single Akatsuki member. The one she would later come to know as 'the masked Madera'. He vanished as soon as he received news that Sasuke was victorious over Itachi. They found the site of the battle, but both Uchiha were long gone.

At the time, Sakura found that she still had some hope. After all with his brother dead, and being free from Orochimaru... Surely Sasuke would feel that he could return home... Surely he would come back to the people who cared for him... the people who loved him... Wouldn't he?

Hope can only do so much. Sasuke turned even more dark and powerful. He joined the Akatsuki, the very group of rogue shinobi his brother Itachi was once a member of! He tried to capture the Eight Tails Jinchuriki. He attacked the Five Kage summit and managed to go toe to toe with the five strongest shinobi in the land and their aides. It was then that the Konoha 11 decided something needed to be done about him. Sakura tacitly agreed with them, and implemented her own plan. Who better to... deal with Sasuke than the person who cared for him most?

There was another reason she wanted to meet with Sasuke. She needed to satisfy her curiosity... She needed to see him with her own eyes. She needed to fix her complete lack of understanding of what was going on in Sasuke's head. None of it made any sense! Everything Sasuke did looked like he was trying to turn himself into a younger, more vicious version of Itachi! Was he crazy? Only a madman would want to become the one person he hated more than anyone else in the world... right?

Right before she left on her self imposed mission she stopped to talk to Naruto. Sakura came out telling Naruto that she loved him. She told him everything was okay, she told Naruto that he had tried harder than anyone could ever be expected to. She told him that she was giving up on ever getting Sasuke back and that she was releasing Naruto from his promise. Finally she told Naruto she finally recognized him as the wonderful shinobi he had grown into. She said she was acknowledging him as a hero.

Naruto knew something was amiss. He called her a liar, and... in a way she was. Since his abandonment of Konoha, every time she had seen Sasuke, she felt a pit open up in her heart. Every time she had heard his voice her stomach flip flopped. Many times over the years, her palms had grown sweaty and her knees had grown weak at the very thought that this might be the time they found Orochimaru's hideout. That this might be the one time they caught up to him. That this might be the one time they brought back the wayward Uchiha. No matter what he did, or how far he was from her, there was always some part of her that desperately yearned for him. So... in a way... she was very much lying.

In another way... she wasn't. Naruto had made it quite clear over the years that he would love her, no matter what. He had tried so hard for her sake to bring Sasuke back, even though he knew it would ruin his chances with her. Naruto was her steady friend, her shoulder to cry on. They knew each other and understood each other.

Back before the war, between the time when Naruto was back from training with Jiraiya, but Sasuke was still with Orochimaru, Sakura would head back home from a late shift at the Hospital, or a bout of studying in Tsunade-sama's private library, and she'd stare up at the sky and wonder if she should just... give up on Sasuke. I mean Naruto was right there. He wanted her. Sakura would inevitably entertain a small fantasy of what it would be like to go out with Naruto, to hold his hand, to have him hug her, to kiss her...

At some point the curiosity would wane and she'd giggle. Anyone who ended up Naruto's girlfriend would spend their days eating far too much ramen for their own good. They'd have to put in a lot of work to whip him into proper shape. Still it was nice to know, that if she ever really decided that she wanted him as a boyfriend, he'd always be right there waiting for her.

Naruto's rejection of her confession stung sharper than she expected. She wanted a moment of warmth and stability before she headed off to confront Sasuke. Instead all she brought with her was Naruto's look of disbelief and confusion.

She faced Sasuke on the bridge. Sasuke eyed her coldly as she told him how she regretted not leaving Konoha with him all those years ago. "I suppose you could be of use to me," he drawled. He gestured to a body at his feet. "Prove your loyalty to me... Kill her, then you can take her place." Sakura trembled as she approached the fallen girl, kunai drawn, wondering if now was the time to strike Sasuke. Thankfully, Kakashi-sensei appeared just as Sasuke was driving a chidori towards Sakura's back. They began to fight, teacher versus student.

That red headed girl... What was her name? Karin? She whispered up to her, as Sakura treated her on the stone pavement of the bridge. "He isn't the Sasuke you once knew," she hissed as pink froth from her punctured lung bubbled at her lips.

Tsunade had trained her well. As Sakura stabilized Karin, her face was calm and professional. Inside she was wailing. It was obviously as she feared. When Sakura had first arrived at the bridge, she had hoped that... maybe... Sasuke would listen, that maybe he could be swayed... But now... Now... Once the injured girl was stable, Sakura climbed down the bridge to watch Kakashi battling Sasuke below.

She saw her opening and struck. It would be so easy. She had practiced this blow a hundred times over in her thoughts. All she had to do was move her hand forward, there would be a whisper as his shirt parted, and the briefest resistance as the knife entered his flesh. She didn't even have to aim for anything vital, all she had to do was draw blood, the poison on her blade would take care of the rest.

At the last second, her hand started shaking. The dam she had built up in her mind burst. There were too many memories. Feelings she thought were safely hidden got in the way. She was unable to put the kunai in.

Sasuke disarmed her. He had her by the throat and stabbed at her with her own weapon. Once again it was Naruto who came to her rescue.

Sakura looked down at Hinata and sighed. The Hyuga girl was wiping at the tears brimming in her eyes. It had been a long night waiting for any shred of news, waiting for some sign of life from the orange Ninja who seemed to be able to defy all the odds. Both of them were exhausted. Sakura probably would be crying herself if it wasn't for the fact that someone needed to keep Hinata from falling apart. Sakura was sure that if their roles were reversed, Hinata would not hesitate to comfort her.

It was an open secret amongst the Konoha 11 that Hinata liked Naruto. It was a constant source of amusement at how oblivious Naruto could be. After Naruto returned to the village after training with Jiraiya, it got so Hinata could barely talk to Naruto without making a fool of herself. She'd made her affections blatantly obvious during Pain's assault on the Hidden Leaf, and even more noticeable during the Fourth war.

It was not too surprising, yet still disheartening when Naruto disappeared after the war, but nobody seemed more hurt than Hinata. Everyone assumed he was off doing more training in some secret location. Everyone assumed that he would one day reappear, just like that time he left with Jiraiya, and stroll back into the village his typical, bumbling self.

No one expected him to make a beeline for Hinata and ask her out right away.

The suddenness of it all made Sakura a little bit... well... confused. To think that she had been replaced as Naruto's crush, was somewhat... comforting. Maybe now he'd finally leave her in peace. At the same time, she wondered what was wrong with her? Why didn't Naruto just... keep on like he had always done? As she saw Naruto and Hinata going around the village, holding hands and laughing, going out on dates and off on picnics, she recognized another feeling. Jealousy. Not the hard, anger fueled, rivalry that she and Ino had in the past over Sasuke, but the morose feelings of loss over what might have been, the burning envious voice in the back of her head that asked, "Why couldn't I have something like that?"

Hinata was a very nice girl. It was... nice to see her getting the affection she wanted from the man of her dreams.

Three days ago, when she had learned that Naruto had left the village to meet Sasuke... one more time, Sakura had a chill in the pit of her stomach. Somehow Naruto had sent Sasuke a letter asking for a meeting. Sasuke had offered a duel in reply. Sakura immediately thought back to that time on the bridge she had tried to kill Sasuke and needed to be rescued. Her mind seized upon a short conversation between Sasuke and Naruto she had overheard. Naruto had told Sasuke to take out all his hatred on him. They would die together. Naruto said he would shoulder his hatred and his need for revenge. He said he would do all this for Sasuke because he was his friend.

Despite the growing group that offered to accompany and help him, Naruto had left a frantic Hinata and the rest of them behind. He had tricked them all with a shadow clone. He said he couldn't bear to see anyone else he cared for get hurt... Not for 'his fights'... not for 'his promises'.

The last time she had seen Sasuke, he had the personality of a demon. Cold hearted and ruthless, he waded into the battlefield of the Fourth shinobi war, invulnerable to attacks inside his Susano'o. Fire and lightning burnt the ground to ash at his command. The high-pitched shrieks of shinobi in the front line aid station she was posted at echoed in her ears, drowning out the calls for help of the wounded still on the battlefield. The medical corps of the five great nations had their work cut out for them. If it weren't for Naruto, boosting everyone's healing jutsu with the chakra of the Nine tails, the casualties would have been twenty times higher that day.

She was trying to pull a shinobi from Hidden Stone far enough away from the fighting to be treated safely, when Sasuke saw her. He looked straight at her with his sharingan ablaze with red light. The glowing purple arms of his Susano'o fired a huge glowing arrow into a dense knot of shinobi. A second arm deflected a rain of kunai trailing explosive tags. The susano'o reloaded the bow, and the arrow began to track for a new target. Sakura looked up from carrying the wounded shinobi, and felt her heart leap into her mouth as she stared down the glittering point of the arrow. Sasuke looked at her with those eyes, burning like coals in a dying fire. His face was a mask of pain and irrational fury. His lips pulled back from his teeth in a wild grimace and in that moment Sakura knew she was going to die.

Inexplicably, something else caught Sasuke's attention. The arrow shifted slightly and fired.

Eventually he was driven off the battlefield. If the combined Shinobi force had been fresh, they would have been able to defeat him. As it was, the best they could hope for was to make him retreat. He left, but not before delivering a rant, worthy of a manga villain, about how he would make the Hidden Leaf bleed and suffer the way the Uchiha clan had suffered.

Sakura watched him scream and destroy, the words of that red haired girl echoing in her ears, _He isn't the Sasuke you once knew_.

A cold stone settled in her chest where her heart had been. Her mother had always told her that there was a red string attaching you to the people you love. During her years at the Academy she felt like Sasuke was connected to her by a thread. Being on a squad with him, depending on each other, trusting each other, she felt it start to strengthen turning into a thick cord...

When he left, it began to fray, tearing and snapping bit by bit. By the beginning of the Fourth war, it was back to being the finest strand of silk. As combat drew to a close, Sakura was grateful that she had no time to stop and be introspective. She was worried what she might feel if she looked and found it finally gone. When the war ended, and life returned to something more resembling normal... she found herself volunteering for more and more hours at the hospital, spending more and more time with Tsunade-sama. She used her free time to research new jutsu and polish the ones she had mastered. Sakura found she needed that drive, that servitude, that non stop grind just to be able to collapse, unfeeling and unthinking into her bed at night.

A 'rising star' is what they called her. The phrase 'well on her way to being the next Tsunade' was often used as well... If only they knew.

If only they knew that the work ethic of Sakura Haruno that everyone so admired was just so she could sleep at night and not dream of her failures. If only they knew that she gladly took the extra jobs and the nearly impossible medical cases so she wouldn't have time to think about him during the day. If only they knew that Sakura Haruno, the war hero who worked tirelessly amongst the casualties of the Fourth war without shedding a tear, consistently broke down and sobbed into her pillow, crying over a traitor.

If only they knew that Sakura Haruno, heir to the legendary strength of Tsunade, felt so weak... felt so lonely... and still felt useless.

The isolation got unbearable at times. Once, just to try to do something about it, she even went out on a date with Lee. He was ecstatic at first. Like Naruto he had also had a long standing crush on her. But as their lunch went on, the conversation grew more reserved. Like Naruto he also seemed to notice that something was wrong. Sakura tried to keep her face cheerful, but in the end it was just too hard. What was the point? Everyone could see that she was broken. Lee was polite, he was all smiles when he walked her back to her parent's house... He even half heartedly offered to take her out again.

Sakura thanked him kindly and said she had too much work to do.

Sakura smiled inwardly, laughing at the joke she had become. Living this way, constantly pushing your emotions to the side, just so you could function on a daily basis, Seeking out extra work in the hope that keeping busy could be a stand in for happiness had its drawbacks... You were already exhausted if, oh... say... someone banged on your window in the middle of the night saying they had finally heard from your long lost teammate.

Naruto was strong, yes. The shinobi world hadn't seen a ninja of his like in generations. But Sasuke was powerful too... and it was looking like all the honor and mercy in him had been extinguished. If the two of them clashed... Well, it was enough to shake anyone's faith in Naruto.

Sakura shook herself out of her introspection. Hinata was still sitting there, staring at the road in a dull listless way. Sakura tried to think of something hopeful to say, something that would bring up her spirits. But all she could think of was how lucky Hinata was. Lucky to have gotten a little taste of what she wanted. Lucky to have been with the one she loved, even if it was just for a little while.

Hinata felt her staring and looked up. Sakura gave her what she hoped was a comforting smile. "Love him. Love him but say goodbye," she advised, her voice a hoarse whisper. Sakura herself felt the tears welling up, although whether she was mournng more for the loss of Naruto or Sasuke, she couldn't say. She coughed gently to cover her crying and stared off down the road. "That's all you can ever do."


	80. Chapter 27: Sakura's Tale: part 2

An alarm began to clatter in the village. There was a blur of speed and a squad of shinobi from the wall garrison appeared at the main gate. They were reinforced by a second squad, and a third, and a fourth. Neji, Tenten and Lee appeared. Neji gave Sakura a quick nod. "Hinata-sama," he said bluntly to his cousin. His byakugan was activated and he was scanning the road.

Groggily, Hinata stumbled to her feet. "Neji-onisan. What happened?"

"Two people on foot are approaching. Somehow, they managed to bypass the first two picket lines without alerting anyone. They only showed up a minute ago by byakugan." Tenten unrolled a scroll and summoned a feathered fan. Lee reached down and slowly unbuckled the weights from his legs. "Take a look," Neji said simply.

Hinata activated her byakugan. She gave a small gasp and suddenly her cheeks were damp. Sakura came up beside her, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Is it... Naruto?" she asked quietly, an eager note hidden in her voice.

Hinata's byakugan flicked back and forth, staring between two distant targets. "It's both of them I think," she said softly.

Sakura stumbled back. It took a minute for that information to sink in. Deep inside her head, she felt a deep rumbling noise as a bubble of relief came bursting up from the depths of her psyche. _I knew it!_ screeched her inner voice, jumping for joy. _I knew Naruto would never break his promise!_ Her inner self dissolved into a fit of giddy giggling.

Then as Shikamaru began to map out kill zones and assign tasks, reality came spearing down through her chest. There was no point in celebrating just now, not when everyone's worst fears might be happening. Sasuke and Naruto might actually be dead, These two approaching figures might be nothing more than reanimated corpses… and a smaller version of the Fourth Shinobi war might be played out right here at the gates of Konoha.

Shikamaru paused in his orders and gave Sakura and Hinata a glance. He tried to look casual as he walked over to them. "Um… things could get pretty nasty in a minute or so… If you guys think you would be better off somewhere else…"

"We'll stay," said Hinata flatly.

Shikamaru nodded curtly. "Alright then... Sakura, I want you with the main group here at the gate. You are acting chief medic until I say otherwise... Hinata," he said turning, "you are on scout and ambush with your squad." He leaned forward. "Make sure these two are the only ones," he said quietly. Hinata, Shino and Kiba sprinted away to scout the road. Shikamaru looked back at Sakura as he walked away. "I need you to stay away from the front line. We'll send you the wounded."

Sakura reached out for Shikamaru's arm. "Do you have a sealing team on standby?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "I was hoping that we might be able to find Sai or someone like him on the way here, but so far I haven't had any luck. I've dispatched a runner to the Hokage, hopefully we can buy her enough time to send someone our way." He gave her a questioning look. "Why?"

"If you need someone to try sealing, I... might be able to help out," said Sakura carefully.

Sealing took a lot of fine chakra control. She had had a little bit of experience with it during the mission to trap the three tails. Traditionally in Konoha 'sealing jutsu' fell under the purview of medical ninja, so as a matter of course in her medical studies Sakura had examined it and even tried out a few simple seals for disrupting chakra. Having served on missions with Naruto, when his control of the Nine tails was tenuous at best, she could see how those might come in handy.

Right before the fourth war there had been a glut of intelligence on how the enemy would be using the impure resurrection jutsu. She gave it a try and even underwent a crash training course with some Hidden Sand Ninja to get the basics down. In the end it was decided that deploying medical-nin to the front lines to take on sealing duties was too much of a risk. So combat duties fell to the teams from Suna, who she had to admit, were far more skilled at it than she would ever be.

"What?" asked Shikamaru, in surprise. "You think you can seal away a zombie revived with the impure resurrection jutsu?"

"Well, I've had some practice but, never in combat."

Shikamaru frowned. "Good to know I guess." he thought for a second, adjusting strategies no doubt. "Stay in your medical capacity," he ordered. "If things get black enough that we need to seal something away, I'll call you... In the meantime, we'll just hope that Tsunade can get us a proper sealing team."

Sakura nodded and retreated enough to stay out of everyone's way as they set up defensive positions. As other medical-nin showed up, she automatically sent them about various duties. What she was really thinking about was that her sealing skills were probably nowhere near tested enough to reliably seal away an edo tensei zombie. What she did have was the beginnings of an idea.

The most powerful seals, the ones traditionally used in battle by the Uzumaki clan, had been lost to the shinobi world when that village was destroyed. But that didn't mean that all knowledge of the Hidden Whirlpool village's signature jutsu had vanished. While she had been studying up on seals in Tsunade's personal library, she came across an older set of notes written in a fine precise hand. The notes were anonymous, the only clue to the author was a poorly written love sonnet hastily scratched in the margins addressed to some woman with 'flaming red hair' whose 'spicy' personality set the author 'ablaze with passion'. Anyway, this mystery note taker had done quite a lot of research on the plethora of sealing techniques used by the Uzumaki clan. Among the simpler techniques discussed were those that could bind the chakra from one person into another. For example, you could give a target a healthy dose of your own chakra and influence their actions from afar. If they were sensitive enough to you and, and had a close enough bond to you, your presence could appear in the depths of their psyche and actually hold conversations and give them advice. From how she understood it, it was a bit like leaving a mental shadow clone in somebody else's head. A conscience with a face as it were.

Sakura had a theory that using a seal like that would almost definitely have to mess up the methods by which a resurrected corpse was controlled. It wouldn't be as good as sealing it away, but it might be able to buy everyone some more time. A confused stumbling zombie would be a lot easier to handle than a bloodthirsty one.

A familiar voice broke through her thoughts as it echoed about the walls of the village. "Oi!" Naruto called up to the gate. "Is there anyone up there? I need to speak to whoever is in charge!" There was a brief pause. "Actually I'd like to talk to whoever is in charge of the main gate right now. I don't want to talk to Granny Tsunade just yet. She's probably still really mad at me."

Sakura glanced around, everyone was in a heightened state of readiness. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed their approach.

There was a brief murmur from the watching defenders. "Sasuke wants to know if we're in the center of the killzone," Naruto's voice rang out again, "or if you'd prefer we moved a little to the left." His words were brimming with pride.

She froze upon hearing that. Hinata had said she saw both of them with her byakugan, but hearing Naruto confirm it... and in such a cheerful voice...

She told herself it was just curiosity, but the rapidity of her steps gave truth to that lie. She had to know, she had to see. Sakura left her position at the makeshift triage area, and clambered forward, just in time to catch the end of Shikamaru's heated discussion with Temari. Given the looks the other Konoha 11 manning the gate were flashing the fighting couple, it had been getting progressively worse. "... and I'm telling you," Temari yelled at him, hands on hips, "that is so unbelievably dangerous it's stupid! I saw what he could do at the Five Kage summit first hand! What's gotten into you?"

Shikamaru shrugged, and looked away from her glare. "So? I was there when he attacked us during the war... he was much stronger then."

"All the more reason for you not to go out there all by yourself! He is a threat to your village! He swore to destroy you all the way down to the last child! Why aren't you trying to eliminate him?" Temari snapped, gesturing upwards with both hands.

"Because he's a former comrade... because Naruto is vouching for him, because someone has to do it... but mostly... because I'm curious," Shikamaru sighed. "Now will you step out of the way, troublesome woman?"

"No."

"No?" asked Shikamaru. Annoyance was creeping into his voice.

Temari tossed her head. "No... I refuse to sit here and watch you get torn apart by the Uchiha, because you're having some typically stupid Hidden Leaf attack of sympathy." She looked down at Shikamaru with scorn. "A Hidden Sand shinobi would never fall for this. Do you know why? Because we know that deeds... make... the man," she said prodding him emphatically three times in the chest. "You Leaf idiots always walk into traps because you are way too soft. Your emotions get the better of you the moment your opponents get all teary eyed, begging you for forgiveness." Temari folded her arms. "So.. until you clear your head Mister Nara... I am not going to let you out of that gate."

Shikamaru's head snapped up. His mouth turned into a fine hard line. "You have no right to give me orders," he said in a cold hard voice. "Not here, not now, not ever! I am in command here. This is my village, I am protecting it and I will do it as I see fit. If you don't like it... I suggest you go be somewhere else."

Temari narrowed her eyes. "Maybe I will go somewhere else. Maybe I've had enough of dallying with lazy jonin from Konoha." She turned haughtily and stalked off.

Sakura sidled up to Ino. She didn't say anything as Shikamaru wiped his hands on his pants, gave the order to open the gate and sauntered outside. As soon as the gate closed again Ino spun around to her. "Oh my Gods did you see that?" Ino squeaked.

"A little bit of it," said Sakura slowly. "What happened?"

Ino was grinning from ear to ear. "Shikamaru has been complaining to me about her for months! It was driving me insane the way he'd whine on and on... 'She's so bossy! Temari never lets things go!" Ino gave a little excited squeal. "He finally listened to me and told the Sand bitch to go take a hike... This is the best day ever!" Ino stopped gloating long enough to take a look at Sakura. "Aren't you supposed to be in the rear with the medical team?"

Sakura blushed slightly. "Well, yes but... Hey! Why aren't you in the rear with the medical team?"

Ino grinned mischievously at her. "Shika-Ino-Cho combo. I get to go where the commander goes." Grabbing Sakura's hand she pulled her forward. "Come on! I want to get a peek and see if Sasuke is as hot as ever, don't you?" She ran to the wall and started sprinting up the stairs to the palisade at the top.

"Ino! Wait!" gasped Sakura.

Ino just smiled. "Come on Billboard brow! Let's take a look! Just remember, I get to ask him out first!" They found a spot that wasn't going to interfere with the defenders and peeked over.

There was a quick twinge of jealously, but somehow Sakura turned it into a disgusted look. "You'd ask out Sasuke? Seriously? After all that he's done?"

Ino gave her a coy grin. "Oh Sakura, didn't you know that bad boys are always the most fun to tame?" Ino held Sakura's stare. Finally she started to giggle. "Hah! I had you going there for a moment didn't I?"

Sakura just shook her head and stared out over the wall. Naruto was the first one to catch her eye. Bright orange will always do that. He stood there, gesturing animatedly to Shikamaru, and bouncing with barely contained glee. He looked a little battered, a little bruised, but mostly okay. Certainly nowhere near the badly injured / almost certainly dead condition that Pakkun had inferred from the wreckage of the battlefield at the Valley of the End.

Sakura couldn't make out any words but she could tell the conversation had taken a sour turn. Naruto had straightened indignantly, and gestured to the figure next to him.

Sasuke turned and raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture. As he was talking, his eyes idly roamed over the walls of Konoha. His head stopped for a brief moment, and Sakura had the sudden sensation of his eyes closing the distance and locking onto her.

An icy tingle swept up her spine. _I am fully in control,_ she told herself. She squeezed her hands tight on the top of the wall. _It's just Sasuke. It's been almost six years. He doesn't mean anything to me..._ She forced herself to meet his gaze and not blink.

Very slowly, Sasuke's lips curled in a smile and his head dipped in a tiny nod. In that moment, a heated blush crawled down her face. Sakura quickly ducked behind the balustrade. Her breath came in fast short pants. She'd thought that she was done reacting to him this way. She was over Sasuke. She told herself she wanted nothing to do with this... murderer, this criminal.

_This is not supposed to be happening,_ she admonished to herself. _I am a fully qualified jonin now... a Level four medical-nin... not some silly academy girl with a crush._ She bit her lip, hard, in the hope the pain would clear her head. It seemed to work. Her breathing returned to normal, she felt the flush draining from her face. The only parts of her that refused to cooperate were her hands... they wouldn't stop shaking.

"Hey! I think he's looking up here!" said Ino teasingly. "Hi Sasuke!" she said in a giggling conversational tone. She gave a small wave with her hand. "Did you see that? He's..." Ino looked down. "What are you doing down there Sakura?"

"I'm okay," Sakura said, pushing herself back up. "The heights just got to me for a second."

"Yeah right," teased Ino, "More like you're swooning, Forehead."

"Shut up Ino-pig," grunted Sakura, indignant at Ino's assumptions. Ino naturally had the confidence that Sakura had to pretend. Ino was statuesque, blonde, and just oozed grace and poise from every pore. After the war, shinobi from every nation had fallen in love with the flaxen haired kunoichi from the Yamanaka clan... and Ino reveled in all the attention.

"I have important information regarding the war criminal Kabuto Yakushi that I wish to give to the Leaf Village," Sasuke's voice boomed across the walls. Both girls turned in time to see him work his katana scabbard from his belt and let it fall to the ground. "I have the location of his hideout, intel on his forces and jutsu, and I know that he is planning attacks on the Five great nations. I swear that I will not lift a hand against anyone in the Hidden Leaf Village. I am willing to exchange this information in return for being allowed to enter."

There was a sudden stillness along the wall. "Woah," said Ino quietly. "Is it just me or does this sound like Sasuke wants to make nice... That's quite the change from the Fourth War wouldn't you say?"

"What did you say to me via your clone?" Hinata's voice quivered through the air, grabbing everyone's attention with it's histrionic note. Naruto called out her name and took a series of eager steps towards her, but then slowed as he saw the expression on her face.

"Somebody's in trouble," said Ino in a little sing song voice. "Do you think she's going to be able to stay mad at Naruto? I'll bet you a hundred ryo that they'll be making up in an hour." Ino turned and gave her a nudge, "Sakura?"

"Hmm?" said Sakura, distracted. She was trying to pay attention to the quiet talk Hinata was having with Naruto. She was half hoping that somehow... Naruto wouldn't screw this up. Sakura was honestly trying to read Hinata's body language, but she kept getting distracted by Sasuke. She could have sworn that Sasuke stole another glance at the wall again.

Ino sighed. "Do you want to take the bet or not?"

"What bet?"

Ino gave her a cruel smile. "Come on Sakura... Are you paying attention or drooling over Sasuke? I know we used to have the hots for him, but come on... He's a missing-nin now... No clan, no village... He's unbelievably cute, but he has absolutely no prospects. " Ino tossed her hair and smiled. "Except jail time maybe... I keep telling you, you need to get out and date more."

Sakura frowned. "Oh, and I suppose you know all about what men want?"

"Absolutely." Ino rubbed a hand down her flank. "We're not little girls anymore. We're grown up women now, it's time for us to act all cool and disinterested and make the men come to us. Dating is all one big chase - we run away and they try to catch us!"

Sakura leaned back to hide her shock. "My mother would kill me if I treated dating like it was some sort of game."

"Dating is a game, and you're sitting it out on the sidelines," Ino giggled. "Stop acting like such a blushing teenager. I date a lot, it's true, but it's not like I'm going to let anything happen. I'm just in it to have fun! That's all."

"Yeah, but... All those different guys," Sakura mumbled, turning slightly red. "Doesn't it... You know..."

Ino laughed out loud. "What!? You think I'm sleeping with them? Get real!" Ino gave Sakura a playful shove. "There's a world of difference between dating and sex. We kiss, we fool around... But I am in complete control of everything that happens. That's part of the unwritten rules if you want the boys to keep chasing you ... You have to look willing, but you have to make it a challenge."

Sakura gave her friend a half sneer. "Yeah, and I'm sure that the fact that your father's a mind reader has nothing to do with it."

Ino sneered back. "At least I know what I'm doing! You'd probably get all clinical and view making out as some sort of science experiment." Ino gave her a teasing grin. "If I wanted to, I could have Sasuke wrapped around my finger like that! I'm sure that he'd prefer a woman with a little bit of worldly experience, like me." Ino ignored the disgusted noise Sakura made and stared down over the wall. "So... What do you think? A hundred ryo says Hinata breaks down into tears, throws herself at Naruto, and they will be back making kissing noises within the hour."

Sakura gave Ino a nudge and pointed down. Hinata was marching in a determined way away from a despondent Naruto. "I think you're lucky I didn't take that bet. Hinata has a lot more resolve these days."

There was a long uncomfortable silence in front of the gate. Naruto stood there staring after Hinata. Sasuke nudged him and said something she couldn't quite catch.

Naruto shook his head as if to clear it, but kept looking after her. "So..." he asked, trying to keep his voice devoid of emotion. "What do you think Shikamaru? Can we come in?"

There was an anxious whispering that rose from the walls. Sakura turned her head both ways and realized that about a tenth of the population of Konoha had the same idea that she and Ino had. The buttresses were getting crowded as shinobi appeared to reinforce the guardians and in turn stayed to watch the drama unfold.

Shikamaru's shoulders drooped. He held out his right hand and gently made a forward waving motion. There was a blur of movement and he was surrounded by team three, what remained of team eight after Hinata left, and Choji. "Woops! That's my cue," said Ino excitedly.

"Wait!" called Sakura, snatching at her hand. "Aren't you worried? I mean... That's Sasuke!"

Ino gave her a crooked smile. "Shikamaru's down there... With me to back him up, and Choji besides... We're worth three Sasukes." She lept up to the top of the parapet and sprinted down the side of the wall.

When she reached the group, Shikamaru asked Ino a question that Ino answered by pointing back up the wall. She then turned and started to wave Sakura down.

Sakura really didn't want to go. She stumbled a little bit as she walked down the side of the wall. She almost felt like her knees should be shaking, but was very thankful they weren't.

She kept her eyes fixed on Shikamaru as she walked forward. He leaned in next to her ear. "Sakura... Good. I wanted your medical advice," he muttered. "I needt to verify the best way to physically test these two to make sure they are who they say they are. I don't want to let anyone who's been transformed or any Zetsu clones into the village.

She was glad for the distraction. Her mind flipped a few mental pages. "Depending on what type of transformation is used, Neji should be able to detect it with his byakugan. In the field, sometimes a physical blow can be used to try to disrupt the jutsu."

"And a Zetsu clone?" asked Shikamaru.

Sakura smiled, "Other than using Naruto in Nine tails chakra mode... A blood test is probably your best bet. We'd need to get a few samples and them bring them back to a lab." Sakura glanced over to where Naruto and Sasuke were quietly talking. Well, Naruto was talking, Sasuke was staring at the main gates of Konoha with an enigmatic expression on his face. "You probably would also want Ino to give them a quick mind scan and see if she picks up any errant thoughts or anomalies. That would give away a hidden shinobi, or a sealed set of instructions, or..." She paused nervously. "If there is anything else suspicious going on."

Shikamaru motioned Ino over. "I thought about that... the problem is..."

"The problem is what Shikamaru?" Ino asked giving him a dazzling smile as she approached.

"Tell Sakura the mind scan problem," grunted Shikamaru.

Ino's smile faded and she spoke in a business like manner. "The problem is that once I jump into their heads, they are going to start to fight me. Even if they agree to do the scan, everyone does... it's a natural reaction. If they're unconscious I can last for a little while longer, but the best way to get a successful one is if they're drugged."

Shikamaru turned back to Sakura. "What do you think? Can you do that?"

Sakura swallowed. "If the pair of them are willing... it shouldn't be too hard."

Shikamaru nodded, turned from their quiet conversation and faced Sasuke and Naruto. "Okay... I've decided that I'll let the pair of you inside..."

"It's about time!" said Naruto.

"If," continued Shikamaru, " you can pass the following tests."

"Oh come on!" wailed Naruto.

"What sort of tests?" asked Sasuke in a cool voice. Sakura was proud she didn't jump at the sound of it.

"Byakugan scan, physical blow, and we want to make sure you both have normal blood."

"Blood?" yelped Naruto. "You mean, like, with a needle?!"

Sasuke nodded once. "You want to make sure we're not Zetsu clones. Smart."

Shikamaru inclined his head acknowledging his comment. "I also want the two of you to undergo a mind scan from Ino here."

Sasuke's face froze still. He licked his lips nervously before he spoke. "No."

There was a tensing of the group. Neji slowly inched around behind Sasuke. Tenten twirled the bashosen idly between her fingers. Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean no?"

"Sasuke," hissed Naruto warningly.

"I mean that if that is one of the conditions for allowing me into Konoha," Sasuke paused and glanced at Naruto, "then I'm turning around and leaving."

"Oh come on Sasuke," said Ino cheerfully trying to diffuse the tension. "Are you afraid of what I'd see inside your head?"

Sasuke's dark eyes flashed at her. Ino gulped and took an involuntary step back. Both Choji and Shikamaru started a slow deliberate advance that would place themselves directly between Ino and Sasuke. Trying to break some of the tension, Naruto stepped forward. "I'll go first," he volunteered.

"No... you won't Naruto," Sasuke said in a flat voice. "You promised."

There was a low thrumming noise from Shino as a swarm of insects gathered around his head. The hair on Akamaru's back bristled up and his tail lashed angrily. "Naruto might have promised you," growled Kiba, "but I don't remember you promising the rest of us anything. In fact... all I remember is you trying to kill everyone here."

"I do believe that Kiba-kun has a valid point, Sasuke-san." Lee said in a calm, serious voice. He stretched up on his toes and rolled his neck back and forth a little, before settling into a ready stance. "If you truly mean no harm as you say... Surely it would not hurt to let Ino..."

"No!" snapped Sasuke.

"Look," said Naruto in a soothing voice, casting a glance at Sasuke. "He gave you his word Shikamaru. Once you verify that we're really who we say we are, can't you just let us in to talk to Granny Tsunade?"

"You would have us trust the oath of a missing-nin?" asked Neji dryly.

"The oath of a traitor?" echoed Tenten, with a scowl. "How many people died because of you Sasuke?"

Sasuke tilted his head this way and that as the anger and resentment from his former friends grew. He stood in the center of the ring and took it all. Naruto tried to put a stop to it. "Look!" he said loudly, putting an arm around Sasuke. "That's true okay? He did do a lot of bad stuff..." Naruto paused and frowned at Kiba's scoff, "but that's all behind him now. He wants to make amends! This is Sasuke we're talking about! He'll always be one of us!"

"And you can prove that to us... How?" asked Shikamaru skeptically.

"Just give him a chance!" yelled Naruto. "I don't understand why it's so difficult for you all to..." He stopped talking as Sasuke gave Naruto a shove, knocking his arm away.

Sakura felt a stab of alarm in her breast as she found his dark onyx eyes staring right at her. "Sakura," he said in a flat voice. "You've been very quiet. What do you think? Do you think you could trust me?"

There was no anger in his eyes this time, there was no rage twisting his face. He stood there looking very tired, resigned, but a little hopeful. He was more apprehensive than she had ever seen him. It took all of her training to remain still. Two years ago, if he had looked at her this way and asked that same question, Sakura would have squealed and yelled a big hearty "Oh Gods yes Sasuke! Take me away in your big strong arms!" She opened her mouth and almost started to forgive him.

Almost. She remembered how warm Karin's blood was as it flowed over her hands. The smell of burning flesh and the screams of the wounded were never far from her mind. She tried to glare at him with her green eyes, but in the end she had to settle for looking away. "You tried to kill me Sasuke... Three times. Twice on the bridge, and once in the war."

Sasuke closed his eyes and let his head drop down to his chest. "I see," he muttered. He turned on his heel and took a step back down the road.


	81. Chapter 27: Sakura's Tale: part 3

"Sasuke?" asked Naruto.

"Where do you think you're going?" spat Kiba.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm leaving." Sasuke answered. He kept walking with a slow confident swagger.

"I'm not so sure we can allow that," said Shikamaru slowly.

Sasuke stopped next to the scabbard of his katana and bent to pick it up. He pointedly ignored the various combat stances that half of the shinobi slid into, and stuck the weapon back into his belt. "You won't allow it?" he asked with wry arrogance. "What makes you think that you can stop me?"

"Sasuke," Naruto said quietly. "We swore we'd do whatever it took to stop Kabuto... remember?"

"I still intend to," said Sasuke in a hoarse, bitter voice. "I'll just have to do it alone." He made a derisive snort. "An Uchiha should know better than to depend on..."

The ground shuddered as sixteen shinobi clad in dark cloaks and wearing ANBU masks exploded from the soil. In almost perfect unison, four of them surrounded Sasuke and began a blindingly fast series of hand signs. A sealing barrier sprang up around Sasuke. Twisting chains of blue chakra snaked out from the walls and locked him down. "Sasuke!" Naruto had enough time to cry out in surprise and anger before he was also similarly restrained.

The remaining eight ANBU took up defensive positions around the sealing teams, blocking out the Konoha 11 who were there. It all happened so fast that all Sakura could do was let her jaw drop open.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Neji glance down with his byakugan and stiffen. Akamaru whined and Shino's bugs seemed to orbit him a little bit tighter. A second later she herself felt it, an ominous dark chakra that oozed through the air. It wasn't the most powerful she'd ever felt, but it was a dank concentrated evil. Every breath she took felt polluted and oily with it.

A seventeenth figure slowly emerged from the ground, phasing through it as if he were a ghost. He shook the edge of his cloak and a fine smattering of grit and small pebbles rattled on the road. His cloak snapped jauntily in the breeze. His back still to Sakura, he stepped forward and peered at the now trapped Sasuke.

"Excuse me," Shikamaru said. "Not that I don't appreciate the help in restraining Sasuke, but do you really think it's necessary to chain up Naruto too?" The mystery shinobi continued to stare at the entrapping seals, occasionally brushing them with the tip of a finger, causing a small shower of sparks to fall. "Hey!" Shikamaru called a little louder. "I asked you a question! You might be ANBU but I'm in command here! Who are you anyway?"

After intently staring at the straining Uchiha for a minute, he straightened and faced Shikamaru. Sakura heard Ino gasp. The mask underneath his hood was bone white and featureless. Not even eyeholes marred it's smooth surface.

The masked Shinobi took one solitary step forward. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji all shrank back. One hand slithered out from under his robe and tapped twice on his mask. He never spoke a word, but everyone understood its meaning. _I am an ANBU,_ the gesture said. _You do not question me._ The robed figure turned back to Naruto and Sasuke, struggling behind their respective barriers.

Sakura had faced down Orochimaru. She had fought in the war against the masked Madara Uchiha. She had seen Sasuke at his worst. None of their chakra's compared to this blank faced man. Each of those aforementioned shinobi surpassed him in power... But... the sheer corruption of this man's chakra...

If she were to make an analogy, Orochimaru would have been like a viper - All poison and speed and quick stinging death. This nameless, silent man was like a bacterium that got into a wound. First it would start to fester, then the rapidly reproducing bacteria would spread throughout the host's body. Swimming about in a sea of blood and pus, the infection would spread into the veins, spreading toxins and inflammation in creeping red lines until it reached the heart... Not as dramatic or as impressive as the viper, but every bit as deadly. At least a viper bite would result in a clean death.

"What do we do now?" Choji hissed. "We can't let him take Naruto like that... Can we?"

"ANBU always act on the orders from the Hokage," muttered Shikamaru. "It would be just like Tsunade to want to teach Naruto a..."

There was short cloud of dust as Sai skidded to a stop on the road. "Hello," he said in his unnaturally cheerful way. "I rushed over as soon as I received the order." He smiled and leaned to one side to better examine the sealed Naruto and Sasuke. "I wish you had told me that you had already acquired your own sealing squads. I wouldn't have needed to hurry." He looked about interestedly. "The four chained posts sealing jutsu!" Sai said with surprise. "I wasn't aware that was known by anyone outside of..."

Sai's voice slowly ground to a halt. As he was talking, the blank masked man slowly turned back around and faced him. Although there were no eyeholes in the mask. It was quite clear he was staring at Sai.

Sai's already pale face turned positively ashen. His eyes grew twice as wide as the masked and hooded figure paced slowly towards him. Sai quivered as if he were trapped in some sort of waking nightmare. "How did you?..." he started to whimper. He flinched as the smooth masked man waved one gloved hand in a cutting gesture towards Sai. "Please..." was he all he managed to say before his voice was cut off in a choking gasp. He clawed at his throat and started to turn red.

"Sai!" yelled Sakura. She caught him as he stumbled about, trying to suck in his next breath. He was obviously making all the classic signs of choking. But she was totally unclear how.

Sakura pulled him down to the road. "Just relax," she said in her smooth professional voice. "I've got you Sai, everything will be okay."

A quick medical scan revealed his trachea was clear of obstructions. There was no inflammation in his lungs, which ruled out an allergy. She found the cause in his mouth. He was choking on his tongue. It had swollen to about two and a half times its normal size, and still growing.

Sakura worked as fast as she could. She put one hand under his chin and started an anti-inflammatory pulse of chakra. With the other she pried his jaw open as far as it would go. There was a lot of resistance there, far more than there should have been . "An allergy? Maybe tetanus?" she wondered to herself as she boosted her fingers just enough to overcome the added pressure without going so far as to dislocate his jaw. Even so, she heard his mandible creak with the strain. Sakura swallowed nervously and jammed her fingers past Sai's now purple lips, and down his throat.

Sai's tongue throbbed and twitched. There were warm raised bars across its surface. She tried applying the anti-inflammatories to those spots directly. It seemed to slow the rate of the swelling, but didn't make it go down by the tiniest bit. Thankfully she was still all kitted out with all the gear from the previous night's attempt to find Naruto. Her hand had closed around her epinephrine syringe, and she was scouting for a likely injection site, when Neji's voice boomed out, "Release your jutsu on him!"

Sakura looked up. The Hyuga jonin had launched himself at the Masked man, and was now battling three of the ANBU guards who had intercepted him. A fourth had gotten around behind Neji and into his blind spot. Poised for a sneak attack, this fourth guard began to form the hand signs for a fire style jutsu. He had brought his hand to his mouth to launch the jutsu, when Lee swept his legs out from underneath him, and made sure he stayed down with a falling axe kick. Lee rolled to his feet and sprinted to Neji's side.

The remaining four ANBU guards who were watching Sasuke, looked at each other and took a step towards the fray. There was stinging gust of wind that made Sakura's ears painfully pop with the pressure.

Tenten spun the bashosen in her hands and pulled it back over her shoulder. "Don't even think about it," she said to the guards in a warning voice.

The blank masked shinobi pulled a kunai and charged right towards Sai and Sakura. Later, Sakura would wonder how such an unimpressively built person could be so agile, but right now, she tensed as he dove between Kiba and Akamaru's tunneling fang, spun free from Shino's cloud of insects, and dodged Choji's huge fist.

As Choji's fist swept by, the shadow underneath exploded into dark twisting tendrils.

The masked man was unbelievably nimble on his feet. He might have been able to avoid Shikamaru's shadow sewing jutsu too, if Sakura hadn't decided right then, to punch the ground. Hard.

There was a minor earthquake, and the pavement on the road shattered. The featureless masked man stumbled, and in that second, the shadows captured him.

"Well?" asked Shikamaru, once the tremors died down. "Release the jutsu on Sai. Then we'll see if you want to talk."

"Shikamaru," Sakura called warningly, trying to force down her teammate's tongue with brute force. "Sai's getting worse!"

"Release him I said!" yelled Shikamaru. The masked Shinobi just stood there impassively.

"Tamago," called a relaxed, rich, baritone voice from out of the very air. "Enough games. You have done admirably... but now, I believe the situation would benefit from my presence."

The blank masked shinobi nodded, and made a simple hand sign. Sai sucked in a huge lungful of air. Shikamaru released him as the color returned to Sai's face. The mystery shinobi then made a much more complex string of signs. The earth shook again and split open. This time, a long stone staircase descended into the darkness. Sakura could hear the footsteps as someone slowly climbed.

An older shinobi, perhaps in his early forties, ascended into the daylight. "Nicely done," he said in an exceptionally cultured voice. "This situation seems to be well in hand. I really must hand it to you." He turned and made a short bow to Shikamaru, and swept his arm to indicate the whole group of the Konoha 11. "And you youngsters as well. I must thank you for being bold enough to stand up to such a dangerous man." He gave them the pleased look a man would give a dog when it learned a new trick, and stroked his pencil thin mustache.

Shikamaru and Choji looked at each other. "Um... Thanks? But isn't he like, your guy?" Choji asked, a little confused. He pointed at the masked shinobi.

The man ignored him. "You delayed the Uchiha long enough for my sealing teams to get into position. I shall make sure to give you all a little something as a reward." The mustachioed man turned back to the ANBU. "Remember gentlemen," he called out to his men, "make sure you avoid the Uchiha's gaze. Even weakened, they can still cast a genjutsu with his eyes." The four members of Sasuke's sealing team started to walk very slowly, the chakra chains dragging him along inside the barrier.

Shikamaru tilted his head slightly. "No offence sir, but this is my operation. I am in command of the prisoners."

The man acted like her didn't hear. "Make sure you take the jinchuriki as well. We can't allow the valuable assets of the village to go rogue like that," he snorted. "Imagine letting the boy run around like that however he pleases. I don't know what the Fifth Hokage was thinking… It is shameful!"

"Halt!" barked Shikamaru, taking a step forward. "I'm not letting either Naruto Uzumaki or Sasuke Uchiha out of my sight without finding out who I'm releasing them to." The smooth masked ANBU took an ominous step forward.

The well coiffed man waved a hand lazily. "Oh do calm down Tamago. I'm sure the Nara boy is bluffing. He would not dare to harm me." He turned and looked contemptuously at Shikamaru. "Keep going men, just make sure to take special care with Uzumaki. Things could get difficult if we arouse the monster inside of him."

Sakura saw Shikamaru frown. His 'what a drag' expression flashed across his face once, then he started barking orders. "Squads three eight and ten, target the shinobi maintaining the sealing jutsu. Nothing lethal, just enough to distract them, or better yet knock them unconscious."

There was a sharp moment of tension as Shikamaru and the new gentleman eyed each other. "Well, I never would have expected a Nara to be so impetuous. Especially the noteworthy Shikamaru. What happened to your legendary caution?" A faint smile crossed the man's lips as the silence built. "Hurry up and speak my dear boy, insubordination doesn't become you."

"I am not releasing anyone into your custody without seeing an order from the Hokage," said Shikamaru gruffly with one hand outstretched. "And you still haven't told me who you are."

The man gave him a wry smile. "I am the person incharge of this particular ANBU team. I believe that is all you need to know... and as I am here in an official capacity, I believe that I outrank you. Please fall back and let me take care of the prisoners."

Shikamaru glanced back to where Sakura was holding Sai up in a seated position. "Your lieutenant there," he said nodding at the masked man. "He attacked Sai without any warning... Why?"

The man gave a brittle smile and shrugged. "Perhaps they have some past history... perhaps it was over a private matter. It's unfortunate that poor Tamago is mute, otherwise I'm sure he would tell us." He pulled at the thin mustache on his lip. "Have you tried asking your friend there if he can think of a reason? I'm sure he could remember if he tried hard enough..."

Sai shot the man a look of pure venom before looking away. "It was nothing. A small private argument that Tamago and I had in the past." With one finger he started scratching furiously on the dusty road.

"So who is he?" asked Shikamaru pointedly.

"I cannot say." Sai was sketching out a crude picture of a tree.

"Really?" asked Shikamaru suspiciously.

"I cannot say." said Sai flatly. He drew a line for the ground and roughly sketched in a system of roots burrowing through the earth. Then he hurriedly circled them.

"I see," said Shikamaru tersely. "That makes this an entirely different story. Please accept my sincerest apologies. Why don't we accompany you as an honor guard so we can at least be there with you when you present the prisoners to the Hokage."

The cultured man gave a chill smile. "Your offer is noted... but completely unnecessary."

Shikamaru smiled back. "Oh... but I insist." Sakura was slightly confused, until Sai tugged gently on her arm and tapped the drawing of his tree again. No.. he tapped the roots on his tree picture.

These shinobi were part of Root.

A long time ago, during the earliest term of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi had selected his old friend and rival Danzo Shimura to be the commander of the ANBU. He and Danzo ended up clashing so many times, over policy, over training methods, finally even over the very philosophy of what a shinobi should be. Rumors sprang up of harsh indoctrination techniques, tests of loyalty, and brainwashing. People said Danzo was carrying out his own operations in a secret black war against other villages. Finally, there were the stories that the 'accidental' deaths that happened to new recruits during training weren't really accidental. A short time after the Uchiha clan massacre, Hiruzen Sarutobi removed Danzo from the post and appointed a new ANBU commander. He also decided that the ANBU of the Hidden Leaf village had too much power and influence, and increased the jurisdiction of the Konoha Jonin Corps as a result.

But Danzo had still remained a force to be reckoned with in the Hidden Leaf Village. There were many elders in the village who disagreed with the Third Hokage's world view and wanted him to take a more hard line approach. The Shimura clan was wealthy and powerful and Danzo ended up the de facto leader of this group.

He also had a second advantage. There were a significant number of ANBU who remained loyal to Danzo even after he was removed from his post. This group privately cursed the perceived short sightedness of the Third Hokage and continued Danzo's methods of recruitment and training. They called themselves 'Root'. Always hidden, always in darkness, but the only thing that kept the Leaf village from falling down.

Sai used to be a member of Root. They had recruited him out of the pool of orphans and foundlings that floated around the edges of the Leaf village. The new recruits were trained in pairs.

Whatever the indoctrination and training entailed, it crippled Sai emotionally. The only part he had ever told Sakura about was the graduation exam. "There is no room for the meek in Root," he was told. "We only need the strong." Sai and his teammate, his 'brother', were then forced to fight... to the death.

"If you delay us any further, I will be forced to take disciplinary action against you, Shikamaru Nara!" said the well coiffed man. His smile was friendly, cheerful even... but his eyes glowered with rage.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" asked Shikamaru., moving forward and grinning like a cat that has cornered a mouse. "You've already got Sasuke trapped... There's no reason to be in a rush...Unless you Root guys are worried about the real ANBU showing up." The rest of the Konoha 11 took his cue and shifted around the Root ANBU, blocking their escape routes.

To their surprise, the mustached man laughed. "'Real' ANBU? I am the real ANBU. I am commander Eiji Shimura."

Neji frowned. "The commander of the ANBU corps is Jiro Inuzuka."

Eiji smiled. "No... the commander of the Hokage's ANBU corps is Jiro Inuzuka. I'm surprised that a young man like you would be privy to sensitive information like that." Shikamaru bristled under the man's patronizing grin. "I am the commander of the Council's ANBU corps."

"The Council doesn't have an ANBU corps! The ANBU receive their orders directly from the Hokage. Stop treating us like we're genin straight from the academy," snapped Shikamaru. "I am ordering you to release both Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha right now!" He raised one hand. "Failure to do so will be considered an act of aggression under Article 27 Paragraph 3 of the Hidden Leaf's council accords. Let them go, Shimura-san or we will take steps."

The remaining Root shinobi coalesced around Eiji Shimura. He glanced at the Konoha 11 that were surrounding him, taking an especially long time to study Shikamaru.

Shikamaru glared back. "It will be a bit of a drag," the Nara jonin said to his friends, "because we're outnumbered, but try to target the Root shinobi sealing Naruto. Once he's free, I'm betting they won't have the advantage in numbers for very long."

"I do not think we will even need Naruto to deal with these people. I bet that Team Three could deal with them all by our lonesome," said Lee eagerly, settling into a ready fighting pose.

To everyone's surprise, Eiji laughed. "Save your energy. You will need it when the council hauls you all in for your court martials." He smiled at Shikamaru in a magnanimous way. "As for you young Nara... May I recommend that before you go about quoting the council accords, you make sure to read them all... very carefully... I would advise you to look at the amendment the Sixth Hokage signed to Article 43."

"There isn't a Sixth Hokage," growled Kiba.

Eiji waved to his men. "Release the prisoners," he said in an amused voice. He turned quickly and nodded to Shikamaru. "I'm sure their capture will be the last glory they have for a long, long time."

The sealing jutsu restraining Naruto and Sasuke ended. The chains fell away allowing the both of them to collapse on the ground. "Take good care of the Uchiha now. I will have many things I need to discuss with him, when he is returned to my custody. " Eiji proudly strode down the steps with the rest of his men. The earth slowly closed over them.

"Naruto!" Sakura called, running over to check on him. "Are you okay?"

He looked a little more dazed than usual, but he still had the strength to push himself up. "Ouch," he groaned. "It felt like being chewed on by a thousand electric ants." He held up his wrists which were red, blistered and raw. "Those stupid chains suck the chakra right out through your pores."

Sakura sank down next to him. "Here," she said holding out her hands, "let me heal them."

Naruto pulled his arms away. "I'll be fine. Go check on Sasuke. He used up a lot of his chakra when he... he used up a lot more chakra than I did."

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke. Aside from the slow rise and fall of his chest, he lay motionless in the street. She had the sudden flash of that time in the Land of the Waves and he had taken a fusillade of Haku's needles. He had done what he could to protect Naruto, a boy he could barely tolerate, and in the next moment he was limp and bloodied on the deck of the unfinished bridge.

All her life she had seen him, full of a barely leashed brooding energy. But now... he looked so vulnerable lying there. She felt that same twinge in her chest, the sudden sharp pang of wanting to hold him and protect him. But the more she felt the probing eyes of her friends and fellow shinobi staring at her, the more she shook it off. "Naruto, I'm not sure that..."

Naruto read the hesitation in her eyes."He's been lost Sakura. He's been lost on a path of hatred and revenge for a very long time, but I promise you that he's trying to find his way back. Sasuke needs all the help he can get to find his way home." Naruto gave her a small nudge. "Go on... help him out. It would mean... a lot to him if you did."

Sakura chewed on her bottom lip. She heard her inner voice urging her forward. _It would only be a medical scan,_ she told herself. _It is my job after all. It isn't like there's anything improper about it._ She was climbing up to one knee as Shikamaru appeared beside her.

"Actually... I think it would be best if we just... left Sasuke the way he was for a while." Shikamaru fumbled with one of his pockets for a second, looking for a non-existent pack of cigarettes, before pulling his hand away. "It'll be easier to transport him if he's out cold."

"What?" Naruto snapped.

Shikamaru sighed. "Look Naruto... he was just about to walk away. We can't allow that. He's the number one threat to the safety of Konoha right now, there's still a warrant out for his capture." He looked around at his fellow shinobi and shrugged. "It's our duty to bring him in." He gave Naruto an uncomfortable glance. "Sorry Naruto, but that's just how things are." Shikamaru turned. "Ino? Do you think you could try to give him that mind scan now?"

Ino nodded and walked forward, hands outstretched. "I'm willing to try, Sakura could you..."

"No," said Naruto, stepping in between them. "I'm not going to let you."

"Naruto," said Shikamaru, trying to be reasonable. "You don't know for certain that you can trust him."

"I do!" insisted Naruto. "He has his reasons for not wanting anyone in his head. He's different now... He's better!" He turned in a circle looking at the hard faces of his friends. "I trust him!"

"Fine. You trust him. What about the rest of us? What are we supposed to trust?" Shikamaru threw up his hands in exasperation. "You were there during the Fourth war. You saw what he did. He's a monster! You heard what he swore! He is too big a menace to let him wander around free! I'm sorry... If you're not going to let us verify that he's safe... We're going to have to put him somewhere where we can be sure he won't hurt anyone."

Naruto looked around at the stares the other Konoha 11 were giving to him. When he finally looked at Sakura, she turned away. "Fine," he said getting to his feet. "If Sasuke is going to end up in a cage, then I guess I..." He bent over and grunting, picked up Sasuke in his arms, "will just have to go along too." He started walking towards the gate.

"Naruto, wait," called Shikamaru.

"After all," continued Naruto, ignoring him, "If Sasuke is too dangerous to let run free then I must be as well. It just stands to reason. You know how those monsters are... I don't see anyone asking me to submit to some mind scan... I could be hiding dangerous secrets or thinking nasty thoughts too." He angrily marched through the gate, past the staring crowd. There was a smattering of applause that swelled to a dull roar. People were cheering the hero of the Leaf.

Sakura heard Kiba mutter under his breath. "I wonder what all these nice folks would say if they knew their hero was marching off to jail?"


	82. Chapter 28: Sakura's Tale: part 1

**Chapter: 28 Sakura's tale: Do No Harm**

_The most common type of mission you will see as an ANBU will be the mission to gather intelligence. Most young shinobi like yourselves assume that in order to get the information you want, you will have to scout around in the dark, dodge behind enemy lines, capture important functionaries and... question them... vigorously._

_This perception couldn't be more naive._

_The purist who serves in the intelligence community will shy away from the heavy handed tactics. He will instead prefer to use methods which will leave the target with no idea whatsoever that he has been compromised._

_Gathering intelligence is, more often than not, sifting through someone's trash, digging up old forgotten delivery receipts and occasionally buying too many drinks for some mid level lackey you just 'happen' to meet at a bar._

_Shall I tell you why this works? All secrets have a burning desire to be told. That's it... nothing more complicated than that. Everything, no matter how well hidden, will come out one day._

_Well, I can see I was sent competent interns this time... You are all skeptical, but you hide it well...Not bad._

_You are all here because you fancy yourselves to have promise as ANBU. You believe you are stronger... tougher than anyone else in the Hidden Leaf. You are here because you believe you are the best… the strongest… unflappable… uncompromisable._

_I know differently._

_Each and every one of you is carrying a secret... Something that you fear anyone else knowing, something that you have hidden so deep inside your soul that you go about your daily life pretending it is not there. Something that will break you._

_By the end of this class... I will know all your secrets._

_-Ibiki Morino_

_From his opening lecture to new interns in the ANBU Interrogation Division_

* * *

"I said hold still!" Sakura snarled at the jittering Naruto. "I don't understand how you can charge headfirst into every fight without the slightest hesitation, but the moment someone shows you a needle, you start crying just like a little baby!"

"But... shots hurt Sakura-chan!" whined Naruto.

"This isn't a shot... It's a blood draw. And it will hurt a lot worse if you don't start... holding... still!" She jabbed the needle at his brachial vein, but Naruto could squirm like an eel when he wanted to. She missed... again. "I told you to hold still!" she roared.

"I am holding still!" he sniveled back. "It's not my fault you can't hit... Ye-Ouch!" While he was distracted Sakura used one hand to clamp down on his arm and the other to shove the needle in. Naruto whimpered like a kicked puppy. But no matter how much she wiggled the needle, the phlebotomy tube remained dry.

"I really really wish I didn't have to do this," Sakura muttered under her breath. She gave up on his left arm and started to tie off the vein in his right. In the scramble she accidentally dropped her butterfly needle. Cursing under her breath she started to unwrap a second one.

"If it makes you feel any better... I wish you weren't doing it either," said Naruto. "How about you just stop now? I promise I won't tell anyone."

Sakura gave him a glare. "Shut up Naruto... And don't you dare move this time or I'll go find the biggest male orderly I can and tell him you need a full body cavity search."

She had her orders. And if there was one thing that Sakura Haruno, respected student of the Fifth Hokage, was expected to do… it was follow orders.

She had been told to start the medical exams with Naruto. She was told to be very thorough with Naruto. It was imperative that she verify that this was not a reanimation, nor a transformation jutsu. She was told to take her time testing Naruto, ply him for information, see if she could get him to talk, to clear up the many suspicious details that were hanging around this most unexpected return.

Sakura had been told very firmly by the Hokage herself that once she was done with Naruto, she was expected to move on to Sasuke.

_It should be Tsunade-sama doing this,_ Sakura thought to herself. But Tsunade was insanely busy dealing with the Council and all the other problems that came from Sasuke's return. Most of those problems were pretty obvious. Sasuke had been a missing-nin for years, and practically the shinobi world's most notorious criminal. He was powerful beyond belief. Of course there would be endless meetings, needless political posturing and widespread anxiety. Of course Tsunade-sama would be disgruntled. And when Tsunade got upset because work had her up to her ears in manure, she tended to spread it around with a big shovel.

For the past five hours, Sakura had been running all over Konoha taking care of several small errands for the Hokage, each one more frantic than the last. Naruto and Sasuke's return had sparked a flurry of strange activity amongst the Hidden Leaf's elite… and Tsunade wasn't offering much in the way of explanations… and neither was anyone else… but the small bits she managed to ferret out on her own were… unsettling.

It was a puzzle. And given how panicked Tsunade-sama was over this, it was the type of puzzle that she should probably ignore. Even though Sakura knew she should be focusing more on her exam of Naruto, parts of her mind kept drifting off to analyze what pieces she had...

* * *

Shizune had told Sakura once that Tsunade's ground state of being was a barely controlled homicidal rage. It was obviously a joke. There was no way someone could be that upset all the time, even someone with a temper as legendary as the Fifth Hokage.

When the shinobi who had rushed to guard the main gate when Sasuke and Naruto had appeared went back to make their report, Tsunade was definitely not happy.

Sakura knew the Hokage was already quite upset that Naruto had gone off on this unsanctioned mission. Like everyone else, she was worried sick that he wouldn't be coming back. Unlike Hinata though, her position wouldn't let her show it. It is not done for the Hokage to break down into tears.

The Hokage is allowed to rant however.

Tsunade screamed about what an idiot he was. First for leaving, and second for trying to capture Sasuke all on his own. The Hokage used very unladylike language to describe exactly how she felt about allowing Sasuke inside the bounds of Konoha only relying on Naruto's word. She cursed on and on how either one of them were refusing to answer even the most basic questions. She then ranted for a while about what kind of stupid and unthinking moron would demand to be locked inside an interrogation cell with a known traitor and killer like Sasuke Uchiha.

After about twenty minutes, just as she was starting to run out of profanities, Shikamaru interrupted her. "Actually Tsunade-sama, there was one more... thing... that happened... Are you familiar with an Eiji Shimura?"

Tsunade snorted and reached for her sake bottle. "That little twerp? He's been making a lot of noise trying to make a name for himself ever since he was elected to the Shimura clan's council seat a year ago. He's ambitious, but he's too new to mount any sort of political threat. None of the other councilors would dare follow him," she said with derision.

Shikamaru cleared his throat. "He claims there's a clause in the council accords allowing him to set up his own private division of the ANBU. He and four platoons of men kind of appeared and used a sealing jutsu on both Sasuke and Naruto."

Tsunade's hand froze. "He did what?"

"He tried to capture both of them," Shikamaru droned on. "I'm almost certain he had a team lying in wait for them. He was monitoring their whole approach, I'm sure of it." Shikamaru gave a quick summary of what happened. "He appeared right away, when we captured his lieutenant. He also said something that you might want to look into. I was quoting the Council charter at him. I told him that he had no right to be there. I said that this was my command and and that I'd take action against him if he stayed." Shikamaru cleared his throat. "He shot back that the Sixth Hokage had signed an amendment to council provision number forty three, that let him set up his own ANBU. I'd hate to say it but it looks like he recruited some of the guys who used to be in Root." Shikamaru gestured over to Sai. "Sai recognized one of them."

"Is this true Sai?" asked Tsunade in a edged voice. Her hand picked up the sake bottle and began to fill her cup.

"I cannot say," said Sai, mumbling.

Tsunade gave Sai a questioning glance. "The seal on his tongue appears to have activated again," Sakura pointed out. "It looks like once again he's forbidden from talking about certain things having to do with this new Root."

"I cannot say," repeated Sai, emphatically this time.

"One of the Root guys were also able to activate his seal at will,"  
said Shikamaru. "The one Sai recognized, the lieutenant, tried to attack him."

As Shikamaru was talking, Shizune started to scramble frantically thought a pile of books on the corner of Tsunade's desk until she found a copy of the Council charter. She turned to the appropriate page and set the book down in front of Tsunade. The Hokage read it quickly and then slammed it shut, upsetting her cup of sake. "I see," said Tsunade very slowly. She spun around in her chair and stared out the window. The only noise was the sound of spilt alcohol trickling down her desk and pooling slowly on the floor. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention Shikamaru," Tsunade said after a long pause.

Shikamaru cocked his head and studied Tsunade. "He also mentioned something about a court martial for us if we got in his way... Is.. is this something we should be worried about?"

"Hmpf," grunted Tsunade. "Not as long as I am Hokage. You are all dismissed... All of you except Sakura that is... I will need her in a bit," she said imperiously. The majority of the shinobi began to file out of the room. As Shikamaru was leaving, Tsunade called out to him. "Shikamaru, I need you to head over to ANBU headquarters. Leave a message for the Commander that I need to speak with him as soon as possible." Shikamaru nodded and closed the door behind him.

Tsunade waited for the footsteps to recede, and then she slumped in her chair. "Damn that man, he's still playing power games from beyond the grave," she muttered.

"Damn who?" asked Sakura, curiously.

With a sudden movement Tsunade bolted upright and violently flung her desk across the room. It crashed into the wall in a cloud of plaster. "Danzo Shimura!" She roared. Tonton squealed and scrambled to hide behind Shizune. "Hiruzen-sensei always worried what he would do if he got his hands on the Hokage seat." She glared at Shizune. "And now we know... he'd spend his time filling the council charter with all sorts of little clauses and hidden loopholes to benefit his clan and his agenda until the end of time!" She whipped her head around and glared at Shizune. "How did he get the charter modified so quickly? He was acting Hokage for less than a month!"

"Tsunade-sama I..." started Shizune.

Tsunade brushed back her hair with her hands and stood a little straighter. "Well it's too late for speculation now. The three of us are going to sit here and pour over the charter and its bylaws line by line until we find each and every suspicious little addition." She strode over to the pile of kindling that used to be her desk and picked up her copy of the accords. "We'd better get Shikaku Nara in here too, he'll be able to help us decipher the advantages behind anything written in nebulous wording." She started rummaging in the debris, pulling out books and handing them to Shizune. "God only know what other time bombs we have ticking away in the laws of the village."

As Sakura began to help her master dig through the remains of her desk, a nagging issue sat up in Sakura's head and just would not let her be. "Excuse me Tsunade-sama, I have a question..."

"Can't it wait Sakura?" said Shizune. "We have a crisis here."

"I would... but I think that this is related... Why now?"

Tsunade stopped. "Excuse me?"

"Why move now?" asked Sakura. "This new Root group waited until Sasuke reappeared in order to reveal themselves. I could understand if their motive was revenge, for killing their former leader. But then they would have just struck and run away. There was no need for them to announce themselves. Why make everything public? Why did they attempt to capture both Sasuke and Naruto? If you want to capture someone wouldn't it be better to do it in a less obvious fashion?"

As Sakura talked, Tsunade slowly began chewing on her thumbnail. "It does seem... odd... But I'm sure it's nothing," the Hokage muttered.

Sakura found her reassurances to be anemic. "I just don't understand why they would want to capture Sasuke at all... unless they had something other than revenge in mind." She paused and replayed everything that was said and done. "If Shikamaru is correct about the Root team observing us, they tried to catch both Naruto and Sasuke pretty quickly after Shikamaru brought up that he wanted to do a mind scan on them. I wonder if that had anything to do with it?" She shook her head, trying to puzzle it all out.

There was a loud crash as Tsunade's inkwell slipped from Shizune's fingers and clattered back to the floor. "Shizune!" barked Tsunade. "Be more careful!"

"Sorry Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade turned back to Sakura. "That is a... very interesting line of inquiry." She finished chewing on her thumb and turned. "Sakura, I have a new job for you. It's going to require a little leg work. I need you to run to the Hyuga compound. Give Hiashi-sama my regards and ask him if he has any copies of the Third Hokage's records in his archives. I'm specifically looking for every order that originated in his office starting around around ten years ago."

Sakura nodded. "Do you want to ask him to loan them to you?" The Hyuga Archives were kept in a secure location outside the Hidden Leaf village. The obsessive-compulsive regard the Hyuga clan had for keeping old contracts, bylaws, agreements, and in general anything written down on a piece of paper had been invaluable in restoring many important documents... not to mention Tsunade's private library after the village had been demolished. Sakura began to back date the history of the Leaf village. Ten years ago... There was one very major event that had happened when she was eight years old.

Tsunade shook her head. "No! I want you to see if they even exist," Tsunade turned away and stared out the window, "and if they do... I want you to ask Hiashi-sama to carefully move them somewhere else. Preferably somewhere only he would be able to find."

"Why?" asked Sakura. "Do you think this has something to do with Itachi and the Uchiha massacre?" There was a very faint gasp. Sakura turned and looked at a pale Shizune. "Naruto said something like that to Sasuke right after... that fight where Danzo Shimura died... Naruto said he understood why Sasuke wanted to take revenge. Later he chided all of us that we just didn't understand why Sasuke was acting the way he was... But when we pressed him on the issue he said he couldn't talk about it." Shizune bustled about trying desperately to clean up."Is that why you want the documents?" Sakura continued, "Do you think something different happened?" Tsunade stood there staring out over Konoha. "Tsunade-sama?" Sakura prompted.

"If I wanted to explain all my reasons to you, I would have!" snapped Tsunade. "Now go!" Sakura jumped up, bowed and rushed out of the room.

It is a poor student who doesn't learn the ways of her teacher. It was obvious that both Tsunade and Shizune knew or suspected something that they were very reluctant to speak of with her in the room.

Sakura raced down the hall, paused for three breaths to suppress her chakra, slipped off her boots, and then ran back to the door of the Hokage's office, barefoot and silent. With a little luck, she had found that over the years she could get back before Tsunade had even started talking.

Luck was with her. There was a deep sigh from Tsunade and the clink of her sake bottle against her cup. "That girl is too bright for her own good sometimes," the Hokage muttered.

There was the thump of books as Shizune stacked them up. "So... I take it this means that the rumors are true?"

"I don't know Shizune," Tsunade groaned. There was a long pause. "According to intelligence obtained within the last two years, there was at least one source that claimed he was also present at the Uchiha massacre, and that it was... not all that it appeared to be... The problem... is the source of that intelligence was..."

"I know who he was," said Shizune uncomfortably. There was a long pause. "I never would have expected him of all people to..."

Tsunade snorted. "Jiraiya used to to say that everyone acts like a moron when it comes to love."

"And there's no record of an order in the top secret files?"

"If there was, it was lost in the old Hokage mansion when Pein attacked. It's hopeless to search for it now, unless you can tell me which big pile of rubble of the old village they were buried in," said Tsunade in a tired voice.

"And Hiruzen-sama never said anything to anyone?" Shizune prodded. "Jiraiya-sama maybe?"

There was a rustle of hair. Tsunade shaking her head maybe? "If he did… Jiraiya took it to his grave."

"And now, Sasuke Uchiha has returned," said Shizune slowly.

Tsunade's voice echoed in a bitter laugh. "The last Uchiha has willingly come back to his birthplace. During the war, he was swearing vengeance against every citizen of Konoha... down to the last child." There was a sigh, and the glug of liquid from a bottle. "What do you suppose he learned to make him hate us so? Is it any surprise all the old tensions suddenly resurface and threaten to throw the village back into chaos?"

"So you think that's why Eiji-san reformed Root?"

"Hm," grunted Tsunade positively. "That's probably part of it. The other is opportunity." The hokage took a drink and smacked her lips appreciatively. "There is one true blooded sharingan user left in this world. Everyone saw what Madara Uchiha could do during the Fourth War. Sasuke was just as terrifying. Controlling him automatically makes you a force to be reckoned with. Combine that with whatever knowledge Sasuke knows of the Uchiha clan slayings..."

"And you would have a fairly good reason for the Shimura clan wanting him under their authority," finished Shizune.

"Actually 'silenced' was more along the lines I was thinking of," said Tsunade darkly. There was the squeaking of a chair as the Hokage sat down. "I hate to say it... but with all the old troubles, and the new problems the return of Sasuke Uchiha is going to stir up... It might be a lot easier for all parties involved if the Uchiha were just to quietly disappear."

Sakura was very glad that Shizune gasped at that point because it covered up her own. "Tsunade-sama," Shizune said in shock, "you can't possibly mean that!"

There was another gurgling noise from the sake bottle. "Why not?" Tsunade murmured in a quiet voice. "If the rumors turn out to be true... there's a precedent for it." There was a slurping noise as Tsunade drained the cup. "Damn you Hiruzen-sensei," she muttered angrily.

* * *

It was true that one of the reasons Sakura was having so much trouble with the blood draw was that Naruto just wouldn't sit still. However, the bigger problem was that her hands were much more jittery than usual.

The reason for her hand tremors were a crazy mix of lack of sleep, turbulent emotions, a heavy sense of foreboding, all topped off with a burning curiosity. She wasn't sure she could handle this.

There had been a time… a long time ago... when she had imagined that Sasuke's return would be… well... a good thing. In her mind's eye, she'd always pictured Sasuke and Naruto and her being... mostly... like old times. Sasuke would be more open and Naruto would be less of an idiot and she would definitely be more calm and confident around him... They'd chat and hang out and maybe after a while... things would start to feel normal again. She never expected this talk of conspiracy and rumor and making Sasuke disappear. Things like that didn't happen in the Hidden Leaf village... Did they?

All of this mystery was drawing her interest like iron filings to a magnet. There was obviously something... hidden here. Naruto knew what it was. He'd dropped hints here and there that there was a reason for Sasuke's rage, that his desire for revenge against the Hidden Leaf might almost be justified. What she'd overheard Tsunade just say... well that would imply that the secret had been so buried that even the current Hokage wasn't privy to the full truth of it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage, was a kindly faced old man with a soft spot for children and orphans. He would often stop on the streets of Konoha to share a kind word or even play a quick game with the scrambling packs of shinobi children in the midst of their shrieking play. Sakura tried to picture his wizened wrinkled face being part of some sort of conspiracy… She couldn't do it.

Sakura had a natural tendency to want to solve mysteries. She didn't mind spending hours researching a problem, in fact she enjoyed the feeling of satisfaction she got. It's one of the traits that made her one of the higher ranked medical-ninja in Konoha Hospital.

She let her subconscious brain toy with this enigma, let it try to find different ways it could fit into what she knew of past events. Trying to figure out how the Uchiha massacre could be connected to what was happening now.

It was most definitely only because she was curious. The fact that Sasuke was involved had nothing to do with it... No matter how much her inner self tittered.

Sakura sat back and sighed with relief as the phlebotomy tube began to fill with an audible spurt. She undid the tie with a snap. Naruto promised her he wouldn't watch, but every so often he would steal a peek. Sakura could tell because his face would go white and his jaw would tighten.

She popped the first tube off the butterly line and snapped on the second. "Hey!" Naruto yelped. "You need more? What do you need that extra tube for?"

"Well these two tubes are for the blood typing and basic analysis, you know hematocrit, HDL, that sort of thing. The three with the green caps are for the genetic testing, the two small ones with the blue lids are hormonal analysis, and lastly these four in the blackened glass are for reference and chakra analysis."

Naruto's eyes got very big and he started to shake. "You need to do all of them?" he whispered.

"The whole tray," said Sakura matter of factly. "Although... to make the time go faster we could talk about Sasuke and why he..."

"I already told you Sakura-chan... Anything you want to know you'll have to ask him."

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "No thank you. I'd rather just talk to you."

Naruto struggled up up to a semi-seated position. "Sakura," he said in a heartfelt voice, "you of all people shouldn't feel that way… He's changed. I swear it! Just give him the chance to prove it to you. That's all he needs… a chance."

Give Sasuke a chance... How many chances did a person deserve? "That still doesn't explain why won't you won't talk to me, " grumbled Sakura.

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed. "If you have to know… I promised the jerk I wouldn't say a word, Okay?" He opened one eye to stare at her. "And you out of anyone should know... I always keep my promises."

Oh? So he was going to bring that up was he? Sakura decided she could play dirty too. "If you change your mind and start talking... I'll decide I can get by with only half as many blood tubes."

"Really?" asked Naruto. He looked back and forth between Sakura and the needle in his arm a few times. Finally he bit his lip and shook his head. "Sorry Sakura-chan," he said with great effort. "I.. I don't think I can."

Sakura shrugged, to hide her annoyance. "Too bad then." Mechanically she started swapping out phlebotomy tubes.

About half way through, Naruto groaned. "I'm starting to feel light headed," he complained. "I don't think I have any blood left in me!"

Sakura giggled. "Shut up you big baby. We're more than halfway done."

"I can't believe you're torturing me like this," grumbled Naruto.

"This? This is nothing. This is just routine medicine. Believe me, I should be torturing you after all that you put poor Hinata through," Sakura said half-teasingly. She took one look at Naruto's face and regretted bringing it up.

"Have... have you seen her? Since this morning? How is she?" he asked very haltingly.

Sakura sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Well... I won't lie, it sounds like she's still upset with you."

Naruto looked up a bit. "How upset? Like, never want to see me again upset? Or more like 'shower her with presents and promise to be her servant forever and maybe she'll forgive me' upset?" he asked hopefully.

Sakura tossed the final tube on the tray. She covered the butterfly needle with a gauze pad, and withdrew it from his vien. "Hold this here and bend your arm," she told him. "I went over to the Hyuga compound earlier this afternoon. I tried to see her but Neji told me that Hinata hasn't left her room yet." She tried to give a reassuring smile at his pained look. "Don't worry, it sounds like she's just been catching up on sleep."

* * *

Sakura never minded it much when Tsunade sent her over to the Hyuga compound. Unlike some of the elders in the village, Hiashi always made sure his shinobi guests were welcomed and treated with a modicum of respect. A family retainer ushered her into his office after a very short wait, and presented her with the options of tea or some other refreshment. Hiashi himself apologized that he must continue working during the course of her meeting, but he assured her that he was listening very closely to the Hokage's message.

When Sakura had asked Hiashi-sama about the records of the Third Hokage's reign, especially about anything that pertained to the Uchiha clan massacre, the normally aloof Head of the Clan paused in his work and carefully put down his brush. "So soon?" he asked quietly. "It was my understanding that the Uzumaki boy had only just retrieved the Uchiha... Surely it is much too soon for the Hokage to start any sort of... Inquiry." Hanabi, seated at her father's side, looked up curiously at his statement.

Sakura took a sip from her tea. "Oh no, Tsunade-sama only wants to know if the records exist. She does not need them now, but has requested that if you can locate them that you move them to a very safe location."

Hiashi sighed. "I see... Ko?" he called softly. The door slid open and the bowing retainer from before inched his way in. "Please find my nephew. I have a task that requires someone with impeccable honor." He turned back to Sakura as the retainer left. "Was that all?"

"Yes... Although... Is Hinata feeling better? I would like the opportunity to see her... if it wouldn't be a bother."

Hiashi picked up his brush and went back to his work. "My daughter has asked not to be disturbed."

Sakura chewed on her lip a little. "Might it be possible for me to see her anyway? She was rather upset earlier."

"I have assigned members of my household to keep an eye on her," he said dryly. "She has done nothing but sleep since she returned this morning from her little vigil for the boy." Hiashi paused to dip his brush in his ink. "If you must know, I believe Hinata is learning a harsh but necessary lesson right now."

"What lesson would that be?" The question just popped out of her mouth without her thinking.

Hiashi stopped writing and looked up at Sakura very slowly. "She is learning to be careful what she seeks for in life. Sometimes wishes hurt when they are granted."

* * *

Naruto nodded his head slowly. "So they're keeping an eye on her? That's good." He relaxed just a hair. "That's really good. So… when do I get out of here? I need to go and apologize and..."

Sakura sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Um… When I bumped into Neji he... um… well... Neji indicated it wouldn't be a good idea if you visited right now." She shifted a little bit and started packing the phlebotomy tubes back in their tray. "Actually... He said that he didn't think you should show your face around the compound ever again. He said you were given a great honor by being given permission to date the daughter of the Head of the Clan... and you have repaid their generosity by insulting her."

"Oh," said Naruto in a small voice. He sat very still for a moment and then he collapsed backwards on the cot and threw an arm over his face. "I am the stupidest person alive," he moaned, an absolutely miserable expression on his face.

She couldn't leave him like that. "Admitting that to her might be a start," Sakura whispered conspiratorially. She gave him a comforting smile and helped him sit up. "Look it can't be that bad. You know how prone to hyperbole the Hyuga are..."

"Hyper... what?"asked Naruto in a confused voice.

Sakura sighed deeply. "Hinata... has loved you for a very long time. I'm sure she still does. You'll figure out something to get her back." She began to put the used phlebotomy equipment away. It took her some time to find where everything belonged in the interrogation unit's medical ward. The cabinets tended to have way too much truth serum, and far too little of everything else.

"Hey Sakura... Can I ask you a question?" Naruto mumbled as she was digging away.

"Hmm?"

"If your boyfriend did something incredibly... stupid... Like run off to do something unbelievably dangerous, and... refused to take you along with him no matter how much you insisted... What would it take to get you to forgive him?"

Sakura smiled sickly. "You're asking the wrong girl. I've always been far too busy to have a boyfriend."

"Well, pretend then. What would it take for you to forgive him?"

Sakura paused. This line of questioning was beginning to make her uncomfortable. She turned from the cabinets and stood next to Naruto. "I'm going to start the Medical scan now," she said brightly, her hands starting to glow.

She thought as she sent the chakra probing into Naruto's torso and listened to it's echoes. "I suppose..." She paused uncomfortably and started again. "I suppose that presents couldn't hurt... Being romantic might be nice as well."

"Romantic like how?" asked Naruto.

Sakura sighed exasperatedly. "I don't know... go serenade her or something." There was a pause as she examined his chakra. "Oh good," she sighed.

"What's good?" Naruto asked.

"Just be quiet and hold still!" Sakura admonished. If she had any remaining doubts about Naruto's identity, they vanished within moments. If you knew it was there, you could pick out the deep bass rumble of the Kyubi's chakra pulsing through Naruto's chakra network. She'd 'heard' it many a time before. She let herself smile with relief. It was one thing to believe that this was the 'real' Naruto, it was another to actually know.

She paused and catalogued all the little injuries that her scan was picking up. She'd need to list them all in her report to Tsunade-sama. There were signs of previously broken bones knit back together, old lines of scar tissue criss-crossing themselves and a few large tender spots where a hematoma had been re-absorbed. Given how fast Naruto healed, she found none of this to be surprising. Mostly she was relieved not to see anything that looked like it could have been mortal.

"I'm always amazed at how fast you put yourself back together," she said, thinking again about her report. She took a quick breath and smiled at him. "Can you show me the order of the wounds you received? What was that fight with Sasuke like?"

"Yeah, yeah. I heal fast. Hooray for Kurama and his wonderful chakra. Quit trying to change the subject." Naruto dismissed her prodding and looked up at her pleadingly. "If you were Hinata, what else would you want me to do to forgive me?"

Sakura stared at Naruto. For a second, the image of Sasuke on his knees begging her to love him again, flashed through her mind. She quickly shut her imagination down. Sakura steadily pulled her hands away from Naruto. "Well, your checkup is all done," she said brightly, "and as far as I can determine..."

"Sakura, please?" whined Naruto.

Sakura turned away. "Apologize," she said in a hoarse whisper. She cleared her throat and started again. "I'd want you to apologize like you really mean it. I'd want you to apologize over and over and over and swear that you'd never do anything like that again." She let out her breath in a long explosive burst. "We're done here Naruto. Get dressed."

Naruto pulled on his shirt and zipped up his jacket. "So what's the diagnosis Doc? Am I some kind of man eating, plant based zombie programmed to eat your brains?"

Sakura snorted in spite of herself. "No, as far as I can tell, you're still an idiot."

Naruto let out a sigh. "Well, that's good to know... So can I take these off yet?" He indicated the chakra suppressors, copper bands attached to his wrists, and ankles, and one around his neck. "They itch."

"They're supposed to itch. That means they're working," Sakura snapped back. "And you can take them off when the Hokage says you can take them off." She stomped over to the door and yanked it open. In the cinderblock hallway, a four man platoon of ANBU snapped to attention. "I'm all done with him," Sakura said, giving Naruto a push towards the door. "Take him back."

A cat masked ANBU, the leader of the platoon she guessed, hesitated as the other three surrounded Naruto. "Well?" he asked questioningly.

Sakura shrugged. "There won't be any official announcements until the blood tests come back... But yeah, it's him."

The ANBU platoon didn't change in their positions at all, but there was an easing of the tension in the air. "Come on Uzumaki-san, let's get you back to your cell."

Naruto started to move at a very slow easy pace. "How's Sasuke doing? He didn't cause you guys any trouble while I was gone, did he?"

"The Uchiha started stirring a few minutes ago. It looks like he's still recovering from the effects of that sealing jutsu." The cat masked ANBU turned back to Sakura. "We hope you don't mind but he's on his way over. We thought it might be better if you took a look at him sooner rather than later."

"W-what do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"A suggestion from the Hokage… She thought that he might be easier to handle if he was still a little bit out of it. We knew that you were almost done with Uzumaki-san here so we sent for the Uchiha about five minutes ago. He should be here any second."

Sakura swallowed hard. "I'm nowhere near ready to see the next patient yet," she said in her most professional voice.

The ANBU captain shrugged. "Take your time, we can hold him out here in the hallway for a few minutes. Like I said, It looked like that jutsu hit him pretty hard." He tugged on Naruto's arm. "Get moving Uzumaki, you want to get back to your cell before dinner don't you?"

Sakura heard their voices echo down the institutional yellow walls of the interrogation center. "You guys know that these chakra repressors are pointless right?" Naruto said cheerfully. "I mean, if I were to call up Kurama at full strength, they'd be little puddles on the floor."

"Oh, we know," said the ANBU conversationally. "We didn't actually expect them to stop you from using your chakra so much as to just slow you down enough that we had a good chance to kill you."

"Kill me?" yelped Naruto.

"Of course we'd kill you," continued the ANBU. "After all, the real Naruto Uzumaki would never have a reason to go full blown Nine Tails in our custody, would he? Only a dangerous infiltrator bent on destroying Konoha would do something stupid like that."

"Um... Yeah," said Naruto hesitantly.


	83. Chapter 28: Sakura's Tale: part 2

Sakura had returned from her trip to the Hyuga compound to find the Hokage's office in more disarray than usual.. Tsunade and Shizune were surrounded by a sea of open books on the floor. "Goddammit!" roared Tsunade, slamming her hand on the floor. "I just found another one!" She jabbed her finger at the page and read, "Any amendments to the by-laws can be fully made with the agreement of ten elders in an closed quorum!" Tsunade sat back and sighed. "So as long as ten councillors can agree on something in the back room of a dirty bar, they can add it to the rules," she grumbled. "Shizune? what's the current count of councillors openly allied with the Shimura clan?"

Shizune called "Fourteen!" over one shoulder. She kept walking by carrying a huge stack of books.

Tsunade frowned. "Then we'll need updated copies of the by-laws as well." Shizune nodded and scrambled out the door.

Tsunade looked up at Sakura. "Well? Tell me Hizashi has what we're looking for."

Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry Tsunade-sama. I waited for an hour while Neji Hyuga searched the archive. Their records indicate that they should have copies of the Third Hokage's documentation from that era, but unfortunately it is missing. They are performing an extensive search of the archive now, just in case it had been misfiled."

Tsunade shook her head. "I'd be willing to bet a hundred thousand ryo that they never turn up." The clock tower chimed out the hour. Tsunade lifted her head and squinted out the window. "Damn!" she swore. "How did it get so late? I only have twenty minutes to get ready for the council meeting."

"There's a council meeting today Hokage-sama?" asked Sakura.

Tsunade gave her a grin completely lacking in humor. "There is now. Apparently the Council representative of the Shimura clan has called an emergency session regarding the capture of one Sasuke Uchiha." Tsunade wearily got to her feet and cracked her back. "And here I've been, spending all morning kneeling on the floor, pouring all over the most boring reading on the planet. Meanwhile intrigues are blooming like so many mushrooms after the rain."

Sakura looked at her master worriedly. Tsunade only waxed that poetic when she had far too much sake. "How can I help you Tsunade-sama?" she asked carefully, trying to remember where Shizune kept the stimulant spiked green tea.

Tsunade looked up at her. The Hokage's eyes were red, but Sakura could see the sharp thought processes churning away behind them. "You want to help? Good." Tsunade turned away and looked out the window. "I'm sure you have noticed by now that there has been a certain amount of panic regarding the Uchiha's return. "She made a sweeping gesture to the papers piled on the floor. "You have no doubt noticed that certain political groups are making moves that I have to respond to."

Sakura kept her face still, but her stomach was filling with a creeping dread. "And what... do you want me to do?"

Tsunade clasped her hands behind her back. "Protocol dictates that I leave the exams of detainees to the ANBU medical-nin... However in certain sensitive high profile cases it is not unusual for me to perform such examinations myself. Sakura, I'm going to be busy dealing with the council over the next few days. This emergency meeting and these additions to the charter and the bylaws are going to require all my time and energy... And there's the added concern of that I need this particular exam performed by someone I can trust... it looks like I'll have to send my beloved student instead."

"T-Tsunade-sama..." Sakura stammered. "Wouldn't you rather send Shizune? She has much..."

"I'm sure you will be more than adequate for the task," Tsunade said firmly. "Now get a move on... I want confirmation that this is the 'real' Naruto and Sasuke as soon as possible."

"But Tsunade-sama," Sakura started.

"There is a specific reason I'm sending you over Shizune," Tsunade said quietly. "You are much more cognizant of Naruto and Sasuke than anyone else. You know all their mannerisms, and more importantly you are familiar to the pair of them. I'm sure that they would be much more happy to see their teammate and hopefully in their relief at seeing a friendly face, open up to her… telling that teammate just what the hells happened out there... Do you... understand?"

"Yes Tsunade-sama," said Sakura in a small voice. So, Tsunade wanted her to gather intelligence. She pictured herself interrogating Sasuke and tried not to shiver.

Tsunade was staring at her intently. "Is everything alright Sakura? If I had a more qualified candidate, I would send them in your stead… But you know it is standard procedure to give a prisoner a medical exam before they undergo mind scan. "

"A mind scan? Tsunade-sama... I'm not sure that would be the best course of action." Sakura quickly explained that when Sasuke was met at the gates he was adamant about not having one, and how Naruto had adhered to his wishes. "He didn't quite get violent, but he did say he would leave and that no one could stop him."

"Sakura... It almost sounds like you would want to put the personal privacy of a dangerous war criminal over the guaranteed safety of this village." Tsunade steepled her fingers and thoughtfully stared at her over them. "Normally I would tend agree with you that some respect should be offered to our captives, but in this case..." she exhaled sharply. "We just don't have the time for a lengthy drawn out interrogation process."

Sasuke's hurt, apprehensive face floated through her mind at that moment. "I understand Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade motioned Sakura to come closer. "This idea of a mind scan on Sasuke bothers you... Why?"

"Tsunade-sama, I..." Sakura swallowed and started again. "What if he is sincere this time... and by doing a mind scan... He decides to leave... Again..."

Tsunade frowned. "I thought you would be over this boy?" she said thoughtfully.

"I am!" insisted Sakura. "It's just... Everyone is assuming that this is some trap he's setting... What if it isn't? Naruto has spent six years of his life trying to bring Sasuke back to the village. Can you imagine what it would do to him if we drive Sasuke away again?" Tsunade looked down, a blank look on her face. "You've trusted him so many times before. Won't you trust Naruto now?"

"If it even is Naruto," grumbled Tsunade.

"It seemed like him to me. Hinata said it was him. Can you think of anyone other than her who might be better suited to identify him?"

"Fine." Tsunade shrugged. "Look... if you can gather enough evidence during the exam that I feel we don't need to do the mind scan, so be it... But understand this, I am giving you this one chance, if in any way it doesn't meet my expectations..." Tsunade sighed. "I am the Hokage. The safety of my village comes first."

Sakura felt trapped. She did not feel... entirely comfortable with the idea of being in the same room as Sasuke. At the same time, this seemed to be the best way to convince him to stay... Not that it mattered much to her, she told herself... She was only doing this for Naruto's sake. For so many years he had helped her... now it was her turn to return the favor. "I understand Hokage-sama," she said quietly.

"Good," said Tsunade in the same low tones. "The primary focus should be on what happened between them, why Sasuke made this decision to return, and what he knows. I'd recommend you start with Naruto, he's much more likely to blab."

Sakura stood there thinking quietly. This was it. She was going to be the one to question Sasuke. The thought made her nauseous with anxiety. Tsunade turned from the window and looked at her impatiently. "I'm quite sure I gave you an order." Sakura bowed and moved to the door. "Oh, and Sakura?" Tsunade added softly. "I want you to take careful notes on everything you observe. I want a fully detailed report on my desk by mid afternoon."

* * *

Sakura shut the exam room door as quietly as she could and began preparing to see Sasuke. This consisted of five minutes of getting all the blood work apparatus ready, and ten minutes of sitting on the gurney, head in her hands, trying to control her breathing. Any minute now Sasuke Uchiha was going to walk through that door, and she was going to have to interrogate him.

Between his panicking over the needles and his pining over Hinata, Naruto hadn't been in the mood to answer much of anything she asked. "You'll have to ask Sasuke," had been his constant refrain.

Sasuke. She tried to put all the memories and thoughts of the boy she once knew out of her head. She tried to focus on the man. The man who tried to kill her. "He's not the man you once knew... He's not the man you once knew... He's not the man you once knew..." she repeated over and over again. This was an interrogation. The interrogation of a dangerous shinobi that that had threatened her family and her village. She reminded herself yet again that she could not afford to think of him as a... friend.

She scrambled up when she heard the knock on the door. Two ANBU guards helped Sasuke shuffle into the middle of the room. They let go of his arms and then left. The door shut quietly behind them with a very final click.

Sakura wiped her sweating palms on the sides of her lab coat and began her initial diagnosis. Like Naruto he was scuffed and disheveled as if he'd just returned from a difficult mission. Also, like Naruto, it didn't look like he'd just been in a battle, at least not like a battle that tore up the landscape and left huge quantities of blood lying everywhere, according to Pakkun's report.

He wasn't picking at his chakra repressors like Naruto was. Sasuke just left his hands hanging limply at his sides. She was relieved to see that someone had added a wrap with sealing formulas inscribed on it over his eyes. She didn't feel like meeting his gaze right now.

Sasuke was swaying gently on his feet as if he was drunk. The ANBU did say he was still feeling groggy. She took a step to one side and studied his stance. _It doesn't look like fatigue, or any sort of jutsu effect I recognize,_ she thought to herself, frowning. _I wonder if it could be an injury?_ She slowly paced around him in a circle. _It's not a matter of muscle strength, it's a matter of balance. A concussion maybe? Could he have some sort of inner ear issue?_

Sakura got so engrossed in her study that she almost forgot he was there. "Well? Are you enjoying your time staring at the monster?" he exclaimed in a harsh voice, Sakura jumping at the sound. "I know you're there. I can hear your footsteps. I can hear your breath. Have I entertained you enough today, or would you like to see 'the Uchiha' dance for your amusement?" He snorted scorn. "I should have known better than to trust that idiot... the Leaf Village will never treat me with respect."

Sasuke had made her feel many things over the years. Happiness, sadness, excitement, longing, fear... This was the first time in memory he had ever made her angry. "Treat you with respect?" Sakura snapped incredulously. "Tell me Sasuke, when was the last time you did anything that would convince anyone that you deserved to be treated with respect? Can you remember? Because I can! It was that stupid race in the Land of Tea mission. That was the last time I felt like I admired you!"

Sasuke stiffened, and the swaying stopped for a second. "Sakura," he said softly.

"That's right... me," Sakura held on to her anger like a lifeline. "Now, if you are finished having a fuss, I am am in the middle of conducting the preliminary examination for your physical. I want to get this done as quickly as possible." She finished the rest of her initial observations in stony silence.

She was taking her time writing down her first page of notes when Sasuke quietly cleared his throat. "So what happens now?" he asked.

"Well, normally I'd give an interview to the patient."

"Patient?" Sasuke asked darkly. "Is that what you call the people you bring here to be tortured?"

"This is a medical exam Uchiha-san. Nothing more, nothing less." She turned to a fresh page in her note book. "You seem to be in reasonably good shape except for your balance. Do you want to tell me what happened?" Sasuke turned his head sharply away from her. "Sasuke... I asked you a question….did you and Naruto fight?"

"Yes," said Sasuke in a chill tone.

Sakura waited, but nothing else seemed to be forthcoming. "All right," she said primly. "You don't have to tell me any details... I'm sure some of it will come out when I do your medical exam anyway." She reached out and transferred the tray with the phlebotomy equipment to the bed. "I just thought that maybe you would choose to be polite and save us some time. Now," she ordered, "come over here and sit down."

"Come over where?" asked Sasuke testily. "I can't see... remember?"

Sakura hesitated. "Come over here to the bed."

"The bed?" he asked in a surprised voice.

"It's a gurney," Sakura snapped back. "I need to do a blood draw."

"What gurney? Which direction? Is there anything in the way?" she saw his lips twitch. "Most people wouldn't let a blindfolded man just stumble helplessly around."

Sakura sighed. With two steps she had grabbed his arm intending to pull him over to the bed, but the moment she applied force, Sasuke lurched to his left. He lashed out with both arms windmilling to keep his balance, yanking her towards his body.

She didn't stop to think about it. Sakura just darted under his flailing arm and caught him about the chest before he could fall. He twisted against her, struggling, but she just gripped him tighter. "It's alright," she said, as he squirmed, panicking. "It's alright Sasuke," she said soothingly, dodging his elbow as it jerked past her head. "I've got you. You'll be fine."

She held him close, and remarkably, he started to relax. She hauled him up to his feet and half sat half dropped him on the corner of the bed. "There," she said, in a half joking way. "You don't have to worry about falling over now."

This was going smoother than she thought. She was proud of how skillful she was acting, and especially of how she was just treating Sasuke like any other patient. She pulled out the phlebotomy equipment and set it up next to him on the bed. "Could you hold out your arms please?" she asked in a professional voice. She tapped gently on his veins to see how they responded.

He jerked his arms back slightly. "What... needles?" Sakura laughed nervously. "What's so funny?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing... you just sounded just like Naruto there," she said smiling.

To her surprise Sasuke's lips snuck upwards. "So the doofus still doesn't like going to the doctor?"

"That's putting it lightly. There was this one time he lead the medical-nin corps on a huge chase all over the village just because he didn't want to get his vaccinations... Okay, now you'll feel a small pinch."

Sakura felt Sasuke's arm tense. "What are you going to inject me with?"

"I'm not injecting anything. I'm just taking some blood samples for genetic testing and identification. That's all," Sakura said reassuringly. She watched his hands relax. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready," Sasuke murmured quietly.

The needle went in with no problems. Sakura began to fill up the sample tubes. "So..." She glanced up as Sasuke started to speak. "How long have you been a medical-nin for?"

Sakura licked her lips before answering. "I started training almost six years ago," she said softly. There was an uncomfortable pause. Sakura used it to swap phlebotomy tubes.

"I always thought you were looking to become a genjutsu user." Sasuke's voice was cordial, but it had a brittle undertone to it. "What made you change your mind and go into medicine?"

"Well... I... Um..." This sudden interest in her past was making uncomfortable feelings rise again. She took a deep breath started over. "Well, the whole genjutsu thing wasn't working out so well. I was really feeling useless..." She hesitated for a second, wondering if she should continue this train of thought.

"Go on," Sasuke prompted.

Sakura exhaled. "And well, with you being... gone, and Naruto leaving any day to go off and train with Jiraiya-sama... I went to Tsunade and asked to become her student. She accepted." Sakura pulled the last of the blood tubes, one of the small black capped ones, off the butterfly needle and tossed it in the basket. She put a small gauze pad over the needle and pulled it out. "Here," she said taking Sasuke's other hand, "hold this right there and then close your arm."

Sasuke tilted his head up. "You made a good choice," he said softly.

"Excuse me?" Sakura said in surprise.

"You made a good choice... Becoming a medical-nin. You're very good at it." Sasuke smiled a little. "I barely felt a thing."

Sakura gathered up the tubes and clumsily put them in the transport rack. She practically ran to the sink to wash her hands. She was really glad he had that seal band over his eyes, otherwise Sasuke would have definitely noticed her blushing. "Alright now," she said keeping her voice steady. "I'm going to need you to take off your shirt and lie back."

There was a rustle of cloth. "What happens now?" asked Sasuke.

Sakura took her time drying her hands. "I told you, it's just a preliminary physical." She was proud of how professional she was. "It's nothing serious. I'm just going to use chakra echoes to do a deep tissue scan through your body. I need to check for injuries. It's standard procedure." She had a right to be proud, right behind her was Sasuke Uchiha with his shirt off and she was as calm as could be. She started the shaping the healing energies around her hands and turned around. "Now you might feel a slight tingle as... What the hell?!"

Her eyes were glued to the huge mass of discolored scar tissue on his chest. It stretched from mid-thoracic cavity to below his waistline. Sakura's first thought was _What did Naruto do to him?_ This was quickly removed by the realization that this wound had to be at least a year old.

"What... what happened to you?" she sputtered.

"Well, that's an open ended question," Sasuke said with joking sarcasm. "Do you want me to begin with my birth, or did you want me to start from some specific date?"

"You have a... This thing is..." Sakura stopped her nervous babbling and just stepped forward and started a detailed exam.

Scarring was present all throughout his abdominal cavity. His rib cage and sternum had been shattered and refused. All of his internal organs were in some process of healing. The most disturbing part was that the resonances of Sasuke's chakra flowing through the chakra network of these organs... didn't seem to match the rest of his body. His whole chakra circulatory system was pulsing and jangling in odd ways, almost as if there were many different types of chakra flowing through his body. "I don't see how that is even possible," she muttered.

That wasn't entirely true. She could think of one way. There was one Akatsuki member, Kakuzu, his file said he could transplant organs. Running your chakra through someone else's chakra network, in theory, could produce this phenomenon.

Sasuke shifted slightly. It was apparent he could feel her chakra echoing through him. "Oh, that. I got that while I was fighting the Eight tails." He spoke calmly and evenly as if he was telling her what he had for breakfast. "I took a chakra enhanced blow to the chest. That was also the first time I saw a tailed beast ball. I didn't know something that powerful even existed. If it wasn't for Karin and Jugo, I definitely would be dead."

He was hit by a tailed beast ball... and lived? Sakura had seen the devastation from the Ten tails. "I don't see how this is even survivable," she added cataloging the signs of internal damage.

"I took a lot more damage than just this in the fight. I survived because… well, I had a very good team. Karin could do a chakra transfer, and Jugo... Well, Jugo had this body manipulation jutsu. We already knew that he and I had a compatible cellular structure so he just filled in the bits that were missing," Sasuke said matter of factly.

"So this Jugo just created new organs for you? And they worked?" Sakura wasn't sure if she was more amazed, or disturbed.

Sasuke nodded. "Pretty much. I still needed a few healthy doses of chakra from Karin and a lot of rest."

"Where is this Jugo person now?"

There was a long pause. "I... don't know," he said quietly. "I... lost touch with my team some time before the Fourth War. I hope that they're safe wherever they are..." He frowned. "I doubt Karin will ever want to see me again."

"Karin... was that the name of the red headed Kunoichi?" Sasuke nodded once and turned his head away. "We had her imprisoned in the village for a while, but she managed to escape."

Sasuke smiled. "Good for her."

Sakura continued the scan. So far everything else seemed fairly normal. There were some dead spots in her scan where the chakra repressors and the seals placed over his eyes blocked any chakra from being used, but she could examine those later with a physical inspection if the need arose. "So this fight you had with Bee-san... this was when you joined... um..."

"When I was a temporary member of Akatsuki, yes," Sasuke said emphatically. "Even if the group hadn't disintegrated almost immediately after I joined, I wouldn't have stayed very long anyway."

Sakura paused in her scan. "And why was that?" she asked softly, a resentful edge creeping into her voice.

Sasuke froze. "Because... because... Look, Sakura... I was going to… I was blinded by my... My own..." Sasuke sighed. "I don't know why I should even bother explaining it to you."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not going to make the slightest bit of difference!" he said sourly. "I saw the way you all were looking at me."

Sakura resumed moving her hands down his body, looking for anomalies. "And do you know why we were looking at you that way?" she asked pointedly. Sasuke turned his head to one side. "After all you said and did, is it any wonder we feel we shouldn't trust you?"

"I never said I didn't understand why you were looking at me that way... I never said that I didn't deserve that and more... I'm just saying that it's pointless. There's nothing for me here. No matter what Naruto or..." Sasuke paused and shook his head, "anyone else says."

Sakura stopped her scan and leaned back. She had to admit it - she was feeling proud... proud and confident right now. This exam and interrogation of Sasuke was going miles better than she could have hoped. She studied him for a moment reading his body language. He didn't look like he was hostile, so she decided to continue her questioning. "So then why did you come back? If you knew it was pointless... why come back here?" Sakura waited for an answer, but Sasuke kept his face pointed to the wall. She decided to try a different tactic. "Well, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to. Your physical is all finished, so if you'd prefer you could head back to your cell... Or we could try working on these questions that the Hokage wanted me to ask you."

Sasuke snorted, and sat up slowly on the edge of the cot. "What happens if I don't feel like answering? Does the torture start then?"

"There isn't going to be any torture Sasuke. Tsunade said you'd could either talk to me or she'd order the ANBU to go ahead with a mind scan."

He grew very still. "I won't let them. No mind probes. Anyone who tries will be sorry."

"I don't think there's ever been anyone who was able to resist for more than a few days," Sakura said quietly. "As strong as you are, I'm not sure you could stop them." She leaned forward slightly. and started to use some basic interrogation techniques. "The Hokage needs to know if you are a threat to the village or not. They're going to find out your secrets anyway, wouldn't it be easier... just to talk... to me?"

Sasuke shifted slightly. "I'm a bit insulted. Did you really think I'll fold that easily?"

"No. I don't think you'll 'fold' that easily," said Sakura bluntly. "But I saw how upset the idea of a mind probe made you earlier... and I managed to get the Hokage to promise that we would give you a chance to talk freely first."

Sasuke's head jerked up. "Why?"

Sakura paused and collected her thoughts. That was actually a very good question… Why did she insist? "It's true that not many people here feel like we can trust you... But maybe... maybe some of us feel you deserve the chance to prove us wrong."

Sasuke was quiet for a very long time. "What's the first question on the list?" he whispered.

There was a rustle of paper as Sakura flipped open her notebook. "Both you and Naruto were looking pretty friendly when you returned... Considering that you had challenged him to a fight to the death… What convinced you to come back here?"

"It's like I told Shikamaru at the main gate. I have information about Kabuto Yakushi."

Sakura wrote down a few lines. "Okay, but that doesn't explain why you would come here... to Konoha. If you want something in exchange for this information, there are any number of other places that would pay you for it."

"Pay me?" She could hear him grind his teeth. "I'm here because you need to reassemble the Allied Shinobi force. It needs to go and stop Kabuto Yakushi before it's too late!" he snorted. "You want to know why I'm here? I'm here because we'd need an army to do that... and the Allied Shinobi force is the biggest one available." He snorted. "Somehow, that doofus convinced me that coming to Konoha would be the first step in reforming it.".

"Really... The Allied Shinobi force... Weren't you trying to kill us last time?" Sakura watched him carefully. She wanted to see his reaction for this next part. "So why the sudden change of heart? The last time I checked Kabuto was a member of the Akatsuki, the same as you."

Sasuke's mouth twitched. "I've tried explaining this to you before... I was only a temporary member of the Akatsuki."

"Isn't that like only being 'sort of' a murderer? Being 'kind of' a traitor?" Sakura said softly. "Don't get upset. There's a lot of people in this village who are going to call you those as well." As she leaned in closer, her voice gained just a hint of a pleading tone. "What happened to you Sasuke? You left to avenge your clan, to get strong enough to kill Itachi, that much I... understand. But to turn on us? What did Konoha ever do to you? You killed the acting Hokage... Why? You vowed to destroy the village!" She exhaled. "I know that Naruto knows something, but he's never told me. The Hokage has heard rumours that she's worried about. If you want us to accept you back into the village, you've got to help us understand what's going on in your head."

Sasuke didn't say a word. He just bowed his head and folded his hands. He stayed that way for a long time. "So..." continued Sakura in a disappointed, quiet voice. "I guess were all done for the day? I'll let the ANBU know that..."

"I killed Itachi because I thought it was what everyone in my clan would want," Sasuke whispered. "Then I killed Danzo Shimura because I was out of my mind with rage and grief and he deserved to die. I killed everybody else because..." He paused suddenly and clamped his mouth shut.

"Because why Sasuke?" prompted Sakura.

Sasuke's hand twitched for a second and then crept up to scratch at the seal wrapped around his eyes. "The first ones I found were Aunt Uruchi and Uncle Teyaki. They owned a little senbei shop three blocks from my house. Aunt Uruchi was holding her broom like she was just in the process of sweeping up." His lips quivered into a sickly smile. "You should have heard the way she would complain and nag every time Itachi and I tracked dirt into her store. She was a fanatic about keeping it clean... I found her slumped against the outside wall. It almost looked like she was trying to clean up after Uncle Teyaki. He was lying in the doorway, his intestines steaming in the night time air."

Sasuke's head jerked up. "The whole neighborhood was like that," he said in a dull listless voice. Sakura shivered as she realized the story he was telling - he was giving her his eyewitness account of the Uchiha massacre. "It was so quiet, there was not a sound from a single living thing. No birds, no animals... of course no people. Everywhere I looked there was someone I knew... Some family friend, someone familiar, some distant relative. Everywhere I looked there were kunai and shuriken scattered about like autumn leaves... Dark wet stains glistened in the moonlight. For years, I've been living that moment over and over again in my head…"

The edges of the sealing band were growing damp. He picked at it a little and gave a hollow sounding chuckle. "When I was growing up, whenever I would fuss about something unpleasant like going to the dentist, taking a test, or eating my broccoli, my father always used to tell me in this stern deep voice: "Sasuke, you have been born into the strongest clan in Konoha. You must be brave... make your clan proud."... Do you know what the brave eight year old from the noble Uchiha clan of Konoha did when he came home from school and found all the lights out and everyone dead?... I ran home... screaming for my mommy and daddy."

"Sasuke," whispered Sakura.

"I found them lying in their bedroom... My father atop my mother as if he was trying to protect her... That was also where I found Itachi."

Sasuke's words ground to a halt and were replaced by a stony silence. Sakura shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Sasuke... what Itachi did..."

There was a buzzing noise from the chakra repressors on Sasuke's arms and the sharp tang of ozone wafting in the air. A surge of chakra had just been absorbed by the specialized shackles and they were now trying to dissipate that energy into the air. Sakura quickly stepped back, she didn't think Sasuke was going to attack her, but…

Sasuke rubbed at his wrists. "What Itachi did…? If you only knew... You remember how much I hated him... You know... better than anyone else in this village what I was willing to go through in order to kill him!" Sasuke's voice was dripping with self loathing. "Gods I was such an idiot! Such a blind little fool! Imagine my surprise when I found out that... " He stopped abruptly and clamped his mouth shut yet again. Sakura watched him sit there, shaking with emotion, on the foot of the cot.

Slowly, silently she reached out for his hand. When her fingers brushed his he jumped. He left his clenched fist under her palm for a heartbeat and then slowly pulled his hand away. "It doesn't matter," he said quietly. "None of it matters anymore." There was a long pause. Sasuke cleared his throat and sat a little bit straighter. "You want to know if I am a threat to the Hidden Leaf village? No... Not right now... I was at one point but..." He stopped and took a deep breath.

"Look... we don't have enough time to be wasting it with this nonsense," he said leaning his face away. "You've got my blood and tissue samples, you should be able to verify it's the real me in an hour or so... I need to talk to the Hokage. The sooner the better."

Sakura shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Sasuke, if it's that urgent... maybe you should just volunteer to undergo the..."

"No!" he barked emphatically. "No... Nobody goes into my head." He shook his head. "Go to Tsunade right now and tell her I'm begging her to come and talk to me... If she needs persuading... You can tell her this..."

He leaned forward, put his hand on her shoulder, and whispered in her ear. "Kabuto Yakushi has taken over all of Orochimaru's old bases, especially the largest. He's brought back all of the old Hidden Sound forces he could find and is actively recruiting mercenary shinobi clans. He's started experimenting again, modifying them, to make them stronger. By now, he'll have a substantial fighting force, and every day they'll get more monstrous. But on top of all that… Kabuto has three things that make him a very dangerous adversary… First he has the edo tensei. Second he has mastered the senjutsu of the great white snake, and finally… That... thing that everyone was looking for when the Fourth war was over… Kabuto was the one who found it… and he's trying to wake it up."

The tickling sensation of his breath was quickly crushed by the cold fear produced by his words. The obvious thing that went missing after the Fourth war was the Gedo Mazo statue. She sat back and stared wide eyed. "You can't mean..."

The door to the room burst open revealing a squad of ANBU. "Haruno-san! We've just received an order from the Hokage." The cat masked ANBU paused and focused on Sasuke. "She wants us to take the prisoner from medical to the interrogation wing and proceed with a telepathic probe on the prisoner at the earliest opportunity."

Sakura stood up. "No... You must have misread the order. Tsunade-sama herself promised me that..." She stopped as the ANBU handed her a sheet of paper. Her eyes scrambled down the page to the prominent signature at the bottom. "This has to be some kind of mistake!" Sakura cried out.

The ANBU slowly shook his head. "I had this handed to me personally by Shizune-san while Tsunade was in a locked council session."

"So... torture it is then... at least of the brain scrambling type," said Sasuke in a cold voice. He turned to Sakura as the ANBU hauled him to his feet. "Out of curiosity, was this some sort of new interrogation technique? Were you trying to forge some sort of bond of trust between us?" he smiled icily. "Because it was kind of effective… I was actually starting to believe you for a moment there."

"Sasuke, the only thing that was supposed to happen right now was for me to give you a preliminary medical work up and try to get you to talk on your own. I had the rest of the afternoon and evening reserved for this! Believe me! If we were going to give you a mind scan, I wouldn't have wasted my time on any of this!"

"Come on Uchiha, let's go," said one of the ANBU, prodding Sasuke in the back.

Sasuke chuckled dryly as he shuffled away. "Well Sakura, you're either not important enough to be told what's really happening, or you're a much better liar than I remembered."


	84. Chapter 28: Sakura's Tale: part 3

She stormed her way from the interrogation center to the Hokage's mansion. "Stupid stupid stupid!" she fumed. "If she's going to just go ahead and do the telepathic probes," Sakura muttered, "she doesn't need me to sit there talking to Sasuke, does she?" She ground her teeth together and shoved her way past the two guards posted at the entrance. They knew better than to get in her way.

She trod heavily up the stairs. "There is no way I can work like this," she grumbled. "I had everything under control. It was working! He was talking to me! He even admitted her was starting to trust me!" She had watched the ANBU squad drag Sasuke to the interrogation wing. She stood behind the one way glass as they injected him with various drugs, and strapped him into the mind reading amplification machine. The support telepaths took their positions, while the head of ANBU interrogations, a quiet man who always wore a crane mask, stepped forward and lightly touched Sasuke's forehead.

Three minutes later he pulled off his crane mask, scrambled to the far corner of the room and was heartily sick.

The second interrogator did the same thing. As did the third. The ANBU stopped the mind probes, and dragged a still groggy Sasuke back to his cell. Sakura suppressed an urge to say "I told you so' to the ANBU... She wanted to save it for Tsunade.

As upset as Sakura was when she opened the door to the Hokage's office, Tsunade was even less happy. Some of Sakura's anger faded when she realized there was already a discussion in progress. Sakura thought it was odd that Tsunade waved her into the office even though she was already in a meeting with a trio of people. The rest of her anger faded when she realized it was less of a meeting and more of a quarrel. She was even more surprised that one of them was the thin mustached man from earlier, marching around in Tsunade's office as if it was his own private study. After listening to him speak for ten seconds, she was absolutely thunderstruck that Tsunade had the self control not to throw him out through the window.

"... ridiculous! This lack of concern for the safety of the Hidden Leaf village is absolutely appalling! It is inconceivable that a recaptured rogue-nin should be given any impartiality in his punishment! This readjustment to the balance of power has been due since the appointment of the third Hokage, that doddering old fool." The thin mustachioed man (Eiji Shimura, his name popped into her head) turned quickly and glared at Sakura. "Who the devil are you? How dare you interrupt a private meeting between..."

"Ah, Sakura, you've finally returned, and with good news... I hope." Tsunade turned slightly in her chair and gave the man who claimed to be the civilian ANBU commander an insincere smile. "I'm terribly sorry Commander Shimura, but I have been anxiously awaiting for my student to report back to me on a particular matter all morning. Would you mind terribly if we take up the administrative matters concerning your new position at some later date?"

Before Eiji Shimura could open his mouth to speak, there was a rustling from the corner. A small, very thin man of indeterminate age shuffled forward. "Mmm, if it is all the same to you, Hokage-sama... as the new security arm of the council... Mmm... I'd believe it would be more expeditious if we all stayed to hear what Haruno-san has to say."

Sakura found four pairs of eyes staring at her intently. Eiji was the first to speak. "Oh yes Tsunade-sama, I'm surprised you would even think about holding this discussion without me!" He quickly took a few steps forward and bowed to Sakura. "Please Haruno-san let me apologize for my hard words... I'm terribly sorry I did not recognize you at first...as you must be aware this has been a most unusual day." Quick as a snake he caught her hand and brought her knuckles to his lips.

It was all she could do not to yelp with surprise. Tsunade was staring at Eiji with a murderous glare. Sakura awkwardly tried to pull her hand away. "Goodness Eiji," said a demure voice, "how many times must I tell you that no one finds these faux courtly manners of yours amusing anymore? Let go of the poor girl's hand; can't you see you're terrifying her?"

As soon as her hand was released. Sakura turned just enough to see this new speaker. A extremely thin, elegantly dressed woman with razor sharp features was settled lightly in a high backed chair that had replaced the broken furniture from earlier. There was a great sigh from Tsunade. "Sakura, may I present to you Eri and Masanori Shimura. They are currently advising Eiji-san in his new position."

"It is nice to meet all of you," said Sakura politely. She bowed quickly to Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama I was just coming to deliver the report on..." She hesitated. So this was the Shimura clan. She recognized the name from spying on Tsunade from earlier. Discussing Sasuke in front of them was probably not wise. "On the patients I have just examined."

"Oh for goodness sake girl," purred Eri. "Please give us some credit. We all know that you were assigned to do a preliminary exam on the Uchiha..." There was slight twitching of Tsunade's eyebrow, but otherwise her face was impassive. "There is no need to be so circumspect. Tell us what you found!"

"Now, now dear... Mmm... cousin," muttered Masanori, "there is a protocol to be observed here. Shouldn't the Hokage be the one who... Mmm... first sees the information?" There was an odd note to his voice, as if there was some sort of veiled warning there.

"I notice," said Eiji in a bored voice, "that you seem to be holding a report folder there... Is that the only copy of your findings?"

Sakura shot a quick glance over to Tsunade, wondering what to do. The Hokage in turn rolled her eyes with a pained expression. "Would you like to read my report now Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked awkwardly, trying to ignore the Shimura clan's stares.

"Why yes please Sakura-san," said Tsunade with an unusual amount of good cheer. As Sakura stepped up to the desk to place the medical and observational report into her outstretched hand, Tsunade's eye flicked once to Eiji and frowned. "Perhaps you would be so good as to 'summarize' the details for our guests."

Sakura caught the hidden meaning. Obviously Tsunade wanted her not to share too much information with these people, but at the same time she couldn't restrict their access. Sakura was betting that Tsunade wanted her to cherry pick the information, feeding them some useless bits, while keeping the significant points secret, but to what end? She had no idea what was important and what wasn't.

"Well," she thought to herself, "it would be easy enough to start with what everyone already knows." She made a short bow to Tsunade. "Very well then Hokage-sama... Honored guests... At about 0730 this morning, two figures were seen approaching the village. They managed to bypass the first and second picket lines and approach the main gate on a direct route. Upon their approach it was noted that the figures resembled Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki respectively. They both requested entrance into Konoha, upon which Shikamaru Nara..."

There was a loud sigh from Eri. "We are well aware of this morning's events and the... extremely well thought out heroics from my dear brother."

Eiji narrowed his eyes and was about to say something when Masanori interrupted "Mmm... I believe Haruno-san, that we would... Mmm... appreciate it if you could just skip ahead to the information that you yourself gathered?"

Sakura glanced back over at her teacher, but Tsunade remained impassive, giving her no clues. Well then, she'd just have to wing it. "First and foremost we ran DNA testing on both subjects. Each of them is a perfect match for the record we have for Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Furthermore I ran a quick test on both the original and the test samples to determine that they both contain the markers for the Uchiha and the Uzumaki clans respectively.

"Mmm?" Masanori looked up curiously. "that seems a little bit... Mmm... redundant... Does it not?"

Sakura shook her head. "Not at all Masanori-san. In a case such as this I want to ensure that the original samples we had on file had not been tampered with at some point." She paused and looked around the room. Tsunade was staring at her desk top idly tapping a finger. Masanori was trying to look at her with polite interest, but was distracted by Eiji who was pacing back and forth in front of Tsunade's desk. Only Eri Shimura seemed to be paying full attention, a small smile on her thin lips. "It occurred to me that substituting the blood samples would be an ideal way to sneak a foreign agent into a village... You would replace a transformed person's blood sample on file with the spy's."

"That was a remarkably prudent deduction," said Eri Shimura in a warm voice. "But tell me... why would you even consider such a possibility?"

Sakura had a slight hesitation before answering. Sasuke had yelled it out within earshot of everyone at the wall, so it wasn't like it could be called 'secret'. "Because Sasuke Uchiha has indicated that he has information about the whereabouts and plans of Kabuto Yakushi. Kabuto had free reign in the Medical system here in Konoha. Gods only know what he did with that access. It just seemed like a reasonable precaution to take."

Both Eri and Masanori stared at her blankly. A look of worry might have crossed Eiji's features, but he quickly covered it up by coughing. When he was done, he wiped the edge of his mouth with a handkerchief and gave the room a skeptical frown. "He returned to Konoha expecting us to exonerate his crimes in exchange for some paltry tidbits on another missing-nin?" he asked incredulously. "Is the boy soft in the head?"

Masanori quickly stepped forward and elbowed Eiji gently out of the way. "I believe the esteemed Eiji-sama meant to say he finds it... mmMmm unlikely that the notorious Sasuke Uchiha would have such a change of heart."

"Unlikely as it may seem, that is exactly what he said. He insists he is no longer a threat to Konoha." Sakura looked up at her teacher and said quietly. "Hokage-sama, he was also requesting a personal audience with you."

"Has he now?" said Tsunade with emphasized curiosity. "Did he happen to mention what about?"

"As the newly elected Commander of the Council's ANBU forces, I forbid you from speaking with the Uchiha!' yelped Eiji jabbing at the air with a finger. " He is a known criminal... and a liar!"

There was a cold pause from Tsunade. "Really?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. "You would presume to tell the Hokage what to do... _Commander_?"

"Mmm... I believe that Eiji-sama, in his concern for your well being, used a poor choice of words Hokage-sama," Masanori said quickly "He is merely very... mmmMmm... concerned about allowing the Uchiha into your presence. After all the boy is strong enough to challenge the Allied Shinobi force and survive..."

Tsunade nodded her head thoughtfully. "Not to mention defeat certain Kage," Eiji stiffened at Tsunade's remark. "I think it could be very interesting to hear what the boy has to say."

Masanori looked concerned at both of the siblings. Eiji's face was slowly turning red with anger, but Eri's only reaction was a cold smile."Oh, the Uchiha has great strength... that much is well recorded. Indeed, few can hope to match it... One can't help but to wonder," Eri said in a soft voice, "if you are trusting on the Jinchuriki to assist you in this hypothetical meeting? Were you planning on having Uzumaki present?"

Tsunade tilted her head slightly. "He is one of the strongest shinobi we have on hand. He's fiercely loyal, and he has proven his strength against Sasuke before."

"Has he now? Well, I am sure he is honored to know that he has so much of your trust." Eri turned in her chair and for the first time looked at Sakura. Her eyes were a pale frosty blue. "Tell me Haruno-san... The initial report of the battle between The Uchiha and the Jinchuriki described the terrain as being destroyed and liberally sprinkled with blood yes?"

"Well... I heard that..."

Eri nodded once and barreled right over her. "I believe the exact phrase the canine scout used was 'I don't see how anyone could have survived that.'... Now the reports I heard from the main gate stated that both the Uchiha and the Jinchuriki walked up under their own power... But I suppose it's remotely possible their fighting could have avoided their legs... So Haruno-san, when you performed your preliminary medical exam, did you in fact find any potentially fatal wounds?"

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Well... no."

"Any critical ones perhaps? Serious ones? A scrape? A bruise?"

"It's always been difficult to do a wound analysis on Naruto... The Nine tails chakra makes him heal at an accelerated rate," Sakura said in an unsure voice.

"But the Uchiha? Did you see any injuries on him?" Eri asked pointedly.

Sakura cautiously shook her head. "Everything seemed to be well over a year old."

Eri leaned back in her seat. "Ah," she half sighed giving Tsunade a quick smile. "And yet... You would trust this Jinchuriki?"

"Naruto Uzumaki has many faults," Tsunade said firmly, "but ambition is not one of them."

Eri arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Oh? I seem to recall that he announces 'becoming the Hokage is my dream!' at nearly every opportunity."

Tsunade snorted. "If enthusiasm were a crime, we'd be jailing nearly the entire graduating class of genin! They all look look up to Naruto to such an extent that most of them want to be Naruto!"

Eri stared at Tsunade in a long thoughtful silence. "And that's the issue... Isn't it?" she asked cheerfully.

"The only issue is that we have gotten away from the real issue," Eiji growled. "We were discussing the Uchiha."

"So we were," said Tsunade. If Sakura hadn't know any better she would have thought that Tsunade was almost eager to change the subject. "And what actions do you propose we take Commander?"

Eiji's demeanor immediately changed from upset to presumptuous. "Well, for starters, I would recommend a full interrogation work up. Make it clear to the boy that it is in his best interest to tell everything he knows and throw himself on the mercy of the Leaf Village." He gave Tsunade a virtuous smile. "I respectfully volunteer the civilian ANBU corps for this arduous task. We have a remote facility which would be ideal for this type of dangerous prisoner." He jerked his head up at his sister's laugh. "What? You don't think we could handle the Uchiha?"

Eri tapped gently at her lip with a finger. "Oh... I am sure you could detain him... I just believe that you are greatly underestimating him if you think that you and your merry band can get the Uchiha boy to spill all his secrets." She smiled delicately and shot a shy glance at Sakura.

_Oh Gods,_ thought Sakura in a panic, _She knows! I just came from the failed ANBU interrogation, and she already knows!? How?_

Eri was still talking however. "I must say Tsunade... I approve of your plan of sending your student to handle the questioning... sending in an attractive young woman opens up so many more... possibilities."

Tsunade frowned. "I only asked Sakura to fill in in my stead, because I was busy with a council meeting... A council meeting which the pair of you called," the Hokage said in an annoyed voice.

Eri smiled knowingly again. "Of course... My misunderstanding. At any rate, the Uchiha strikes me as the type who would be glad to see an old friend, and a pretty one at that." She turned to Sakura, and lowered her eyelids. "Are you... sure he neglected to whisper a few choice secrets in your ear as you were no doubt giving him a... very thorough exam?"

Sakura frowned, growing angry at what this woman was suggesting. She quickly decided that there was nothing else she was going to say to these people. "Unfortunately he didn't... But it is still early in my investigation. I'm sure I will have something for Tsunade-sama very soon."

Eri's smile didn't budge, but the false cheer vanished from her eyes. "Of course you will... Hokage-sama, I would like to respectfully suggest that you re-question the Jinchuriki as well." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she watched Sakura. "The Uchiha is definitely not the only one keeping secrets."

Sakura bowed to hide the rage flickering across her face. "I always report all I learn to the Hokage."

"By all means... but shouldn't you report all you know to her now?" said Eri in a cold concise voice.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Sakura?" she said curiously.

"There was a... slight incident. That I was planning on discussing with you... in private Milady," said Sakura humbly.

Eri gave a look of mild surprise. "Oh dear," she said, concerned. "I do hope any of the ANBU weren't injured."

"Mmmm... If the Uchiha is such a dangerous boy," said Masanori casually, "perhaps we should remove him from the Holding and Interrogation center and just... Mmm... bring him straight off to the Correctional facility?"

Eiji's grin was dripping pure pleasure. "A fine notion!" he exclaimed. "And as the Correctional facility comes under the jurisdiction of the council, I am sure they would not mind the added assistance of the civilian ANBU in controlling such a dangerous animal."

"Sasuke is not an animal!" yelled Sakura "If you had heard what traumas he went through after what happened to his clan, you and everyone else in this village would..."

"Sakura!" thundered Tsunade. She was so loud Sakura bit her tongue. The three members of the Civilian ANBU: Eiji, Eri and Masanori were all gazing at Sakura with rapt attention. The Hokage gave her an almost imperceptible shake of her head and then turned to the Shimura clan. "It has been a long day. I grow tired. We will continue this tomorrow afternoon," she said with great finality.

Eiji was red faced and glaring at Sakura. "Are you going to let that girl insinuate that..."

"My student," Tsunade interrupted, "has also had a long day. She spoke out of turn with pure conjecture. She will now apologize for her rudeness." Tsunade swiveled in her chair and nodded coolly to Sakura.

"I'm sorry. As my teacher said, it has been a long mission. My emotions got the better of me," she said with a low bow.

As she was straightening up she caught the briefest glimpse of Eri Shimura's face. All the detached indifference she projected to the world had vanished from her features, exposing an underlayer of savage interest, like a predator catching the scent of a encroaching rival. Her mask only slipped for a millisecond before the usual cover of a bored noblewoman reappeared. "Sakura Haruno... You are also a... dear friend of Naruto Uzumaki... Are you not?" Sakura nodded and Eri's head tilted ever so slightly in satisfaction. "Well then, Hokage-sama," Eri said primly, "I must apologize that we have taken so much of your time." She rose from her seat in a stately manner and brushed herself down. "Eiji... Masanori," she commanded regally, "come... We have other matters that need attending."

Masanori fell quickly in line behind his mistress, but Eiji hesitated. "But what about the business with my..." he started.

Masanori appeared suddenly at his side. "Now now Eiji-sama," he said in an obsequious voice. "We have taken enough of the dear Hokage's time today. There will be plenty of... Mmm.. opportunities to discuss other matters later." He gave Eiji a quick tug towards the door and bowed rather formally to Tsunade. "Thank you very much for your... mmMmm... attention Hokage-sama."

There was the hint of miasma in the air. A cloaked figure wearing a bone white mask joined the Shimura party in the corridor. Sakura was sure she hadn't seen him when she first entered Tsunade's office. Even though there were no eyeholes in the mask, it turned to focus on her. Masanori glanced once at the masked man, and once at Sakura before very politely shutting the door behind him.


	85. Chapter 28: Sakura's Tale: part 4

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but Tsunade held up a single warning finger. She waited almost a full minute after the footsteps of the Shimura clan retreated down the hall. Then she exhaled. "Oh Gods, what a day," she grumbled and began digging through her desk drawers looking for an unopened bottle of Sake.

"Absolutely an idiotic idea!" she snarled to no one in particular. "We're a military force, a military village! You don't go around setting up some secondary fighting unit that lies completely outside the chain of command!"

She noticed Sakura waiting, and forced himself calm with a breath. "The council forced a vote. It passed... barely. The 'charming' Eiji Shimura is the new commander of the civilian's ANBU brigade, and the rest of his family has weaseled their way into this new faction. They will report regularly to a small sub-committee within the council itself. All because Sasuke Uchiha has returned to the village and everyone is terrified we can't keep him locked up." She snorted. "The council is wetting their pants over the belief that one dark night, he'll escape from the interrogation center and murder us all in our beds."

Tsunade studied Sakura carefully and her face grew a frown. "You only get that particular look on your face when you are about to tell me something rather unpleasant... I am praying that the next words out of your mouth are not going to be that Sasuke has escaped."

"You promised me that there wouldn't be any mind scans," Sakura said accusingly.

Tsunade sat back, temporarily giving up on that bottle of sake. "I promised you nothing. What I said was that I would consider waiving a mind scan if you could gather enough information to convince me that this return is a sincere one. I said we should probably wait anyway until the prisoners had undergone a physical before we even attempted a mind reading... and while you were there, the political situation changed. I needed to know right away what sort of threat Sasuke Uchiha is to my village."

"And what did we end up learning?" Sakura asked pointedly. Tsunade looked away. "As far as I can tell the only thing we managed to confirm is that Sasuke has very formidable mental defenses."

"The Uchiha managed to assault three ANBU interrogators while in custody," Tsunade said firmly.

"He has a name you know," Sakura said testily.

Tsunade gave her a long cool look. "I'm surprised at your tone... If I didn't know any better... I'd say you still have some feelings for this boy."

Sakura clamped down hard on the fiery burst of anger. "I have as much feeling for him as I would have for any patient that has been placed in my charge. The Uchiha, as you insist on calling Sasuke, seemed stable enough at first. It's really unfortunate that all of my notes came from the rapport I forged with him before he managed to fight off an attempt by three of the top ANBU psychics while drugged to the gills. Who know how that will have affected his attitude, his willingness to cooperate?" she asked sarcastically. "Before all that happened, I would have said that he manages himself very well, and can carry on polite conversation and empathize with others. He is even willing to discuss his relatively recent past and events that transpired that might be of interest to us freely. The only time he seems to lose his restraint over his emotions is when someone broaches the topic of his older brother. " Sakura threw down a folder on Tsunade's desk. "From what I can reasonably guess," she said, deciding to hold off on revealing everything she learned listening at Tsunade's door, "after he killed his brother, he learned something... Something that caused him to identify with Itachi. That's why he decided to seek revenge on Konoha." Sakura leaned forward and lowered her voice. "However, his circumstances have again changed since we last saw him during the fourth war. It is my opinion he appears to fit the profile of someone who feels... guilty for his actions. What changed him, I couldn't begin to tell you, but at the time, I believed that with enough time and trust I could have dragged it out of him." She said calmly as she could. "With that mind probe you attempted on him, you destroyed my chances of gaining that trust. It's all there in my report. It's paragraph eight of the short history I've been filling in on one Uchiha, Sasuke." Tsunade reached out and flipped the cover open. "Go ahead and read it, you can send for me when you're done." Sakura turned purposefully and started to leave.

"I haven't dismissed you yet Sakura!" Tsunade's voice cracked like a whip through the office. Sakura stiffened and carefully turned back around.

Tsunade slowly paged her way through the report, taking her time. Sakura stood there, trembling as the silence grew.

After what seemed an eternity, Tsunade put the report down with a thump. "Your work is stellar as always. We'll add that bit about Jugo to the file we have on him... I must confess I'm impressed with the amount of information you managed to get out of the Uch... I mean... Sasuke." Tsunade leaned forward. "Although, I'm a bit surprised at your... choice of language. It almost seems like you're defending him."

"Defending him?" snapped Sakura, "Do you think I'm enjoying being in his company? Tsunade-sama everything I'm doing, I'm doing for the sake of the..."

Tsunade waved a hand. "Sakura," said Tsunade quietly. "You don't have to make yourself out to be so heartless. Of course you still care for him." She looked at her pupil with a blend of stern sympathy. "You never lose the feelings for your comrades. That first team you were ever on will always be something special to you." Tsunade gave a dry chuckle. "Trust me... I know from experience... I also know that the important thing now is to realize that your former comrade is not the same person you grew up with... The boy is not the man. That man we have down in the cells is a monster."

Monster… That word brought back memories. Sakura had a sudden flash of her mother pulling her aside...

"_What were you doing talking with that boy? You know I told you to stay away from him!"_

_Honestly Sakura didn't mind too much that Naruto was always trying to talk to her. He was one of the few people, aside from Ino, who never teased her about her forehead. Still, she knew that her mother forbade her from ever associating with him... and the last thing she wanted to do was get into trouble... "But Mom," she whined. "It's not my fault if he follows me everywhere! It's so annoying!"_

_Mebuki squinted her eyes and glared out the window to where the blonde haired boy could be seen lurking in the shadows across the street. "Well... We'll just have to talk to your father. We can't have monsters like him trying to be friends with you."_

She realized Tsunade was still talking and started listening again. "...You don't have to make any excuses to me. If anything, I blame myself."

"Blame yourself for what?" asked Sakura. "I'm not sure I understand."

"I pushed you towards a reunion with Sasuke. It was bound to be awkward. Especially if you still have feelings for him." Tsunade shrugged at Sakura's shrill protest. "Or maybe not. At any rate... If you truly want to try to return Sasuke to this village... I am going to need to know everything that is going on inside his head. Right now I have political maneuverings, mystery and rumors eating their way through the stability of Konoha. It's time like these when we are at our most vulnerable. The citizens of Konoha will bond together when faced with an outside foe, but we have a bad habit of being our own worst enemies." Tsunade leaned back in her chair. "Naruto has already indicated, quite openly, that he is siding with Sasuke. It's understandable... given how hard he has worked to bring Sasuke back to us, but from a political standpoint..." she sighed, "to see the hero of the Leaf and the Fourth Shinobi war allying with a known criminal in this way... well, some of the councilors at the meeting were wondering aloud if Naruto was planning a coup d'etat."

"What?" gasped Sakura.

Tsunade gave a humorless smile. "You didn't pick that up from the way Eri Shimura was harping on about the lack of injuries and Naruto's dreams?" Tsunade frowned. "I can't see Naruto ever doing anything like that, but that worry always comes up in council whenever one faction in the village gains too much power."

Sakura smirked. "Naruto's a faction?"

"He's popular, it's no secret the younger generations all look up to him... He's immensely strong, he has the Nine Tailed fox at his command... He recently forged ties with the richest clan in Konoha," Tsunade looked up and studied Sakura, "and suddenly he returns with the last remaining Uchiha, begging to allow him back into the Leaf village. You have to admit, that gives him quite the power base."

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Tsunade-sama, you can't possibly be thinking that Naruto would do anything to harm this village, or you."

Tsunade looked at her over steepled her fingers. "Even if he doesn't realize it... even if he has no ambition, that's not to say that someone else couldn't manipulate him." Tsunade sighed. "The main issue right now is I cannot trust his judgement when it comes to matters involving Sasuke... Naruto's recent actions underline that point...And that is the main reason why I decided we needed right then to get a mind scan on Sasuke. He could be hiding anything in that head of his..." Tsunade paused and looked significantly at Sakura. "That is also another one of the reasons why I wanted you to be the one to interview him. As I said before it's obvious you still feel something for him." Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but Tsunade silenced her. "Oh, maybe it's not romantic, but on some level you still want to believe that the old Sasuke is in there somewhere, don't you?"

Sakura stood there, staring at her teacher. Tsunade smiled at her sadly. "You forget, I lost a teammate to betrayal once too," she said softly. "Jiraiya wasn't the only one who wanted to believe that the old Orochimaru was still hidden inside the monster he became." Tsunade sighed. "Unfortunately, I am the Hokage. I can't afford to take potential threats lightly. My choices affect many more people now." She glanced outside the window. "Sasuke's very existence is affecting the peace of my village. I can't afford to look at him with hopeful eyes. Naruto has finally reached the goal he has sought for the past six years... He is so ecstatic with the accomplishment, I can't trust his opinion." Tsunade stared hard at Sakura while her hands idly began their search for her bottle again. "And then there is you. You've seen Sasuke at his worst, and you've seen him at his best. You have hope, but you're not blinded by it...I believe your loyalty is unquestionably to me and to this office... that is why I am asking you to look into this for me."

Sakura looked down at the floor. "Tsunade-sama... I... understand the difficulties you are facing, but if you want me to continue to 'look for you' on this mission... You will have to give me some leeway. You can't expect me to give you an honest assessment if you do not allow me to use my own methods."

Tsunade leaned forward in her chair, all the better to continue looking for her sake. "We are rapidly reaching the point where I will have very little control over anything to do with Sasuke at all. By showing he was willing to take firm action, Eiji Ishimura is the man of the hour right now and unfortunately has a majority of the vote behind him... What do you propose I do?"

"Tsunade-sama... I..." Sakura paused and started again. "About the meeting Sasuke requested with you..."

Tsunade found a full bottle and brought it out with a flourish. "Ah hah!" She placed the bottle carefully on her desk and started digging for a relatively clean cup. "What about this proposed meeting? I will be perfectly honest with you, I was originally thinking about putting it off for a while... At least until things stabilize more politically... But now, the way things are headed, we might never get the chance."

"Well you see that's the thing," Sakura found herself chatting nervously. "There were a couple of things said during my exam of both Sasuke and Naruto that I wanted to bring up to you, because they seemed to be of the political nature... Only then Sasuke started to request an audience with you, but I wasn't sure you would grant it... and then he said to..."

"Sakura... You're babbling again," said Tsunade firmly. "Slow down and get a grip on yourself... Oh! Here it is!" There was the ringing sound of a cup clattering on the desk. "So this was about the meeting Sasuke requested with me?" Tsunade opened the bottle and began to pour.

Sakura nodded. "Yes. The main topic of discussion would appear to be about Kabuto Yakushi."

Tsunade took a sip. "So... the Shimuras were correct... Sasuke wants to bargain does he?"

"Actually... He wants to go to war."

The cup froze halfway to Tsunade's lips. "Excuse me?"

Sakura swallowed. "He claims the reason he returned is he wants our help. He wants our help fighting Kabuto."

Tsunade laughed. "He wants us to get involved in a scrap between two rogue-nin?"

Sakura shook her head. "No... I'm pretty sure it's more than that... I think... he's scared." Tsunade slowly put down her cup and motioned for her to continue. "He gave me three pieces of information to pass on to you in the hopes that they would convince you to see him. I didn't want to talk about them before in case they were sensitive..."

"I understand," said Tsunade. "Go on."

Sakura took a breath. "First: He said that the edo tensei zombies used during the fourth war were created by Kabuto Yakushi."

Tsunade shrugged. "We were already fairly certain of that, but it is nice to have it confirmed from another source... You said there was more?"

"The second was that Kabuto has mastered sage mode jutsu in the style of the great white serpent."

Tsunade looked up sharply. "Not even Orochimaru could manage to fully master that... Now that is worrisome." She inhaled sharply and turned to look out the window. "If it is true, then I am beginning to see why he is seeking our help. That would put Kabuto into a whole other class of adversary... Still..."

"Sasuke also says that Kabuto is already preparing for conquest. According to him, he has taken over several of Orochimaru's old research facilities and is trying to produce physically modified shinobi. He has already managed to combine several mercenary clans with remnants of Orochimaru's old shinobi squads to produce a substantial fighting force... and on top of that Sasuke wants to tell you that Kabuto is in possession of the one artifact that would definitely tip the scales in his favor." Sakura paused as Tsunade slowly turned back around. "Sasuke told me Kabuto has recovered the Gedo Mazo."

Tsunade was silent for a long time. "Has he offered you any proof?" she asked quietly.

"No."

Tsunade pondered for a moment. "Well then... could he be convinced to change his opinion about undergoing a mind scan?"

"I think we've established that is one thing he is adamant about," Sakura said somewhat accusingly.

Tsunade sighed. "As you saw from the charming gathering earlier, the political situation is mostly outside my control. I need to know the truth of what he knows. Even more importantly I need to know right away what sort of threat Sasuke Uchiha is to my village."

"Sasuke insists that he isn't a threat Hokage-sama."

Tsunade gave her a sympathetic smile. "And I am quickly running out of time to determine the truth of that. The council is already pushing me to take stronger measures against him, and my lack of immediate action against the Uchiha has already cost me significant political capital. Right now, Eiji Shimura is riding a tidal wave of a demand for justice and fear straight to the apex of power. If he can continue to use Sasuke as a tool like this, I will soon have no say in what happens to Sasuke... And I might even be out of a job."

Sakura stared at the ceiling and thought for a moment. "What if there was some way for you to reduce your opponent's political standing, and improve Sasuke's good faith at the same time?"

"Excuse me?" asked Tsunade.

"Well, correct me if I am wrong, but we have three main issues here: Kabuto, Sasuke and Itachi. The first problem is Sasuke. We need proof of whether or not he is a threat... whether he can be trusted. Second comes Kabuto. If what Sasuke says is true, he has the Gedo Mazo, is marshaling an army, and is planning on attacking other nations... That is a major threat. To everyone in the Hidden Leaf... even those who don't like Sasuke.

"If Sasuke is telling the truth," emphasized Tsunade.

Sakura nodded. "Which brings us to the last issue, the one that caused Sasuke to leave in the first place... Itachi. If we can solve the mystery behind why Itachi killed his clan, we would be closer to understanding Sasuke's actions, and figuring out why he suddenly turned on the Hidden Leaf. Maybe we could build some sympathy for him?" Sakura wiped her palms on her skirt. "Maybe if he saw that we were honestly trying to understand him, to build up sympathy for him, he would open up to us some more?"

Tsunade looked up sharply. "Mystery is it? The village history has always been that Itachi went mad... Yet this is the second time in ten minutes you've alluded to suspicions about the Uchiha killings. What have you heard?"

Sakura froze."Um..." She could have kicked herself. In all the quickly evolving frenzy over Sasuke's return, she'd forgotten that she wasn't supposed to know that there was anything other than the official story on the Uchiha clan massacre. "It's obvious that there is something off about it... Otherwise you wouldn't have sent me to the Hyuga compound to look for files... right?" she said uncertainly, sweating under Tsunade's intense stare. "I mean if there was any sort of conspiracy around it the Hokage would have had to know... and then there's also the question if there was anyone else involved?"

The Hokage's only response was to sag in her chair. Instead of reaching for her cup, she seized the sake bottle and took a good six or seven swallows. "Well that just tears it," she mumbled. She looked up at Sakura and shook her head. "From your unspoken commentary, it's obvious you've heard the tale too... Tell me, did you hear it from Kakashi or Naruto?"

Sakura stiffened. Thinking back to her own spying she said evasively, "Hokage-sama, neither one of them..."

"I suppose it doesn't matter," Tsunade continued despondently. "May I ask what you know?"

"Only that there was some question as to whether or not Itachi acted alone?" Sakura said timidly. "And that certain members of the Third Hokage's administration might have been involved in some way? Sasuke himself freely admits to killing Danzo Shimura... almost like it was expected of him... which would suggest a revenge killing..."

Tsunade blew out a sigh. "Sakura... The genocide that occurred that night was one of the most terrifying moments in Leaf village history, second only to the attack of the Nine tails. An entire clan... one of the strongest clans in Konoha, was wiped out like that!" Tsunade snapped her fingers for emphasis. "People were terrified. Was this again the work of Orochimaru? Had he returned to wreak his vengeance? Was their clan next? To hear that it was carried out by the young genius Itachi Uchiha, well... that changed people's attitudes from one of paralyzing fear, to one of pity."

Tsunade fidgeted with her cup as she reminisced. "No one wanted to look past that pity. Everyone just accepted the story as it was told." Tsunade paused and stared at Sakura thoughtfully for a moment before continuing in a low voice. "Nobody wonders why the power to the Uchiha precinct was shut off that night. Nobody wonders why all of the records dealing with the murder of hundreds of citizens of Konoha have gone missing. No one wonders why every investigation was stifled. Those who pointed out incongruities were laughed at... called conspiracy theorists. No one wanted to think that those in power would have had a hand in such a heinous act."

"There had always been an... awkwardness between the Uchiha clan and the rest of the Hidden Leaf," Tsunade continued softly. "They had always been such a powerful faction, much to the disquiet of the other clans... Those same clans have worked hard in the past to ensure the Uchiha stayed out of the seats of power." Tsunade stared at Sakura. "It's hard not to come to the conclusion that any clans that might have played a part in the downfall of the Uchiha clan would be heavily invested in making sure that information stays out of the public eye. Do you understand why I am telling you this?"

"I'll be careful," insisted Sakura.

Tsunade shook her head. "You misunderstand... If this rumor is spreading, it may already be too late. It will just be a matter of time before tensions start running so high that this pot of secrets boils over and burns us all." Tsunade sat back and opened Sakura's preliminary report again. "The most important thing we can do right now is try to keep the peace. We need to convince everyone that they can trust the office of the Hokage, that everything is safe and happy and completely under control." Tsunade turned the first page. "If we can do it without handing over power to the Shimura clan... so much the better."

"So do you have orders for me then?" asked Sakura.

"Official orders?" Tsunade stopped and looked thoughtful for a second. "Yes, as a matter of fact I do... Shizune!" the Hokage's bellow quickly brought her aide running. "I want you to witness that I am officially announcing that Sakura Haruno is to release Naruto Uzumaki from the interrogation center and cease all investigative duties having to deal with Sasuke Uchiha. She has done an exemplary job... There are only just a few minor follow ups I will need her to take care of."

Shizune looked at her master, confused. "Yes?"

"Small things, inconsequential things." Tsunade unsteadily poured herself another cup of sake and waved Shizune away. "That's all. Go on! Write that down in the mission logs... Go on!" With the same puzzled frown, Shizune walked back out of the office and closed the door.

"So you're just going to tell me to give up?" asked Sakura coldly.

Tsunade shook her head in exasperation. "You know nothing of politics my dear. I've given you the best present I can right now. Carte blanche to investigate whatever you see fit with absolutely no oversight on my part. You can step on anyone's toes in my name, and all for the price of me having to issue a few apologies and maybe dressing you down in public."

"So... this means..."

Tsunade smiled. "I'm giving you an unspecified mandate. Dig away." She flipped a page in the report. "I'm sorry, I can not give you more time. The follow up council session is tomorrow at three. I fully expect Eiji will be there clamoring for Sasuke to be placed under his custody again. I will do what I can, but if Sasuke is placed in the Shimura clan's hands... I have doubts we will see him again." Tsunade looked up. "Bring me something I can use. Find something that can sway some votes into feeling that Sasuke isn't the monster everyone thinks he is... or at least something that will make other councilors wonder just what the Shimura clan is hiding."

Sakura bowed to hide her enthusiasm. "Thank you Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade called to her as Sakura turned for the door. "Oh... and Sakura...For the sake of stability and your own safety... Try to be discrete."

Sakura had to skid to a sudden stop before she almost ran over Shizune just outside in the hallway. "Oh!" Shizune cried out, looking slightly guilty. "Sakura-chan! Have you finished your discussion with the Hokage?" When Sakura nodded, Shizune gave a great sigh of relief. "Oh good. Has her mood improved any?"

Sakura shrugged. "A little, she doesn't seem like she is going to kill anyone right now, but that might be because she's had a bit to drink."

"More sake?" groaned Shizune. "Great... She's scheduled to meet with the representative for..."

"Shizune!" Called Tsunade's voice from inside the office. "Are you out there? I can't seem to find where you hid the other bottle!"

"Well... this is not good," grumbled Shizune. There was a reproachful groan as she walked through the door. "Tsunade-sama!" she exclaimed, "the meeting with the Raikage's representative is in less than an hour! What are you doing?"

"Hmph," grunted the Hokage. "I'm not going to talk to her. I've had enough arguing today. Tell her I'm sick and I'll see her tomorrow."

"But Hokage-sama..."

"No buts! After the morning I've had, I need a break!" There was the sharp glugging of the sake bottle.

"What... what happened Tsunade-sama?" asked Shizune in a quiet voice.

There was a long pause. "Is Sakura still out in the hallway?" Tsunade asked in a whisper.

Once again Sakura found herself making a show of leaving the Hokage's office only to put her infiltration skills as a shinobi to the test by working herself back to the Hokage's now closed door. She heard the clatter of bottles ringing together. "... quite enough for today Hokage-sama," said Shizune in an admonishing tone. "You are going to need to sober up before you continue with the day."

"Hah!" barked Tsunade, "After the day I've had... being dead drunk could only improve matters." There was the clink of cup and the gurgle of pouring. "What's this?"

"Tea... the special brew," Shizune grumbled. There was a long pause, broken only by the repeated sound of someone drinking. "So... It was that bad?" Shizune asked timidly.

"Worse," grumbled Tsunade. "Much much worse." Sakura heard the Hokage's chair creak as she leaned back. "They've won Shizune. I don't see how it can play out otherwise... They have won."

Shizune gave a nervous chuckle. "Now now Tsunade-sama... You're still Hokage. This was just one meeting. I'm sure things will look better tomorrow."

"They can call for, and win, a recall vote on me at any time... The only reason they haven't yet is that Eri Shimura is getting too much pleasure watching me squirm."

"They can't do that!" yelped Shizune. "There isn't a provision to recall the Hokage!"

"Oh, there is now," said Tsunade, taking another sip of her tea, her voice dripping with black humor. "A majority vote of the council can censure the Hokage. Once said Hokage has been censured three times, the council can put forth a recall vote amongst the clan elders... As it stands right now, the Shimura clan controls roughly half the elder council.

"Half?" gasped Shizune.

"Roughly," repeated Tsunade. "Danzo put enough provisions in the bylaws that they can influence about half the clans at any given time." She sighed. "I may hate the man with my every breath, but I'll also be the first to admit that he was a genius when it came to politics."

"How do you mean?" asked Shizune.

"Well just look!" There was the thump of a heavy book being opened. "All new building permits to be approved by a council majority. With the rate of construction the Kohane clan does, they'll need the Shimura clan's fourteen votes constantly... and then there is this little gem. 'The official Quality Control oversight of the medicinal elements act.' It puts a committee in charge of the the inspection of all herbs, restoratives, remedies and manufacturing of pills and other medicines. In one fell swoop he's just put leashes on the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans... and those were just two examples! There's over a hundred little notes and add ons in here that seem innocuous or like a good idea until you look a little bit closer and realize that they are all about consolidating power and dissolving other alliances."

"Well there has to be some way to fix all that," stated Shizune.

Tsunade laughed. "Not without improving my standing on the council. And they have made it clear that the only way that's going to happen is when Sasuke gets a very speedy trial and an even quicker punishment... preferably a terminal one." There was a deep sigh. "You can imagine how Naruto would take that little bit of news."

"He wouldn't be happy," agreed Shizune.

There was an amused laugh from the Hokage. "Wouldn't be happy? He'd go on a full on rampage! Of course the Shimura's have already planned for that contingency," Tsunade snorted. "That story they planted about Naruto making a power grab for the Hokage seat... a work of genius. If he tries anything he'll be arrested next on charges of treason... Danzo always wanted the Kyubi caged and under his control. They are setting up the perfect excuse."

"Well there has to be some way you can steer things."

"Not without bringing the Shimura clan down a notch or two," grumbled the Hokage, taking another drink. "They've got half the votes in their pocket, and about another quarter from sycophants, and the smaller clans looking to jump on any wagon that will bring them ahead."

"So how do we hurt them?" asked Shizune. "There must be some way to... lessen their impact."

Tsunade chuckled. "Look at you... turning into a political assassin in your old age." Her cup clinked. "If there is one thing the Shimura clan excels in, aside from politics, it's cleaning up after their dirty deeds."

There was a very long pause. "Was it ever confirmed that Danzo Shimura had the eye of Shisui-kun?" asked Shizune timidly.

"Confirmed? Hah!" laughed Tsunade. There was the sound of her swallowing and then the musical tinkle of liquid being poured. "To confirm that you'd need Danzo's body now wouldn't you? How very convenient that it is sealed away, nowhere to be found." Tsunade drank again and exhaled. "But at this point, I see no reason that Ao from Kirigakure would have been lying about events that occurred during the Five Kage summit, despite what assurances and protests from various Leaf elders we might have heard." There was another sigh from the Hokage. "No... right now, I can't actively make any accusation myself, not without looking like I'm desperately clutching at straws."

"Ah," said Shizune with sudden understanding. "So that is why you're using Sakura."

"Using her? No!" insisted Tsunade. "That girl has a naturally inquisitive nature, a brilliant head on her shoulders, and is as tenacious as a bear when she puts her mind to something... I'm not using her... I'm just... giving her a little nudge... that's all."

"But if the council finds out..."

"She's an independent investigator. Her mission is done, she just begged the Hokage for some time to tie up a few loose ends. Nothing can be traced back to me... No one will believe it of course, but if she can dig up something big enough to switch the opinion back into my favor," Sakura could hear the grin in Tsunade's voice, "everyone will pretend not to notice."

There was another long pause. "Yes," said Shizune softly. "But don't you think you should warn her about how dangerous this could be?"

Tsunade smacked her lips. "She's my student. She can handle it."


	86. Chapter 28: Sakura's Tale: part 5

Sakura jogged her way back to the ANBU interrogation center, her nerves twanging and her head chugging away like a well oiled machine. So there was a conspiracy... and apparently everyone knew about it but her. Even worse Tsunade, her teacher, was throwing her into the murky waters of it without so much as a warning... Which, if she thought about it was rather typical of the Hokage. It was nice that Tsunade had every confidence in her... but still...

She rounded a street corner, dodged through a smattering of street vendors, and then put on some speed. The best thing she could think of right now, was to talk to two of the main players.

She could hear Naruto ranting from outside the interrogation center. When she finally got to his cell, he was flush against the bars, glowering at the ANBU guards. "... I was always under the impression that honor and duty were supposed to mean something to you guys, Huh? Isn't it against the bylaws to perform a mind scan on citizens of Konoha without their permission?"

The guards continued to studiously ignore him. This only seemed to make Naruto froth at the mouth more. "And another thing," he snapped. "Do you know how long we've been waiting for something to eat? This is cruel and unusual punishment of prisoners! Neither of us has had a bite of anything since..."

"Naruto," she called softly.

"Sakura!" he whooped out with joy. "I'm so glad that you're here... you didn't bring any ramen with you did you? We're starving... Well, I'm starving. Sasuke fell asleep. Did you hear that these idiots doped him up and tried to give him a mind scan?" he leaned as far as he could through bars. "If they'd taken the time to ask me... I could have told them what a freaking stupid idea that was!" he yelled in a sarcastic tone of voice. The guards continued to ignore him.

"Naruto," Sakura said softly. Naruto continued scowling at the ANBU. "Naruto! Stop making faces at the guards!" she shouted. Naruto flinched and looked at her sheepishly. "Listen to me... Your DNA testing came back. You and Sasuke are both who you say you are. "

"Tell me something I didn't know," said Naruto with a snort.

"Will you shut up and listen to me? I don't think you realize just how big a problem this is for Tsunade-sama," huffed Sakura.

"Tsunade-sama? She's not the one in jail!"

Sakura gave Naruto such a look that he recoiled back a little. "No... She isn't the one in jail... She's the one who's trying to keep the entire village from freaking out that you've brought Sasuke Uchiha right into their midst! Thanks to you, those idiots who attacked you and Sasuke at the main gate are now a separate ANBU force operating under the council's jurisdiction, there's a rumor flying through the council that you are planning to stage a coup d'etat and take over the Hidden Leaf, and there's rumblings that the current Hokage is showing her age and is too soft to deal with the ongoing crisis."

Naruto looked puzzled. "What crisis?"

There was a weak rustle. "Me," grunted Sasuke. "I'm the crisis."

Naruto stepped over to the cot. "I thought you were going to try to sleep?"

Very slowly Sasuke sat up. "I was. Some idiot wouldn't stop yelling about how hungry he was." He nodded vaguely in the direction of the cell door. "How very nice to see you again Sakura," he said sarcastically, "Have you come back to promise that there are other tortures that won't be happening to me?"

Sakura closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and ignored him. "Naruto, Tsunade needs to reassure the public... Heck, she needs to be reassured herself... Three days ago, you left to meet up with Sasuke and have a fight to the death... We have reports of what the valley at the End looked like... We know you fought... Pakkun said it was very likely that one or both of you died... And yet, this morning you wandered up to the village with Sasuke in tow like nothing happened and asked to be let in." She leaned forward and grabbed the bars. "I heard that garbage you told Shikamaru about having a fight and falling in a river... What really happened Naruto?"

Naruto inhaled, and opened his mouth to speak. A slight cough echoed in the walls of the cell. Naruto paused and then glanced back at Sasuke. His mouth shut with a click. "Like I said before... you'll have to ask Sasuke," he muttered. "It's really not my story to tell."

"All right then... Ten years ago Itachi Uchiha supposedly went mad and wiped out his entire clan... Again, supposedly all by himself." Sakura got some small pleasure out of the way Naruto jumped at her words. "Do you feel like telling me what really happened then?"

Naruto reached up and started to scratch the back of his head. "Well, I guess that wouldn't be..."

"No," said Sasuke.

"Aww, come on Sasuke!" exclaimed Naruto. "It's Sakura! It wouldn't hurt anything! If it would help Granny Tsunade maybe we should..."

"I said, no!" barked Sasuke.

Naruto shook his head and took a deep breath. He let it out. "Sorry," he said to Sakura, grinning sheepishly.

Sakura drummed her fingers on the bars. "Did you know that Tsunade-sama wants to release you?"

"Hey that's great!" said Naruto brightly, "So when can Sasuke and I..."

"Not Sasuke... just you."

Naruto's face went blank. "That's... too bad then... I guess I'd just better get comfortable in here."

To Sakura's surprise it was Sasuke who responded. "Naruto... be reasonable. Why would you want to stay in here?"

"Because I promised you that I was going to stay, you jerk," Naruto said smiling, "And to be perfectly honest with you... I'm not sure I trust these guys..." He waved vaguely at the ANBU guards. "I've seen what prison guards can do you know." Naruto squinted his eyes and tried to look tough. "You forget Sasuke, I've been 'inside' before." He looked contemptuously at the walls of his cell. "You call this a prison? I've been in lock up for real... This dump here would almost be a three star hotel in comparison..."

Sasuke swung his legs over the side of the bed. "There's no point in both of us being locked up, you doofus."

Naruto humphed. "Oh... you say that now... Just see how long it takes you to get something to eat in here."

"You're a walking stomach with legs... Do you know that?" muttered Sasuke.

"Shut up!"

"I'm serious," said Sasuke heaving himself to his feet. "Your constant complaining about how hungry you are is getting on my nerves... Get out of here."

"I will... Just as soon as Granny Tsunade sees the light, and lets you out with me." Naruto folded his arms and stared at the ceiling. "I've got nothing better to do."

Sasuke stumbled forward, swaying to keep his balance, his chakra restrainers jangling. He stopped about half a meter behind Naruto. "I'll bet that Hinata is missing you," he said softly. Naruto froze and flushed bright red. Sasuke turned and faced Sakura. "So tell us Sakura... Is there any news on how the little Hyuga princess is doing?"

Naruto shot Sakura a glance of desperate curiosity before turning away. "There's nothing new I'm afraid," Sakura said quietly. "As far as I know she is still locked in her room."

Sasuke smirked and took a few more cautious steps forward to the bars. "Wow... Sounds like you're doing a fantastic job being romantic... doofus."

"Shut up, jerk!" snapped Naruto.

Sasuke ignored him. "You know I bet that the knowledge that her boyfriend is locked up in the Interrogation center is doing wonders for your relationship. Her father has some sort of important position doesn't he?" He smiled. "Oh yeah! Head of the Clan! I wonder how he feels about his daughter's boyfriend being in jail?"

Naruto looked down at his feet. "I'll make it up to her... Somehow..."

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, I'm sure that'll work out just great. There's so many enchanting places for the pair of you to visit in here... Maybe she'd like a souvenir postcard of the commode?" Sasuke reached out unsteadily with one arm and punched Naruto in the shoulder. "Look doofus, if you want to try to fix things with her you can't do it locked up, can you?" He gave Naruto a shove. "Go! I'll be fine."

Naruto sighed. "Sasuke...Look, there's..."

"I'll be fine I said!" Sasuke snapped. "I spent the last six years with either a madman trying to steal my body for his next incarnation, or with the whole ninja world trying to kill me." Sasuke stepped away from the bars and shuffled back to the narrow cot. "I've lived my whole life amongst my enemies. I can spend a few days in a cell all by my lonesome."

Naruto followed him. "Yeah, but what about... You know... Kabuto?"

Sasuke collapsed down onto the cot. "I need to recover anyway. You go make nice with Hinata, and we'll meet up again in three days."

"Two," insisted Naruto.

"Fine, two... whatever," mumbled Sasuke. He rolled on his side and faced the wall.

Naruto stared at Sasuke for a moment his brow creased in thought. "Hey Sakura?" he muttered very quietly. "I think I'm going to need to ask you for a favor." Naruto paused and looked down at his shackles. "Actually, can I get out of these restraints now?" He motioned to one of the ANBU who began the process of unsealing and unlocking the manacles. When the guard had pulled the last one out through the bars, he broke the seals on the door and swung it open. Rubbing his wrists, Naruto stepped out. "You have no idea how good it feels to get those things off," he murmured.

Sakura put her hands on her hips. "So what is this favor you want to ask me?" Naruto shot a quick glance at Sasuke and then ushered her into a secluded corner. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, staring at her with a wistful look on her face "What is it Naruto?" Sakura asked getting frustrated.

Naruto shook his head and grinned quickly. "Nothing... well... It's just good to see you again... Anyway that favor... I um..." He glanced back at Sasuke again. "I think I'm going to need you to keep an eye Sasuke."

Sakura folded her arms to hide her surprise. "Why?" It felt weird having Naruto asking her to do the very thing she was planning on doing.

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean why? I thought you'd be all over this chance... It's Sasuke... Here's your opportunity to get closer to him."

This again... Now it was Naruto assuming that she wanted to be near Sasuke. A vein began to pulse in her forehead. Why the hell was everyone assuming she was still in love with him? "And can you think of some reason why I would want to get closer to a missing-nin, a murderer, and a criminal?" she growled.

Naruto pinched his nose. "Fine. Whatever. Look... what I need you to do is to stay here and keep an eye on him."

"Keep an eye on him?" hissed Sakura. "If you're worried about him escaping then tell the guards! They'll have more ANBU posted here in a shot!" She turned away. "I can't waste my time here on guard duty, I've got other things to do!" she lied.

Naruto grabbed her arm before she could turn. "Sakura, I'm not worried about an escape... I'm worried about him."

"You're worried about him," Sakura said flatly.

Naruto sighed and glanced back at the cot. "Everyone's got a breaking point Sakura... and Sasuke's pretty close to reaching his... Look, it's not an excuse for how he's acted in the past, but Sasuke's been trapped in a nightmare. He's made some... bad choices." Naruto leaned forward even closer and whispered. "But he needs to try to make things better, he needs to feel like he's got a shot at redemption. I'm worried that if things get too hard, he's going to lose hope and give up." Sakura leaned back, a little stunned. Naruto had the same assessment of Sasuke that she did. Naruto gave her arm a shake, to get her attention again. "We can't afford for him to give up. We need him Sakura... Sometimes I think we need him more than he needs us."

"Need him? asked Sakura. "Need him for what?"

Naruto had a very open face. It was made for flagrant expressions like wide smiles or crushing sadness or burning rage. It was almost comical how blatant his face could be.

Sakura had to stop herself from shivering. Naruto was giving her the cold, far away stare of someone who had been through hell. "The next war Sakura," he murmured softly. "It's coming sooner than anyone can imagine."

He let go of her arm and briefly stepped up to the cell door. "I'll be back Sasuke!" he called. There was a noncommittal grunt from the cot. His footsteps echoed down the corridor.

Sakura stood there, silently staring at Sasuke for as long as she could stand it. "I don't suppose you have any interest in telling me what happened to make you change your mind?" she murmured.

He didn't even shift on the cot. He was still for so long that Sakura started to leave, assuming he had finally fallen asleep. "You know, most interrogators won't give up so easily," Sasuke said, his voice ringing clear across the cell. "In fact, most of them take silence as some sort of challenge."

"I'm not an interrogator Sasuke, I'm a medical-nin," she responded.

There was a cough that could have been a chuckle that echoed around the prison walls. "Sure you are... You're just a medical-nin with a whole list of topics that the Hokage wants answers to... Am I right?" Sakura stood in stubborn silence. "The best torturer I ever knew was a Medical-nin from the Hidden Sound. He always used to say that his knowledge of anatomy served him particularly well in both jobs... Well?" he said in a teasing voice. "Since I'm pretty sure your little mind probes aren't going to work... Why don't you go ahead and break out the thumb screws... Maybe you could give me a few turns on the rack?"

Sakura stared at him. "Why do you have to act this way?"

"What way?"

"What right do you have to act like the wronged party here?" She lashed out at him.

"What right do I have? I came here of my own free will!" he snapped. "Do you have any idea what..." He stopped abruptly and took a deep breath. "Did you give the Hokage the information about Kabuto like I asked?" he asked in a controlled voice.

Sakura noted his sudden change in manner, curious as to what he almost blurted out there. "I did."

"And?"

She sighed. "She is under a lot of political pressure... Various clans are using the upheaval caused by your return to implement a power grab. Right now the only thing any of them can agree on is that you are the biggest threat Konoha has seen in a year."

Sasuke sneered. "Typical. This is just one more example of how everyone hates the Uchiha."

"Can you blame them? They're scared out their minds!" said Sakura. "You can't go around bad mouthing the councilors... After all, you haven't given us anything to work with! That's one of the reasons Tsunade-sama ordered a telepathic probe on you. Both you and Naruto are either avoiding or lying about what happened to you during your fight. Why? What could have happened that was so bad that neither one of you wants to talk about it, and yet by some miracle you're both here in the village acting all chummy? It doesn't make any sense! I'm not even going to start on how you know all these things about Kabuto."

"I know because..." Sasuke shook his head. "It doesn't matter. None of it really matters aside from convincing the Hokage about the threat of Kabuto."

"But that's just the start Sasuke," said Sakura, her hands on her hips. "Then there's the whole other story of why after you killed Orochimaru and fulfilled your dream of defeating Itachi you suddenly decided to switch sides and join the Akatsuki!" Sakura didn't realize when it was that she had started shouting, but her volume was steadily rising. "If you truly wanted to come back Sasuke... couldn't you see that the right time to do it was then?" Her hands were clenched fists. "Instead.. What did you do? You went and joined the same organization that your brother... the one who murdered your entire clan, belonged to!"

Sasuke stiffened. There was another hum and a crackle as his chakra restrainers bled off energy. Sakura could feel the dark anger rising off of him in waves and she didn't care. "Then you really began your downward spiral, didn't you Sasuke? You attacked the Five Kage, you kill the acting Hokage, you try to kill me..."

"So? You were trying to kill me first!"

"I'm not finished!" snapped Sakura. She didn't think she'd ever been this upset with someone before, not even Naruto. "And then you have the gall to attack the whole allied Shinobi force... We had spent two days fighting the Zetsu clones, the edo tensei zombies, the masked Madara, and the Ten tails... You sprang right into platoons of weary, wounded men and women and started tossing them about like rag dolls!" She leaned forward so her head was touching the bars of the cell. "And now you have the nerve to mope and complain on and on about how no one trusts you... For God's sake Sasuke, stop acting like a whiny brat and give us something to help us understand you!"

Sasuke sat back down on the cot. "I... I can't."

"Are you stupid?" she said waving her arms for emphasis. "Do you realize how bad you look right now? You took out three ANBU interrogators! You say you want our help? Get off your high horse and start acting like it!"

She saw his fingers clench on the thin material of the mattress. "Look Sasuke... There are a lot of people who are keeping what they know about the Uchiha massacre quiet. Naruto knows something, the Hokage knows something, the Hyuga clan knows something... But nobody is willing to talk about it... There's this rumor... That Itachi..."

"Stop talking!" roared Sasuke. "I will not listen to anyone... even you, suggest that I blacken the name of anyone in my clan!"

Sakura stared at him, shaking with emotion on the end of the cot. So... Sasuke had a secret... only it was about shaming the honor of his clan? How did that fit in a conspiracy involving the Third Hokage? For just a moment he looked again like a scared little boy and her heart went out to him. "Sasuke... You're the only Uchiha left. It doesn't matter what anyone else says about your clan. Even you... If you can use them to..."

"It does matter!" he bellowed. "All that I have left is that name!" He sat there, taking deep breaths until he calmed down. "I'm not going to smear the Uchiha name any further," he insisted, lying back on the cot. "I've already done enough of that myself."

"You're being pig headed," she insisted. "You're not looking at this pragmatically... Don't think I don't know why you sent Naruto away just then!" she said pointing angrily down the hall after Naruto. "You're worried he'll give away your precious secrets to protect you. Well... now the only person who still calls you a friend is gone... It's just you and me. Who's going to save you if you won't save yourself?"

His response was to roll over and face the wall. She had to strain to hear his whisper. "Who says I deserve to be saved?"

_Oh crap, Naruto was right... he wants to be a martyr,_ Sakura thought to herself. For some reason this realization erased her anger and left her feeling very... worried... almost sad. She took a deep breath. "Sasuke... Look... I'm sorry I was yelling... It's been a long day... please... just... talk to me... Please? If you can't do it right now, then maybe tomorrow…?" There was silence from the cot. "Just... think about it okay?"

He tilted his head slightly up towards her. "You know," he said with a cruel, amused smirk. "I'd almost forgotten how annoying you could be."


	87. Chapter 29: Sakura's Tale part 1

**Chapter 29 Sakura's tale: Old Stories Never Die**

"_... thankfully Minato showed up just in the nick of time... It's an uncanny talent of his. Within moments he had all four members of the 'black widow' assassination squad from Iwagakure on the run._

_With a heavy sigh he turned and started unchaining me from the bed. "Really master," he said reproachfully. "This is the third time I've had to rescue you from situations like this. When are you going to learn!"_

_I smiled cheerfully up at him. "My dear boy... there are some challenges in life that you just can't walk away from, no matter how impossible they might seem." The shackles gone, I sat up and rubbed my wrists and ankles. "Besides, I had them all exactly where I wanted them."_

_Minato gave me a blank look on that boyish face of his, the one he uses when he's utterly confused about something. "Sensei... The infamous Black Widow squad captured you... They were going to kill you!"_

"_They were going to __try__ to kill me," I corrected. "The killing technique they have perfected requires a man to be... well… they have to… um... wear me down considerably first... but I was betting that with my new super secret training techniques, and the... purely medicinal herbs I took just before my capture... They would have had... a huge surprise!" I have to admit, I did chortle a bit remembering the look of awe on the Iwagakure kunoichi's faces._

_Minato's exhaled sharply and shook his head, clearly not appreciating any of my manly bravado… I pity the poor girl who agrees to marry that boy. "And if you were wrong? What then? Sensei! You are risking your life with this foolishness! And for what? For 'research'?! Where is the sense in dying for a stupid book?"_

"_Stupid book? Stupid book?" I asked incredulously. "No book is stupid! Would the Hidden Leaf be half the village it is today if Hiruzen-sensei hadn't taken the time to write down the collected wit and wisdom of the four founders of Konoha? I intend to create something just as worthwhile, just as inspirational… My words and knowledge will be passed down, guiding young Konoha shinobi for centuries to come!" I looked down at my student. "You shouldn't go around with your mouth hanging open like that Minato," I told him kindly. "You might accidentally swallow a fly."_

"_Sensei… The Senju and Uchiha brothers were shinobi of legendary prowess… they did great deeds and struggled against incredible odds and triumphed! I don't mean to offend… but why would anyone be interested in your exploits?" _

_I patted my dubious student on his naive little head. "Don't worry about it," I said magnanimously. "You'll understand better when you're older. Just remember this: Sooner or later, all men, no matter how strong, no matter how noble will die and turn to dust. Within a few paltry generations their memories will be forgotten… But the written word is eternal." I stood and looked around the disheveled hotel room. "Now... Have you seen my pants anywhere?"_

_-Jiraiya the Sanin_

_From: Memoirs of Being a Teacher_

_(Editor's Note: Despite the most Honorable Jiraiya's repeated instances that all the events described between these covers are 100% true... No evidence of the existence of a "black widow" assassination squad from Iwagakure has ever been found.)_

* * *

Sakura stormed away from the interrogation center angrily muttering under her breath. "To hell with Tsunade... to hell with Naruto... to hell with Sasuke..." That last comment of his had done it.

That amused smirk of his... his words: "You know... I'd almost forgotten how annoying you could be." She had turned, slammed her fist through the wall outside of his cell, marched away from the stoic Sasuke, past the terrified ANBU guards and out into the cool evening air.

Her anger evaporated as she walked. She found herself no longer walking with a direction in mind, but just idly striding through the village. It was only to be expected, but nostalgia was beginning to hit her hard. She paused in middle of the main road, right in a stand of cherry trees. Not the original ones of course... those had been torn away with everything else when Pein attacked the village. But it was close enough. Close enough that if she squinted and stood still, it looked almost exactly like where he had left her. The similarity was uncanny. If she closed her eyes she could almost hear her twelve year old self still pleading with Sasuke.

Sakura sat down on a nearby stone bench, not the same bench, and let her gaze travel out past the wall of Konoha to the reddening sun. She thought about Sasuke... and herself.

"Please! Stay here with me!" she had pleaded with him. "I love you with all my heart! If you were to stay here with me you'd wouldn't regret a thing because... I'd make sure every day we'd do something fun... I'd make you happy, I swear!"

Sakura kicked idly at the gravel on the road. "I would do anything for you! Please just stay here with me!" her past voice echoed in her head.

Sasuke had hesitated for the briefest of moment. Time seemed to freeze in the pale moonlight, and for a second she thought she had finally managed to get through to him... she had finally succeeded in letting him know exactly how much he meant to her. He slowly turned and looked behind at her. "You really are... annoying," he had said flatly. With that he had turned to go.

"Stop! she had howled, "If you leave... I'll scream! I'll call the guards! I'll..."

There was a blurring of speed, and suddenly he was behind her. He was so close she could feel his breath on her neck. "Sakura," he murmured. "Thank you." That was the last thing she remembered before waking up on the stone bench the next morning, covered with dew.

Sakura sighed and rubbed her face with one hand. At least this time, she was the one who had walked away. At least this time she had the brains to realize that you simply can't make someone else be how you want them to be. She pushed herself up from the bench and slowly plodded home.

She had only just entered the house and managed to remove one boot when her mother came zipping down the hallway and pounced on her with a great hug.

"Oh thank goodness you are alright!" Mebuki exclaimed, throwing her arms around Sakura. "We were so worried when you ran off with hardly a word... And then to have to deal with all the silence and the waiting!" Some of the relief faded from her mother's face to be replaced by a stern frown. "Do you know how long we've been waiting?"

Sakura sighed exasperatedly. "A little less than three days, Mom... I go on longer missions than that all the time."

"Did you know that Ino Yamanaka dropped off word she was safe to her parents ten hours ago? Ten hours! Do you know what can happen in ten hours?" complained her mother.

"I bet it was plenty of time for Ino-chan to change, and hit the town with whatever her new boyfriend of the week is," quipped her father. Kizashi shuffled into the entryway, an easy smile on his face. He ignored the no-nonsense look her mother gave him and embraced his daughter in a half hug. "Good to see you blossom," he said cheerfully leaning forward to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Your mother and I have already eaten, but we haven't gotten around to putting everything away yet... Are you hungry?"

Sakura grinned. "Starving."

Her parents prattled away at her while Sakura shoveled bowl after bowl of rice into her mouth. By this point she was hoping the old adage about food being able to replace sleep was right. If it wasn't she would sleep right through tomorrow.

She didn't even look up when her mother started fiddling with her hair, a sure sign that everything was about to go bad.

Mebuki teased out Sakura's shoulder length hair and sniffed. "I'll never understand why you continue accepting all those field missions. You have a perfectly acceptable position in the Hospital waiting for you the moment you retire from being an active shinobi."

"Yes Mom," Sakura mumbled around a huge mouthful of rice. She chewed quickly and swallowed. "But you see, the longer I stay active, the higher my position and the better my salary will be when I do 'retire'."

"Yes I know... I know," sighed Mebuki. "I just worry about you."

Sakura paused mid-chew. "Why? You never worried before."

Her mother gave her a charming smile. "You know... I never understood why you don't just let your hair grow out again... You looked so pretty with long hair."

"Mom!" whined Sakura, brushing her mother's hand away. "Can you just... leave my hair alone? It's long enough."

"Well for your work maybe, but how are you going to ever improve your social life if you don't take better care of your appearance?"

"Mo-om!" grated Sakura, "I've just had a very... stressful mission. Can we please not have this discussion... again... right now?"

Her mother just barreled right over her. "Yes, but just take a look at Ino Yamanaka. You're still friends with her right? Maybe she'd be willing offer you some beauty tips. When her mother dropped by earlier to inform us that this whole Uchiha retrieval thing had resolved itself, she told me that Ino was getting love letters from the eldest son of the heir to the Daimyo of the Land of Water... Can you imagine that?"

Sakura looked down darkly and buried her nose in her third bowl of rice. "Mother... Ino dates a lot of guys… and she's not serious about any of them."

Mebuki sniffed. "Well at least she is dating."

Sakura's father wormed his way in between them. "Honey!" he said brightly. "Why don't we just give our little blossom a chance to get some food in her and relax a bit, eh?" Kizashi gently tugged his wife away from his daughter and sat her down across the table from Sakura. As he stood behind Mebuki, massaging her shoulders, he gave Sakura a wink. "So dear," he said to his wife in an amused voice. "Did anything interesting happen today?"

Sakura groaned with her mouth full. Mebuki gave him a playful tap, but his joking comment served its purpose. It took some of the tension out of the air. Her mother smiled and let out a huge sigh. "I'm sorry. We were just so worried you know... When Mrs. Yamanaka heard back from Ino... and we heard nothing... well..."

Sakura put down her chopsticks. "Sorry Mom… I was busy. The Hokage has had me running errands ever since... this morning. The council has been in an uproar."

"I still wish you would have sent word," her mother said disapprovingly.

"If I'd had time I would have," said Sakura calmly. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you I was fine. But if that's what's really bothering you... I just wish you would just come on out and tell me that without going on and on about how I look!"

Before her mother could utter a syllable out of her now stern face, Kizashi stood up abruptly. "Sakura!" he exclaimed in a deep cheerful voice. "Why don't you take a moment to help your dear old dad clean the table... Let's give your mother a chance to rest and put her feet up, shall we?"

* * *

Kizashi was elbow deep in suds as Sakura took another dish. "Your mother means well you know. She's only trying to look out for you... in her own special way."

She rinsed the bowl under the faucet and placed it in the rack to dry. "Yeah... I know," she muttered, not really meaning it. Her mother's 'special' way of looking out for her had been rubbing her nerves raw since she graduated from the Academy.

Her father scowled as he brutally tried to scrub the grease off the frying pan. "She's very proud of you. She is constantly boasting about your position and your accomplishments." He gave her a smile. "I am too, you know... Imagine! Our little girl learning under the tutelage of the great Tsunade-sama!" His smile faltered just a hair. "It's just that... Well... Mebuki is worried that... you don't seem to have much of a social life outside of missions."

"I have a life dad! I have friends!" Sakura insisted in a tired voice.

Kizashi cleared his throat and frantically started to scrub harder. "Yes... Well... Friends... That's fine really. We're very glad you have friends... But... I think your mother is more concerned about... about..." He sighed and handed her the grime encrusted wok. "Here... see if you can do anything with this. My wrists are sore."

Sakura took the pan. There was a high pitched grinding squeal as she scraped it clean with one swipe of the sponge. She rinsed it off and smiled sweetly at her astonished father. "Enhanced strength Daddy... remember?"

Kizashi laughed. "Every time I look at you I still see a little pink haired toddler running around the house in her sagging diaper... I don't think I ever be able to get my head around the fact that my little girl can lift an ox with one hand." They shared a quiet chuckle and continued washing.

* * *

She was almost back in a good mood when she flopped down on the couch. After cleaning up she had been looking forward to spending a few quiet moments sitting with her parents, reading a book maybe, before heading off to bed.

Mebuki gave her barely enough time to take breath. "So," her mother began brightly. "It's been awhile since that nice, polite boy from the Rock clan has been by... How is he doing these days?"

Sakura stared at her father with raised eyebrows. Her mother had never showed any interest in Lee or his clan before other than to remark 'Oh... They... farm rice... or something like that… Don't they?' Kizashi immediately gave her a chagrined smirk and shook his head. "Lee's just fine Mom. I saw him this morning at the main gate when Sasuke Uchiha came back."

"You mean when Naruto Uzumaki brought the Uchiha traitor back," said her mother pointedly.

Sakura looked back and forth between her parents. Her mother was leaning forward from her chair with an eager waxy smile. Her father was studiously examining something outside the window. Uh oh… That was not a good sign. That meant that mom had browbeaten him into presenting one of her 'united fronts' again. This was not something she could deal with right now. "Mom... I've had a very long day... Can you just tell me what ever it is you are trying to get at?"

"Get at?" exclaimed Mebuki with forced innocence. "We're not trying to get at anything! Are we honey?" she said to Kizashi. He mumbled something unintelligible in reply. "We just think it's time for you to be looking forward to your future."

"My future is eight to ten more years as field shinobi, hopefully followed by a posting to the surgical unit of Konoha hospital." Sakura said flatly. "Why?"

Her mother reached out and patted her on the knee, all the while giving her a nervous maniacal grin. "Oh my little darling.. There is so much more to life than employment... Surely you had a nice time seeing that Lee fellow?"

"Lee? I had lunch with him once! He is nice, but only in small doses."

"Well, what about the Uzumaki boy? He was always interested in you, yes? I heard through Mrs. Yamanaka that he... recently became available."

Sakura ground her teeth. "Mom... Naruto is still in love with Hinata Hyuga. They just had a fight. He's trying to win her back."

"Oh?" Mebuki said brightly. "So if things don't work out, maybe he would be open to the idea of pursuing you again? I remember he was so... enthusiastic just a few short years ago."

"Mother!" said Sakura in a half shout. "What is this all about? Just come out and tell me!"

Mebuki's face fell into a determined frown. She turned and glared at Sakura's father. "Kizashi?" she said firmly. "Talk to your daughter."

Her father took a deep breath. "You see, blossom," he said sagely, "When you... love another person very much... You often get certain... urges... to be closer... and that can..."

"Dad!" Sakura grated. "I am a Level four medical-nin. I am perfectly aware of how babies are made."

There was a huge sigh from her father. "Your mother is worried that now that the Uchiha is back in the village, you'll fall back in love with him, and end up running off with him in a fit of torrid passion," he said despondently.

"Kizashi!" screeched her mother.

"What? You didn't want to tell her! So I did!" her father said, affronted. "What was wrong with that?"

"You didn't have to come right out and say it!" yelled her mother. "There is such a thing as subtlety you know!"

"I tried being subtle!"

"When you love another person very much you get certain urges?!' That was your idea of being subtle?"

"Mom! Dad!" roared Sakura, stomping up to her feet. "I am not going to listen to this nonsense! I have no interest in Sasuke Uchiha! I do not need a boyfriend! And If I did want one, I am eighteen years old and perfectly capable of finding one on my own! Now if you'll excuse me," she said tersely pushing her way past them. "I have not had a good night's rest for seventy two hours. I am going to bed!" She stormed up the stairs, furious that everyone was assuming that she still had feelings for Sasuke.

"See what you did?" she heard her mother mutter grouchily.

"Sorry," whispered her father.

* * *

She had a dream that night. It was about him.

It was way back when they were taking the bell test for the first time. Naruto had just been caught in the world's most obvious trap and was hanging there dangling by one foot as Kakashi-sensei admonished him. Sasuke struck... hurling a swarm of shuriken and kunai at their teacher, who dodged them all using a substitution jutsu. As Sasuke fled from his sensei, Sakura ran after Sasuke, determined to help him in any way possible.

She was sprinting through the undergrowth, making more noise than an elephant, when her teacher caught up to her and hit her with a mild genjutsu. The image of an injured, bloody Sasuke limped towards her, begging her for her help.

Although at the time the horror of it all caused her to pass out, she would realize later that it was so obviously a fake. The real Sasuke would never plead for help like that... In that way he was a lot like Naruto... Depending on others did not come naturally to him.

In the nightmare her psyche had modified reality. Sasuke was back to being a genin again, but he was wearing the black and red robes of the Akatsuki. She was her present day Jonin self. They were both taking the bell test, but this time Sasuke's injuries weren't just a genjutsu. He was suffering from a huge sucking chest wound. Fragments of broken ribs jutted out from his skin in crazy angles, dripping gore. He was frantically clawing with both hands trying to stuff his sliding intestines back into his stomach cavity.

She kept calling out to him; she kept trying to approach him. This time she knew exactly what she had to do. She wanted to clear out his abdominal cavity, tie off his bleeders one by one, start an antibiotic jutsu. She knew exactly how to set each and every one of his fractured ribs, suture back together his peritoneum, his rectus abdominis, his deep transversus, and his internal and external obliques.

She knew exactly how to help him... But he kept pushing her away. "I don't need your help!" he insisted in the dream. "Stop bothering me! You're helpless and useless! You're annoying!"

His final scream rattled in her ears as her eyes frantically popped open in the early pre-dawn hour. She stared at her ceiling and tried to will herself back to sleep. But no matter what relaxation exercises she tried, her brain kept telling her that six hours was plenty rest.

She rolled over and found herself staring numbly at the picture again. The picture… Frowning Sasuke, scowling Naruto, and between the pair of them, face forever locked in a joyful squeal... her.

_Please Naruto, this is a once in a lifetime request... Please... bring Sasuke back!_ Her words echoed down the years, back to taunt her once again.

Her mouth was dry. She hoped she hadn't been snoring again. She padded her way to the bathroom and drank.

The water tasted sour and she sniffed at it in semi-drowsy confusion. Then cupping her hand she sniffed at her own breath and drew back in disgust. Her teeth felt rough and tasted nasty. In all the excitement of looking for Naruto and Sasuke over the past few days, she had been neglecting the basics of hygiene.

As she was brushing away, using double toothpaste, Sakura watched herself in the mirror. Idly she played at styling her hair. She tried to practice the 'sexy pout' that Ino had claimed could capture any boy's heart, back when they were nine. Eventually she just stopped and stared.

She'd changed. She must have changed by now. She just wasn't that little giggling useless girl anymore who would cry out for either Sasuke or Naruto to save her. Sasuke had no right to call her annoying. If anyone was annoying, it was him.

She spat, rinsed and spat again. "That stupid mule-headed idiot," she thought to herself. "Can't he see that he's ruining his chances? All he has to do is talk to them! What could be such a big important secret..."

It was there. For a second she could feel it. The pieces were all there in front of her, she just needed to twist them the right way to see how they could all fit together. Danzo Shimura was the head of the ANBU under the third Hokage. Sasuke said Danzo Shimura deserved to die. Itachi was the one who was blamed for the Uchiha massacre. Yet Sasuke almost seemed to revere him now. Sasuke had said Itachi wanted to die.

She wondered idly for a moment if Itachi was covering up the murder of his whole clan for the sake of Danzo Shimura... But that would be ridiculous... wouldn't it?

Unless... Itachi had been one of those brainwashed members of Root...

Sakura shook her head to clear it. No... That couldn't be it... Whatever this secret was... It had to be bigger than that. In her private conversations with Shizune, Tsunade suggested that the Third Hokage had been involved somehow. She thought back to the kindly faced, old man who had been killed at Orochimaru's hands. She couldn't see him ordering such a thing... could he?

Sakura gripped the sink with both hands and leaned forward until her forehead was touching the cool glass of the mirror. This was almost getting too much for her to handle. The stress of searching for Naruto, the tension the whole village was under since his return... She didn't want to admit it, but the realization that Sasuke might now be... reformed was weighing very heavily on her. Dammit, she might have originally made Naruto promise bring Sasuke back… but when he had returned from that retrieval broken and bloodied, with Neji and Choji almost dead… she had promised herself that never again would she let him try to bring Sasuke back on his own...

She still felt that obligation. An obligation to Naruto to do her best to assist in Sasuke's return in anyway she could… and that would be finding out the truth behind the Uchiha massacre… building some sympathy for the rogue Uchiha.

Sakura exhaled, and watched her breath fog the glass. It was an impossible task. Any documents that could have given the truth behind the Uchiha massacre were long gone. Or at least the obvious ones were... It would be hard to remove every mention of anything in the mountains of paperwork that The Hidden Leaf village produced with every major decision, but that also worked to her disadvantage... there was no way she would be able to search through every document in the Hyuga clan's archives to find every mention of the Uchiha... That would take years! She only had until the meeting at three! She'd need thousand of helpers, it would be like... like… like searching for Naruto after he had lied about Sasuke's meeting place

The idea hit her suddenly. She hurried back to her room and glanced at the clock as she scrambled back into her clothes. The red LEDs blinked out 0514. She had less than nine and a half hours. But if this idea worked she would need much less than that.

She went down the stairs as silently as she could. Her father was already up, putting the kettle on to boil. He smiled at her nervously. "Good morning Blossom... I... uh... trust you slept well?"

"Dad? Why are you awake?" she said accusingly.

"Oh... you know how it is... It's going to be such a busy day at work... I thought I would get up early to enjoy the sunrise... maybe get a few things done around the house before I head into..."

"Daddy?" said Sakura in an admonishing voice. "It's still dark. The sun doesn't rise for another half hour, and it's Sunday."

Kizashi glanced up at the window and sighed. "I heard you going to the bathroom... And talking to yourself," he admitted self consciously. " You're going... out aren't you?" He looked at Sakura questioningly. She gave him a nod. "Well, after all the... awkwardness of last night, I thought you might need..."

"Daddy..." Sakura began in a frustrated voice.

Kizashi held up a hand, pleading for her to listen. "Some breakfast at least?" He gave her a smile and tried to brush back his unruly hair. "Please?" He handed her two oranges and a sweet bun. "I'd was hoping I'd have the tea ready before you came down, but you're just too fast for me."

Sakura blinked at him. "Daddy I..." She jumped as the orange fell apart in her hands.

Kizashi picked up one of the sections. "I cut them into smileys," he said, popping the section peel and all into his mouth. He grinned, showing the bright orange rind. "Jusht the way you ushed to like it," he mumbled around the mouthful of fruit.

Smiling, Sakura put a section of her own in her mouth and beamed back at him. They both started to giggle, juice dripping down their chins.

Kizashi reached out to his daughter as he swallowed. "Your mother means well, Blossom," he said softly. "Sometimes though, she just gets in such a tizzy that... well... she doesn't do things in the... most reasonable way."

Sakura sighed. "I know... I just really hate it when she starts picking on my hair and my social life when what I really want her to do is just talk to me." She looked up at the clock. "Dad? I'm really sorry... but I have to get going."

Kizashi smiled at her. "I understand... You're so busy these days." He gave her a quick hug and then ushered her out the door. "Blossom?" he called out into the misty morning. "Have you ever thought that maybe your mother just wants to sit down and talk with you too? She's just… trying to go about it in the best way she knows how."


	88. Chapter 29: Sakura's Tale part 2

Shinobi on the whole are used to keeping odd hours. Between the missions in the field, and more routine guard shifts and especially the odd emergency almost every serving shinobi has a disrupted sleep pattern. She once heard a member of the Daimyo's retinue joke that Konoha was a village that never sleeps. All its citizens had mastered the art of slumbering with one eye open and usually kept one hand resting on a kunai.

So it was only a moderate surprise for her to not find Sai at home. He was one of the most fastidious shinobi she knew. He led a very spartan existence of eating, sleeping and training. Aside from a few times he was out with their respective friends, he tended to pass his free time either painting or reading a book from his ever expanding library of self help books. It was something of a trial to even convince him to leave his apartment.

Being the student of the Hokage has its privileges. She talked one of the members of the swing shift at the rookery into letting her borrow a messenger hawk for an in village message. In less than five minutes of circling, the hawk returned giving her a location.

Sai was sitting on the railing of one of the many bridges that spanned the canal. His sketch pad was lying open across his knees. Dried ink was flaking off his brush and drifting away into the cool morning breeze. "Sakura," he said, not turning around. "You were looking for me?"

"Hey Sai," she said warmly, preparing him for the favor she would be asking. "I tried your apartment first... I was surprised you weren't still in bed. Do you have a mission today?"

Sai glanced over his shoulder. As usual his face was unreadable. "No." He slowly went back to studying the blank page in front of him. "Actually... I haven't been to sleep yet."

Sakura's eyebrows jumped in surprise. "Wow, that's quite a long time... Are you feeling okay?" She took a shuffling step forward.

"I feel... fine." For the two and a half years she had known him, he had always been distant... although he was much better now than he was when he first joined Team Seven. In the beginning he had wielded his aloof pretentious manner like it was a weapon. Years of conditioning in Root had crushed his emotions and taught him that the only things that were worthwhile in life were obedience and strength. As time passed he had begun to open up little by little, and often in very odd ways. Sakura had read in Tsunade's library a treatise on how to readjust long term prisoners of war back to society. It made the analogy of bringing a shipwrecked sailor back to civilization. 'Do not be surprised by any odd habits and coping mechanisms that they have picked up in their absence' the book had cautioned. Sai reminded her of that shipwrecked sailor at times. He would act so differently, and often grew obsessed with trying to develop his own empathy. Anyway, although he was getting more open, she had noticed that there were occasional times that the taciturnity and the blunt, snippy comments would settle around him again like a suit of armor.

Despite now being one of those times, she wandered over and looked over his shoulder at his drawing pad. "What are you working on?"

"Nothing," he said simply.

"Oh... That's okay you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Sai shook his head very slightly. "No, you misunderstand. I am not trying to be private, I am not drawing because I am... unable to." He sounded mildly perplexed.

"Oh, is it artist's block?" Sakura said with a smile.

Sai looked up. "What?"

"Artist's block. You know like writer's block... only..."

"Ah. Yes, I understand the metaphor," said Sai going back to staring at his blank page. "This might be... something like that."

Sakura tilted her head and studied him carefully. "Hey Sai? Is there something bothering you? Because we can talk about it if you want."

"I cannot say," he said simply.

Sakura shrugged. "Well if you're stuck on what to draw, maybe you'd be willing to help me with a project?"

"Oh? What is this project?"

Sakura covered her smile with a hand. "It's actually a mission... kind of... I need your help finding something."

Sai hopped off the bridge railing and began putting his art supplies away. "What did you lose?"

"It's not so much that I lost something as I don't really know what I'm looking for. It's a data mining mission." She took his arm and gave it a tug. "I'll tell you along the way."

* * *

There were two guards at the gate to the Hyuga compound. As Sai and Sakura approached, they both assumed a ready stance eying them warily. Sakura stopped her advance and held up her hands. "I have a mission that requires the assistance of the Hyuga. May I approach?"

"State your business and be on your way," the large of the two said sternly. "We are under orders not to let any outsiders inside the wall today."

Sakura grinned weakly. "Well, I'm afraid that really won't do. You see, yesterday, I was sent by the Hokage to make a search of the archives. I was hoping to perform a second search today if possible." She motioned to Sai. "I brought along a teammate to assist me. If his jutsu is as much help as I think it will be, it will cut my search time considerably."

The two guards stoically stared at her. "Please?" she asked politely. "It is a time sensitive request from the Hokage."

The guards exchanged a glance. The shorter one turned slightly and leaned inside the gate. "Neji!" he bellowed.

Within moments an annoyed looking Neji appeared. He gave both Sakura and Sai a cold hard appraisal before turning to the guards. "Yes?" he asked them.

The taller one nodded. "They want admittance. They say it's official Hokage business."

Neji activated his byakugan. He gave the pair of them an intense stare for a second and then relaxed slightly. "They are who they say they are, we can let them in."

The guards raised the portcullis. "I assume you want access to the Archives again?" Neji asked wearily. With the smallest nod of his head he motioned them to follow.

Sakura was growing slightly apprehensive as she walked past the buildings. There were guards posted in every doorway. Suspicious eyes glared at them from nearby rooftops. "It wasn't like this yesterday. Why all the security? Is something happening?"

Neji shrugged. "It is more of a... precaution at this point. We had a series of intrusions in the Hyuga compound late last night and early this morning."

Sakura sucked in a breath. "Is everyone alright?"

"Everyone is fine."

She had a sudden moment of sinking dread. "The Archives! Did anything happen to the..."

Neji grimaced but shook his head. "No. Nothing happened at the Archives. I am absolutely positive that the documents are still safe."

"Then what happened?" asked Sai, mystified.

"I would rather not say. It is a private Hyuga matter," Neji said stuffily.

"Neji!" called a tall, lean Hyuga from the main house's walkway. "We just discovered what was left this time around. A small stuffed toy fox and a blue bird."

Neji bowed. "Thank you Ko-san. I shall dispose of them immediately."

Ko cleared his throat delicately. "Actually there will be no need. Hanabi-sama has... requested them. I was merely telling you to relax the search." The older man's face quivered with a look of horrified disgust. "I am most thankful it was not another poem. Hiashi-sama was almost livid when he read the last one."

Neji nodded once. "Still no sign of the intruder though?"

"For the moment," said Ko. "I'm sure we are all praying that that was the last attempt."

Neji bowed and continued leading the way. He stopped abruptly when he realized that no one was following him. "What?" he asked grumpily.

"So you are trying to prevent a mystery person from delivering gifts?" asked Sai in a mystified voice. "Forgive me, but I was told that Santa Claus was only a myth."

Neji closed his eyes. "Was that supposed to be a joke?" he asked flatly.

Sai nodded eagerly. "I was trying to use humor to lighten the situation, yes. Was I successful?"

"No," said Neji bluntly. He turned to Sakura. "Someone," he said, his voice dripping with disdain, "is trying to deliver gifts to Hinata-sama... It is becoming quite the nuisance."

Sakura bit her lip. "Hinata's still angry at him huh?"

Neji shrugged. "She hasn't said. She still hasn't left her room. But her actions yesterday morning made her desires quite clear. Hinata-sama wants to be left alone. The least I can do is make sure her wishes are respected... until she tells me otherwise."

Thinking back to the state of mind her friend was in yesterday, Sakura looked up nervously at Neji. "But... no one has been in to check on her?"

Neji understood the underlying question. He cleared his throat delicately. "I am sure she is physically fine at least. She appears to be spending the time sleeping."

"Does that mean you peeked using the byakugan?" asked Sai bluntly. "I always wondered about that."

Neji colored. "We Hyuga take maintaining the privacy of other people to be a matter of the highest honor. I wouldn't have checked on her if it hadn't been a matter of... paramount concern." Neji frowned slightly. "I can't believe that fool had the impudence to insult Hinata-sama in that way, and then have the audacity to ask for her forgiveness"

"Ah," said Sai knowingly. "So Naruto is the one leaving all the presents, is he?"

Neji sighed. "He's been at it all night. I found him trying to scale the inner garden wall at about three AM. He had a guitar with him. A guitar! I can only assume he was going to try to serenade her! Can you imagine? How was he supposed to maintain his stealth if he is singing?"

Sai shrugged. "I don't know... It sounds to me as if it would be positively charming. Chapter Eleven of "The Art of Getting any Woman you Want" states that the path from the balcony to the boudoir is best greased with music."

The Hyuga prodigy gave Sai a horrified, open mouthed stare."What... Just... what are you suggesting?" asked Neji with a strained voice.

"Just that if Naruto ever sang to her... I bet Hinata wouldn't hesitate to rip off his clothes and jump right into bed with him!" said Sai with a happy smile.

"Sai!" yelled Sakura. She turned quickly and bowed apologetically to a purple faced Neji. "I'm so sorry. He didn't really mean that... You... you know how Sai is."

"Was there something in particular you wanted from the Archive?" asked Neji curtly, eager to get them out of here.

"Well, actually... we're not even sure what we're looking for exists, but we need to search for it anyway."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Yes, but what are you looking for?"

Sakura gave him a weak smile. "That's the problem, we don't know. We want to do a large scale search looking for anything having to do with the Uchiha clan. If what we need is in there... We'll know if when we see it."

Neji frowned. "Such an undertaking would require a lot of man-hours. Unfortunately for you have approached us at a very awkward time. Between Hiashi-sama's imminent departure for the capitol, and the current... issues we are having with trespassers, we can hardly spare a soul to escort you, let alone help you in your search."

"If you can let us inside, I think we can take care of the search ourselves," said Sakura eagerly.

Neji's eyes narrowed. "Non-Hyuga are not permitted inside the repository without an escort."

"Since when?" asked Sakura.

"Since the entire set of files on the Third Hokage's orders recorded during the Uchiha incident, mysteriously vanished."

"Yes... Very prudent... But come on Neji, this is me... I'm on a mission from the Hokage herself... Just how ironclad is this rule?"

"Very," said Neji flatly.

Sakura frowned. It was time to bring out the big guns. "Is it more uncompromising than the Konoha Hospital regulations about not letting visitors stay after 1800 hours?" she asked bluntly. "Tell me Neji... How is Tenten these days?"

Neji blushed very faintly. For the better part of two months Tenten had come to visit him in Konoha Hospital while he was recovering from his injuries acquired in the Fourth war. Sakura had quietly looked the other way whenever it was her turn to police the floor. Sakura suspected that the quiet, drawn out, courtship the Hyuga prodigy and the weapons mistress seemed to be quietly engaging in had its humble beginnings in that very hospital room. "Tenten is... well," Neji said hesitantly, before hanging his head. "I'll see if I can find someone who won't be missed who can escort you. Please wait here."

* * *

Her name was Nashi. She was a member of the Hiashi's branch family. All she wanted to talk about was Naruto. "...I can't believe he's being so persistent!" she squeaked. "It has to be the most legendary romantic thing I have ever heard about in the whole Hyuga history! To think that he would actually dare to defy all traditions and custom just to declare his eternal love for her!" The young girl let out a squeal that Sakura found surprisingly reminiscent of the noises she would make whenever Sasuke would enter the academy classroom. Nashi paused in her tirade to take in a huge breath. "Did I tell you he actually spoke to me?"

"Yes... I believe this will be your fourth time," Sai said, fascinated. Sakura just rolled her eyes. It was a match made in hell. A pre-teen girl who wouldn't stop talking, and a socially maladjusted idiot who didn't know when to stop talking. There was only one bright spot to the whole ordeal. At least they were inside the Archive.

"I saw him," the girl said dreamily, "He leaned in the window, his blond hair tinted silver by the moonlight. My breath was taken away by the sight of him... He looked in and said 'Whoops! Wrong room! Sorry!' Then he ran as quickly as possible before Neji-san and the guards could catch him." Nashi sighed. "It was glorious."

Sai pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "Glorious? Really? In what way?"

Sakura stopped. "Can we focus here please? Okay... Nashi-chan? I'm guessing we are near the center of the Repository floor, yes?"

The girl looked up and studied the shelves with her byakugan. "Oh yes. Right here between shelves number Five Hundred thirty seven and Five Hundred thirty eight."

Sakura nodded. "Good... Sai? It's your turn."

Sai unrolled the large scroll he always carried with him. He uncapped his brush, opened his travelling inkwell and began to draw.

Well, he tried to draw. His usual flowing brush strokes were slow and choppy. He hesitated in between each copy of a rat. Sakura had seen him use this jutsu a hundred times before, and each time Sai was effortlessly able to copy the same image over and over again. Only this time his drawings... they weren't bad... they just weren't up to his usual standards. It looked like the rats knew it too, several of them appeared to be giving Sai affronted looks as they hobbled off the scroll on uneven legs and with shortened tails.

"The mission is to search," Sai told the animated ink beasts. "You will search among the papers here for any reference to the Uchiha clan or the name Uchiha. Highest priority goes to anything cross referenced with the Third Hokage."

"Or the name Danzo Shimura," insisted Sakura, " We want information on Dazo as well."

"Yes," Sai said slowly. "Please include... that gentleman Sakura mentioned in the search parameters." The rats squeaked and scurried away, although it looked to Sakura like the one with malformed ears stopped and thumbed its nose at Sai as it was leaving.

"What happens next?" asked Nashi, looking a bit more comfortable now that the rodents were gone.

"We wait," said Sai. "If the rats find anything that falls within the terms we said to search for, they will bring it to us."

"Thats great!" bubbled Nashi, promptly sitting down and scooting forward on the floor till she was next to them. "That means we'll have lots and lots of free time to talk!" She grinned at Sakura and Sai. "So tell me... You guys are on Team Seven so you have served with him on all sorts of missions and things together right? So tell me truthfully... what is Naruto-kun really like? Is he as brave and strong and wonderful as all the stories say?"

"Well, actually," said Sai with a nod, "It is not so much bravery he displays as the tendency to just charge into battle like a complete and total idiot. I have long suspected that the main reason he does this because he is trying to overcompensate for having a really small..."

Sakura threw a hand over Sai's mouth. "Nashi?" she asked sweetly, "Do you think you could give us a moment?"

"But I wanted to hear more about Naruto!"

"Go check up on the rats or something," said Sakura in a polite but firm voice.

"Why?" asked the girl looking disturbed. She obviously wanted nothing to do with the ink animals. "Didn't Sai say they would bring anything they found back to us?"

Sakura tried to keep smiling. "Yes... But I'm quite sure Neji would be upset if the rats started dragging things across the floor."

"But wouldn't they all work together and..."

"Just... Go check. Please?" asked Sakura trying not to yell.

Nashi gave her a questioning look and shuffled off down a long corridor of shelving. Sakura slowly pulled her hand away from Sai's mouth. "What's gotten into you?" she hissed at him. "You haven't picked on Naruto like that for years!"

Sai shut his mouth and looked down at the scroll still rolled open on the floor. "You are right. I apologize."

Sakura sat back and studied him carefully. "Sai? Is everything okay?"

Sai shook his head. "No. Everything is not okay. I... feel..." His voice drifted off.

Sakura leaned closer. "You feel what?"

Sai shifted slightly. One hand came up and rubbed his throat. "I cannot say."

Sakura tilted her head again. Amidst the whirl of concerns and puzzles dancing in her head, that particular phrase gave her brain a nudge."Sai?" she asked cautiously. "Are you saying that you won't say, or that something is preventing you from saying anything?"

As a reply Sai, stuck out his tongue. She could see the six lines of the seal throbbing in an ugly purple hue. Sakura sucked in a breath and reached out to touch it. She couldn't help it, her medical instincts got the better of her, yelling at her to do her best to try and heal this.

Sai turned his head away. "It's not too bad," he mumbled. "It will just take some getting used to."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "But you had one of those when you were in Root before, didn't you?"

"Yes but the allowed topics of conversation are different. I have already received several warnings... For example, mentioning the former head of the... organization I used to be affiliated with is apparently one of the new restrictions."

Sakura reached out to him. "I'm sorry Sai. In all the excitement I completely forgot about trying to do something about the seal you got earlier. I've done some studying up on seals…. If you want, I could have a go at deactivating it?"

Sai shook his head. "I was always told that removal of the seal was impossible. It was designed to ensure that those marked would die before they spilled any of... the old leader's secrets. In fact during training, we were shown..." He stopped suddenly and swallowed nervously. "Excuse me, apparently I cannot say anything about that either."

"Is this what's been bothering you? Causing your artist's block?" Sakura asked quietly.

Sai shrugged, paused and then slowly nodded. "I have not felt like this since... well since I can remember. I was not permitted to have these feelings while I was... an ANBU. I have spent my time since working very hard on trying to get them back and now..." Sai sighed. "Now I don't see the point of it all. I am back where I started. I am wondering if I would have been better off if I never tried to become 'normal' again."

"I think you're better off now than you were. You can express yourself better. You have friends."

"Had," said Sai, resigned. "I am nothing but a tool again. It will be back to the..." He stopped mid sentence. His mouth turned into a frown. "Ugh, I can't even talk about it."

Sakura watched him for a long while. "You know, there are lots of different ways to communicate." Sai looked up slightly as Sakura continued. "I read in a book once that when trying to deal with traumatic events, a lot of times removing yourself from the narrative helps."

"Removing yourself?" Sai asked thoughtfully. "How?"

"It recommended trying to tell the events as a story happening to another person, not as a personal anecdote."

"Hmm, Interesting," said Sai. "Which self help book did you say this was?"

Sakura smiled. "It wasn't really a self help book. It was a medical treatise written by a Dan Kato during the Third Shinobi war. He was talking about ways to help younger shinobi deal with the stresses caused by the battlefield."

Sai almost smiled. "I wonder if using another medium would have..."

"Hey! You Guys!" Nashi's voice echoed amongst the dust shelves. I think the rats just found something! I'm sending it back with them!"

There was soft skittering noise. Slowly a trio of rats appeared hauling a large tome between them. "They've got another one!" called the girl again as the rats deposited the book in front of Sai and scurried back into the gloom.

"Well," said Sai picking it up and blowing dust off the cover. "It looks like our search is starting to bear fruit."

* * *

There were books filled with contracts. Scrolls covered with agreements. Binders containing thousands of pages of deeds, deals and transfers. Both Sakura and Sai were constantly sneezing from all the dust. Every so often Nashi would call out: "There's more coming back!" The enthusiasm was long gone from her voice.

The only noteworthy thing that they had found was a fifteen year old contract for the exclusive delivery of supplies between Konoha and the 'New Uchiha district'. It was significant because while the signatories were a Hideo Hyuga and Fugaku Uchiha for the parties involved, the approval for the arrangement was granted by one Danzo Shimura, Commander of the ANBU, acting liaison of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage.

"Well, at least this proves the Hokage and Danzo had something to do with the Uchihas," said Sakura, trying to find a bright side.

"Oh yes... It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that... The gentleman in question was definitely the Third Hokage's ANBU commander… What a wondrous discovery," Sai said with forced brightness.

Sakura looked up from a ledger filled with cracked and yellowing paper. "Sai... Was that sarcasm?"

Sai nodded. "You noticed? Good! I have been practicing. I read in '1001 ways to be a More Interesting Conversationalist' that peppering one's speech with sarcasm and puns can make the speaker seem more witty and urbane. He picked up volume four of the series of contracts he was trying to dig his way through. "Were you impressed?"

Sakura shook her head. "No."

"Oh... did I say it wrong then?" asked Sai, a hair confused.

"No... You did it right... I just wasn't..." Sakura sighed. "Sarcasm was just the last thing I was expecting to come out of your mouth."

"Great!" said Sai with a small pleased smile. "That means that I am making progress in changing my otherwise drab personality."

Sakura put down the scroll she was turning through and picked up another one from the pile. "Well, that's great that you want to... improve and all. But you should really warn people if you want them to understand that you are even using sarcasm at all."

"Really?" asked Sai.

Sakura idly cleaned some dirt from beneath a nail and nodded again. "Yeah... It's kind of... out of character.

"Oh... So I should preface it by saying something like 'Sarcasm Alert!"

Sakura grimaced. "Well, that in itself is kind of..."

She was interrupted by Nashi's frantic scream. Both she and Sai leaped to their feet and sprinted towards the girl they could plainly hear her crying out "No! Get out of there! Stop it! Stop it!" as various scuffles and thuds echoed amongst the shelves. As they rounded a corner Sai drew his tanto, and Sakura pulled out a kunai ready for a fight.

Nashi was struggling in the midst of a swarm of rats. They kept jumping up, attacking a narrow bundle she clutched tightly in her hands. "I said get away!" she yelled, holding the package over her head. "You can't touch this! It is off limits!"

Sai snapped his fingers and the ink rats instantly calmed themselves. One of them scuttled over and went through an elaborate squeaking dance for Sai. "They say they found a very good match to the search parameters in that bundle, but while they were carrying it to us, the girl there just snatched it away."

Nashi was almost in tears as Sakura glowered at her. "You don't understand! These are part of a personal Hyuga repository, they're not part of the public record!" she pointed accusingly at the rats. "They aren't supposed to go in this section! Nobody is supposed to go in this section!" She looked frantically between Sai and Sakura's unsympathetic faces. "Hiashi-sama's going to punish me!" she sobbed.

Sakura took a step forward. "Nashi," she said in a low voice. "If you've been hiding evidence from the Hokage on Hiashi-sama's order, your best recourse is to just hand over the evidence right away. No one will blame you for anything. In fact the blame is solely on..."

"No!" wailed Nashi "You don't understand... This isn't evidence! He just doesn't want anyone to go near this stuff! It's his late wife's correspondence!"


	89. Chapter 29: Sakura's Tale part 3

Sakura insisted on taking the letters directly to the Hokage. Sai wanted to open them right now. Nashi made it quite clear that under no circumstances were those letters leaving her possession. There was only one thing the three of them could peaceably agree on. That the logical thing to do was to present the whole mess to the Head of the Hyuga Clan.

Sakura had never seen Hiashi's office in such a state of disarray. Half of it was in the process of being dismantled for shipping. Ranks of silent, stern faced Hyuga marched in and out again quietly packing things away. There were crates and boxes everywhere. Yet somehow in the midst of all the chaos, Hiashi-sama kept right on working, Hanabi kneeling by his side at her matching low desk.

"Haruno-san," he said politely, never once looking up. "I apologize for ignoring the usual formalities, but as you can see, there are unusual circumstances. You did say this was urgent however, so I will do my best to accommodate you. What seems to be the matter?"

Sakura bowed. "Hyuga-sama, while we were searching the archives we came across a set of documents that we believe may be of use to us. However our escort insisted that we check with you first before examining them."

Hiashi sighed and dipped his brush in his inkwell again. "Wasting my time with banalities like this is unfortunate," he said coldly. "All of my staff should know full well that I have made the information contained in the Archive open to all who request it... Who was this fool?"

Nashi went pale. Beside her, Sakura cleared her throat. "With all due respect Hiashi-sama, this might be a special case. You see the jutsu we were using to augment our search accidentally strayed into your private library... The papers in question are correspondence addressed to your late wife."

Hiashi's brush froze. A single drop of ink slowly gathered at the tip and dropped to the document he was working on with a loud tap. "I see," he said staring at the black spot. He reached out and frowned at the miniscule tremor that jumped through his outstretched hand. "May I?" Gingerly, Nashi handed the bundle over.

Hiashi opened the top envelope and began to read. "My wife... Hishyona," he said in a hollow voice, "was a very... kind and open person. She made friends very easily and kept them over the course of her life." He put down the first letter and leafed through the stack of envelopes. "She made it a habit to continue correspondence with all of them. These appear to be responses from Mikoto Uchiha." He thumbed quickly through what remained of the pile.

"We noticed," Sakura said pointedly. "I'm sure the Tsunade-sama would be very interested in anything the wife of the Head of the Uchiha clan, not to mention the mother of Sasuke Uchiha, would have had to say."

Hiashi made a noncommittal grunt, and continued examining the letters. "Curiously, several of these seem to be unopened." He lifted one up and squinted. "Even more curiously, they appear to be postmarked quite some time after my wife's passing."

"Again," Sakura said softly, "we noticed."

He looked up at Nashi. "You were right to be cautious," he said airily before turning to Sakura and Sai. "Am I correct then in assuming that you would want to examine all the letters here?"

"Yes sir," said Sakura.

Hiashi nodded. "I find myself in a difficult position then," he said calmly. "There appears to be no way to ensure that proprietary clan business remains private, without preventing you from examining the letters in their entirety, and there is no way to prove that we are not purposefully withholding information from you without allowing you unfettered access... an interesting problem." He pursed his lips and stared at Sakura for a moment. "Hanabi!" he said sharply. At his side, the young teenage girl sat straighter. "How would you handle this?"

Hanabi absentmindedly chewed at a strand of hair that fell across her nose. "Well from a clan perspective, the safe route to take would be to just forbid them from reading the letters at all…" she glanced up at Sakura, "but then you risk raising the ire of the Hokage."

"Stop chewing on you hair. It's unbecoming of a lady," said Hiashi with a note of reproach. He stared pointedly at her until Hanabi removed the offending strand. "You are correct in your assessment of the situation, but how would you propose we act?"

Hanabi pondered. "Honorably."

Hiashi nodded. "Go on."

"I would offer the opportunity to read the letters at the same time as myself. I would also insist that the Hokage's representative take an oath not to reveal anything I deem sensitive to the public. If needs be, at that point we could probably provide censored copies... but really... all of this precaution could be just a waste of time. We won't know until Mother's letters are read." Hanabi's hand inched ever so slightly towards the pile. "May I be the one who reads them along with Sakura-san, Father?"

Hiashi's hand covered the bundle in a crinkle of paper. "No. Although I found your assessment to be well thought out, I need you to assist me here." He nodded to Sakura and Sai. "Well Haruno-san? Do you find anything objectionable to examining the documents alongside a Hyuga representative?"

Sakura thought quickly. She didn't have time to waste and there seemed to be no quicker way to search this pile of letters. Besides, as Hanabi said, there was no way to tell in there was anything usefull actually in them. "I believe so, yes. Provided that there is actually a good faith attempt to give us anything that we find."

"Would you trust my nephew in giving you an honest attempt to resolve any... issues that may arise?" Hiashi asked in a delicate way.

Sakura bowed. "I would trust Neji's judgement."

"Good," said Hiashi, satisfied. "Ko!" he called loudly. "Please ask Neji to come see me. It seems I have a need for his impeccable honor once again."

* * *

_Dear Hishyona,_

_EEEEEEK! I know! Isn't it the most unbelievable thing? I know, I know I KNOW, you always told me that Fugaku liked me too and that he would eventually ask his parents to meet with my parents... But still! It's actually happening! I can't believe it!_

_You should have seen my mother's face when she got the letter from the matchmaker! It was all she could do to babble on and on about how the next potential head of the Clan is asking for her little girl's hand in marriage._

_Daddy isn't pleased, but then again when is he ever pleased? Fugaku could be rich as a Hyuga (Hah!), well on the way to becoming the next Hokage, and Daddy could still find something wrong about him._

_Don't take this the wrong way Hishyona, but right now I envy you. I know you're nervous that your pairing might be... less than optimal... but at least once your clan enters into a marriage contract, that's it. It's a done deal. I still have to worry about Father getting offended or doing something to insult Fugaku's parents, or mother saying something embarrassing over dinner and then everything will be off!_

_But if it doesn't... Would you please please PLEASE be part of my ceremony? I __so__ need you to be there if..._

* * *

Sakura put down the letter and absentmindedly wiped her hand on her skirt. "Are either of you almost done? I'm ready to start opening the sealed stuff." They had all agreed that they would give the already opened messages a once over to get a feel for how Mikoto wrote and to be thorough and make sure there was nothing of interest inside. What Sakura had not expected was how bubbly a young Mikoto was. She double checked the date of the letter... Mikoto would have been about nineteen when she wrote this. She never would have expected the dour Sasuke's mother to be that... buoyant. "My pile got up to where she's about to get married... How about the rest of you?"

Sai cleared his throat. "Itachi said his first word today," he read. "It was Dada. Fugaku was so proud. He insisted on taking his eleven month old son into work and show him all around the Military Police barracks... Of course I received an urgent message around noon. All the excitement did a number on little Itachi and he refused to take his morning nap. By lunch he was a howling mess..." Sai looked up "That was my last one. It covered the early years of their marriage." He looked back down at the letter. "To be honest... I had no idea babies pooped so much." His face grew a confused frown, "Or why an otherwise sane parent would go into it in such great detail."

"Neji? What about you?" asked Sakura. Neji was staring blankly at the page he was holding. "Neji?" she prompted again.

He looked up. "Hmm?"

"You've been staring at that letter since forever. What's up? Did you find some piece of proprietary Hyuga information?"

"Um... No," said Neji hesitantly.

Sakura started to perk up. "Well, what is it? Did you find something pertaining to the Uchiha incident?"

Neji sighed. "No... It's..." He paused, took a deep breath, and started again. "As much as I would like this to fall under our agreement about private Hyuga information... It does not... It does however pertain to... me." Neji cleared his throat delicately and started to read. "... That must be an absolutely horrible situation for Hizashi. I feel so sorry for him and his newborn son, but that must be only half as bad as you feel. Hishyona... I know that you were always... closer to Hizashi than you were to Hiashi. I know that despite everything you are trying your best to stand by Hiashi and avoid any strife between the two brothers... But Hizashi needs you now. His son needs you now. Toshiko would want little Neji to have a mother figure in his life, no matter what Hiashi thinks is 'proper behavior' for a Hyuga lady... Gods! The man spends so much time worrying about things 'besmirching' his image. To hell with him! If you're too afraid to talk to him, I'll go over there and tell him a thing or two!"

"You go take care of little Neji! You treat him like he was your own son and when he grows up you make sure that..." Neji's voice broke off. He folded up the letter and cleared his throat several times before he could continue. "Hishyona-sama was... very kind to me in my youth. There were times when it felt like she was the only one who was ever kind to me. I... often wished that she was my real mother." A faint smile crossed his lips.

"Ah, and now you feel happier knowing that she wanted to sleep with your father and wanted you to be her son?" asked Sai in that blunt, cheery way of his.

Neji stiffened. "What?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

"Well, from what you just read it seemed that she found your father very attractive... or at least Mikoto Uchiha believed it so."

For a second it seemed like Neji was going to pummel Sai. "Sai!" barked Sakura, giving him a violent shove. "If you can't stop yourself from making comments like that, then get out of here!" She turned quickly to Neji. "I'm so sorry... he's been having a rough time ever since yesterday morning."

Neji shook his head, and swallowed his anger. "There is only one more of the opened letters," he said coldly, opening it and scanning the contents. "It congratulates Hishyona on the birth of her daughter Hinata, it mourns the loss of a classmate and friend of theirs, Kushina Uzumaki, who apparently perished during the Nine Tails attack, and lastly it assures Hishyona-sama that both Itachi and baby Sasuke are doing fine and well." He paused and focused on the few last lines. "She also tells Hishyona not to worry... She is sure that the forced resettlement is only a temporary thing and once the people of Konoha regain their senses... things will go back to normal," he said in a mildly perturbed voice.

"Wait... What?" asked Sakura. "Repeat that last part."

"I assume you are referring the resettlement?" Neji looked down and read. "Fugaku is worried that this sudden animosity towards our clan is a harbinger of things to come. Isn't he just such a worry wart? Third Hokage would never let anything amiss happen. I'm sure it's just as the village elders say. They just want to ensure our safety from potential reprisals until the investigation is complete. Once everything is all cleared up then we can return to our normal lives."

"My poor husband. He is anything but patient. I keep telling him all he has to do is just wait things for things to cool down and give the council time to regain its sanity. Fugaku says he would be less inclined to worry if Minato were still alive or if the Third Hokage were taking more of a 'hands on' approach. But so far it appears he has delegated all responsibility to the head of the ANBU, Danzo Shimura."

"I always thought the Uchiha village was there because... They wanted to live that way," said Sakura, and felt stupid immediately after she said it.

"As did we all," said Neji quietly. "Apparently this was not the case."

Sakura had a sudden flash of a conversation with Tsunade after she had learned of the Demon fox that dwelled inside of Naruto. Tsunade had told her of the law that the Third Hokage had made... that discussing that the Nine tails was sealed inside of Naruto Uzumaki was forbidden.

"I guess there really are secrets being kept in Konoha," Sakura muttered under her breath. "Neji? Was there anything in that particular letter that you would offend the Hyuga clan? I'd like to take it with your permission." Neji nodded once and handed it over.

The three of them sat staring at the remaining sealed envelopes. Sakura cleared her throat. "If nobody objects?" she asked timidly.

She reached out and broke the seals on the remaining envelopes. She tried not to look at anything other than the dates written on the letters. She wanted to put them all in order before she read them. She couldn't help that a few words and phrases caught her eye. 'Missing Children... Disappearances... Murder... Arrests... Suicide... Rebellion.' Sakura swallowed and started to read.

* * *

_Dearest Hishyona,_

_You were the last non-Uchiha friend I had... and now you're gone too. I don't know how to say goodbye._

_I wanted to be at the ceremony. I wanted to say goodbye in person, but I was not awarded 'permission' from the Uchiha resettlement authority._

_What a strange, double life we live in this village. During that most recent war with the Hidden Cloud village, you were all too happy to allow us to fight. You were all too eager to allow us the chance to bleed and die for you, but when the Uchiha return from their loyal service? It's right back into our walled off little cage. We wouldn't want to offend any of the gentry of Konoha by walking around in public wouldn't we?_

_I'm sorry... I don't mean to be bitter and I certainly don't mean to be taking it out on you. If you were still alive, I'm sure you'd be bullying Hiashi into throwing his weight and position around... You'd force him into doing more for your "dojutsu sister."_

_It's just that... with the conflict with the Hidden Cloud village over... things have gotten bad again. It actually seemed for a moment like there was a chance that we would be accepted again that people would view us as comrades and not as... well, I don't know... someone unpleasant. But once everyone returned home, things just went back to being the same._

_Fugaku is not a happy man. Many of the duties that were once part of the Konoha military police force have been moved over to the ANBU's jurisdiction. To quote my husband... "It's seems all we have left is ensuring the traffic doesn't block the streets, parade duty, cleaning up drunkards, and policing our own little corner of the village... They don't trust us to do anything else anymore."_

_I have to go... Itachi is home. He's back from his mission. Out of everything happening right now, he is the one bright spot in our life. He shows such promise. I heard that they are going to allow him to take the chunin exam! I just know he'll pass._

_I miss you Hishyona,_

_Mikoto._

* * *

Sakura checked the dates again. There was a long gap of two years between this letter and the next. She scraped idly with one fingernail at a trail of brown spots on the letter, but they were dried on and refused to come off.

* * *

_Hishyona,_

_I don't know why... I just feel the need to talk to you right now... Horrible things are happening, and I don't have anyone else to turn to._

_I don't know how I could have been so optimistic before. Since I wrote to you last (listen to me... Hah!) something happened that made things worse... much worse._

_You would have thought that the contempt and the scorn would have gone away by now, but they haven't. If anything they've turned from an acute burden to a chronic everyday thing. Everyone acts as if it's to be expected to stare at an Uchiha if they are seen outside of our walls, Everyone expects us to be ignored, or stared at, or whispered about... everyone acts as if it has always been this way._

_Anyway... the "worse" thing... People had started disappearing in the village... It started off small, in ones and twos, mostly older chunin. There has been a heightened ANBU presence and there was even talk of getting the military police involved in the investigation. Everyone assumed that we had a saboteur or an assassin carrying out a revenge mission._

_That was before the children started to go missing._

_One a day. For a whole month. Daytime or nighttime it didn't matter. They vanished from front yards, from playgrounds, on the way to and from school. A few even disappeared out from their bedrooms while their parents slept right down the hall._

_I know that life in Konoha has never been the safest thing... but this... This, understandably, filled people with suspicion and dread. Unfortunately then their eyes invariably turned to us. The missing children were from every station and clan... Every clan except the most watched and caged clan in Konoha._

_The trouble that followed started in such a stupid way. There were five of them, probably young jonin, definitely drunk. I heard from Uruchi that one of them kept calling out for someone, a younger sister rumor has it._

_Anyway, they forced their way into the Uchiha village, kicking in every door they came across, calling out for anyone who was missing. The Military police were called in. Everything was under control, albeit loud and argumentative, until one of the jonin, I believe it was the one who was looking for his sister, pulled a kunai and tried to stab one of the policemen._

_The policeman ended up breaking the jonin's arm in order to disarm of the other jonin panicked and let loose with a wind style ninjutsu and from there a full fledged battle started._

_The ANBU who were patrolling the wall surrounding 'Uchiha-town' as our little village within a village is now commonly referred to as, the same ANBU who were supposed to be 'protecting' us from any intrusions exactly like this one... Well, those ANBU started to attack our very own policemen._

_You can imagine what happened then. Every Uchiha, who for the past six years has been feeling ostracized, cooped up and unappreciated by his own village went to protect his fellow clansmen._

_If Fugaku himself hadn't intervened on behalf of the ANBU, I think the ensuing mob would have killed every last one of them._

_Sasuke awoke screaming for me. He heard the fight and was convinced the kidnappers were coming to get him. I told him he was safe, that I would hold him and I wouldn't let anything happen to him. He relaxed a little and wanted to know what all the noise was._

_To be honest. I had no idea what to tell him. It was Itachi who finally calmed him down enough so that he fell back asleep. "It's a training exercise that got out of hand little brother. A few new graduates got lost on an exercise. When you're a genin you'll be much better than they are won't you?" They heard Fugaku yelling and joked about how angry their father was and how much trouble those poor wayward genin would find themselves in in the morning._

_I'm writing this to you downstairs, Itachi waiting calmly beside me. He might only be eleven, but he looks so adult in his new ANBU uniform. His fellow ANBU responded to the 'disturbance' with more troops. The Konoha jonin corps joined them to 'restore peace'. Fugaku was 'summoned' to meet with Shimura-sama. They took him away in chains... and I must confess I fear that I might not set eyes on my husband again. I can hear the coarse mutterings from the patrolling shinobi. They say things like "maybe those jonin had the right idea... Maybe we should kick in some doors and see what the dirty Uchiha are hiding." I have the nagging fear that if my oldest son were not here beside me they would not hesitate to tear our home apart looking for 'evidence'._

_Heh... Itachi just told me not to worry. He has complete faith in his father, and complete faith in his village. He is trying to reassure me that they are all reasonable men and that somehow this latest misunderstanding will just work itself out. He has such a firm belief that despite all appearances to the contrary, there will be a peaceful resolution to this._

_I must admit... the strength of his conviction... well, it is almost enough to convince me too._

_Things are bad Hishyona. Things are really bad. Thank goodness for Itachi though. He truly is the perfect son._

* * *

_Dear Hishyona,_

_Sooner or later I will have to stop writing letters to my dead friend, but to be honest... I find I need to talk to someone and... If you were here, I know that you would understand._

_I have a detestable mix of news to report, and to be honest... I am ashamed of myself for even being able to see a bright side to this._

_Do you remember cousin Yuzuki? His family is gone. As far as anyone can tell they just vanished in the middle of the night with no sign of a struggle. Waki, his wife the glass worker, two daughters and a little boy._

_After the initial shock passed, my next reaction was one of relief. After all if the mysterious disappearances were beginning to strike the Uchiha clan as well, then hopefully the suspicion would immediately fall away from us._

_So far it has been a mixed bag. On my way to pick Sasuke up from the Academy (myself and every other parent makes it a point to walk to and from school with their children these days) one of the Akimichi mothers expressed sympathy for our clan's loss. On the other hand, as Sasuke was gathering up his things, a father from the Kohaku clan quickly ushered his daughter away from us whispering, "Don't get too close to them... Do you see the fan symbol? They are Uchiha." I asked Sasuke if it bothered him but he just shrugged._

"_That's nothing," he said calmly. "You should see how they treat Naruto Uzumaki... Of course that doofus deserves it." I should feel bad... Knowing how Kushina's son is being treated... I should, but I can't... I have my own worries._

_Fugaku is beyond angry. Indeed all the menfolk of our clan are these days and understandably so. Our shinobi no longer get the choice missions that they once did. The Military police are all but shut down at this point. Outside of the wall surrounding our little village within a village, they have no authority and little influence. Fugaku is constantly meeting with the elders of the clan, working on methods to try to keep the peace and at the same time trying to make the councilmen of Konoha understand that they are pushing us beyond our limits. He returns almost every day cursing them out. "The fools!" he vents, when our sons are not around to hear, "Don't they realize I'm sitting on a powder keg?"_

_As usual, Itachi is the only one who can brighten his day. His advancement in the ANBU corps is astounding. He has been placed in charge of a new recruit already! I have seen them around the village several times now while walking about on my weekly allotment for being outside the Uchiha wall. I always try so hard not to stare at Itachi, he makes such a dashing figure in his raven mask, but I'm fairly sure he sees me glancing at him. It's suspicious how often I see them, almost as if my son is trying to keep an eye on me in the middle of all of his other tasks._

_This girl they paired him with seems to be close to his age, but it's hard to tell. I'm fairly certain she's an Akimichi due to her size. Somebody at ANBU headquarters had the terrible sense of humor to assign the poor thing a mouse mask... can you imagine?_

_When Fugaku heard that Itachi was already being given a leadership position, he smiled for the first time in months. He is convinced that our eldest will be a commander within the ANBU in the next year or so. Poor Sasuke... he looked so jealous at all the praise Itachi was getting, I had to pull him aside and remind him that he is our beloved son too. I promised him that tomorrow we would go take his father a picnic lunch while he is at work. I am so glad Fugaku agreed to this. Sasuke needs it, with everything else that's going on, far too often, he ends up being the one who is ignored._

_After everyone else went to bed though... Fugaku confessed to me that unless our situation changes soon, there will be trouble from inside the clan._

_I hope he is wrong._


	90. Chapter 29: Sakura's Tale part 4

_Dear Hishyona,_

_Great news, fantastic news, Amazing news! The abductor has been found! Orochimaru! One of the sanin! The legendary serpent sage! He was the one who was stealing the children!_

_It feels so wrong feeling such relief when there are other families out there who are undergoing such sadness. There is no official word on what he was doing, only a formal release that Orochimaru is now considered an S-ranked criminal. Then the rumors quietly spread throughout the village that each and every one of the abducted adults and children was found dead. Whatever that monster was up to, I hope someone finds him and butchers him like a pig._

_Anyway... my excitement. Apparently one of the ANBU teams cited for exceptional bravery and forbearance in this investigation was the team of Karasu and Nezumi. Hah! The Raven and the Mouse. I nearly burst with pride. There is an Uchiha who is a hero of Konoha. He may hide his face behind a mask... but the Hokage and those in power know that he is there._

* * *

_Dear Hishyona,_

_Oh it is a wonderful happy day. Word has gotten around the Uchiha village despite all the secrecy inherent in the ANBU. Everyone is congratulating Itachi._

_I must confess there is another reason I am so bubbly today... I heard through Sayuko that her daughter Kei was interested in knowing if Itachi was available to escort her to the spring festival... My son is growing up so fast! Soon he'll be a man and start a family of his own!_

_Every time I look at him, I see what a splendid shinobi he has become. It's a wonderful feeling to find that others see him the same way._

_And not just his fellow clansmen either. I happened to meet Itachi's teammate today. It was a chance meeting. I was in the market district, looking for a Sasuke's first real dress kimono (a dark midnight blue, he was so proud to move out of the children's styles and into a more adult like one… "Look Ni-san!" he cried out joyously to Itachi when I brought it home, "Just like yours!") when I saw them together at a dango shop. She is an Akimichi by the way. He introduced her to me as a friend from work, and may I say, she is __tall__. Itachi has always been a lanky boy, big for his age, but my goodness... Chizu Akimichi towers over him by a good twenty centimeters._

_Chizu was taking out her sempai to congratulate him on his promotion to commander. It hasn't been completely finalized yet, but when it is made official, he will end up being the youngest ANBU commander in the history of Konoha. In my elation over all the wonderful things that have been happening lately, I blurted out to him the news about how Kei is asking about his availability._

_Itachi responded in his usual reserved way. A quick nod and a "Thank you mother." But Chizu... when I saw Chizu's reaction, I wish I hadn't said anything. The poor girl is obviously smitten with my son... My only solace is that it's better to break her of those dreams now rather than later when she learns about the impossibility of an Uchiha marrying an outsider._

_But still... It's a step in the right direction isn't it? I mean if others are viewing my son as a hero and acknowledging him as being a valued, even admired citizen of Konoha, then the rest of us can't be too far behind... Can we?_

* * *

_Hishyona,_

_I take back all that I said. Something __is__ wrong in Konoha. Something is very wrong. The remains of the other abducted children have been released back to their respective families. The sight was heartbreaking._

_The ANBU would not release the bodies of Yuzuki and his family. They did confirm that they have died, but they did not say how or why. Nor would they allow anyone to see the corpses. They were all cremated. Fugaku hasn't been able to find anyone who will even admit to being present at the cremation._

_As a Hyuga you would have instantly understood the issue here._

_The eyes... where are their eyes!? There has __always__ been an agreement between the village and the Uchiha (and the Hyuga for that matter) about what can happen to one of our clan's shinobi's bodies after his or her death! It is a matter of clan law and clan pride. You do not ask the Nara clan to share its shadow imitation jutsu, the Aburame to share their insect jutsu... Aside from that bizarre exception involving that Hatake boy, I can't recall of anyone who has ever had a sharingan implanted and been allowed to live. If it truly was Orochimaru... Fine! Let us share in the village's desire to see him caught!_

_But... I am beginning to doubt it was only Orochimaru... and I am not the only one. There would be no reason for this secrecy if it was. Someone is covering something up here. There would be no reason to hide anything... unless the missing eyes of my cousin, his wife and three children are all still here in the Hidden Leaf Village._

_Orochimaru. The beloved student of the Third Hokage, subordinate to Danzo Shimura, commander of the ANBU. Since the war, after he was passed over for the position of the Fourth Hokage, hardly anyone saw him. He was tied up in some sort of 'research'. I wonder what exactly that research was that nobody wants to talk about?_

_I heard that on that fateful night he was finally caught, a team of ANBU lead by the Third Hokage himself charged down into his hidden bunker / laboratory. After the confrontation only two shinobi walked out of there alive. It was said that neither Hiruzen-sama nor Orochimaru had a mark on them. If this true, then what happened?_

_Was the Hokage surprised by his students actions... or did he approve of them?_

_It has been seven years since the Nine Tails attacked Konoha. In those seven years my clan has been taunted, berated, herded together in this tight, small neighborhood and generally treated like second class citizens._

_Taking away a clan's honor is one thing._

_Taking away a clan's pride are another._

_Threatening my clan, stealing the very thing that took my people and raised them up above all other shinobi... threats to my very family... fostering the idea that the mighty and noble Uchiha are less... human than the next citizen of Konoha... well... things like that need to be addressed._

_Before I came downstairs to write this, I cracked open the door to Sasuke's room and watched my youngest son as he drifted off to sleep. I stood there, my eye to the door and I asked myself, why am I wasting my time, waiting for things to change? They will never change on their own._

_I haven't told anyone yet... not even Fugaku, as it's still very early... and anything could happen... but in a little less than eight months Sasuke will have a new little brother or sister. What sort of village do I want this baby to grow up in?_

_I've heard talk amongst the Uchiha for many a year now that the Hidden Leaf has forgotten us... abandoned us... punished us unfairly. I've heard them mutter that the time for waiting for things to change is over... that maybe it's time we __made__ things change._

_I'm starting to agree with them._

_I'll talk to Fugaku when he gets home._

* * *

_He knows. Gods help us all… Somehow... Hiruzen Sarutobi knows._

_The bullying by the ANBU that patrol the walls of 'Uchiha-ville' has gotten worse. Much worse. They take freely from shipments of goods that come through the wall, spoil foodstuffs that get delivered to the poor markets we have, and generally do not allow anyone out of our village unless they are students headed to the Academy, or shinobi headed out on a sanctioned mission. Since the only missions Uchiha are getting assigned to these days are D-rank leftovers a genin would be loath to touch... Most of us spend our time waiting in within the walls... Biding our time. Waiting for the right moment._

_The Third Hokage has learned of our talk of rebellion. He has heard that we are a caldron ready to boil over, that the Uchiha have once again remembered that we are a proud clan who once stood up to the Senju and fought them to a bloody standstill until we then laid down our arms and embraced the other clans as brothers and agreed to found a village... Hidden in the Leaves._

_Somehow he knows that we have been discussing whether or not we should take up those arms again._

_All signs point to it being my son._

_Itachi... Itachi what has happened to you? You were always so strong... So sure of yourself... so confident in everything you did... Why are you faltering now? Can't you see that right now is the time that your clan needs you the most?_

_No one wants to bring it up at the clan meetings. Everyone is afraid to mention out loud the fears that Fugaku's eldest son, his pride and joy, is probably the one who is informing on us. No one wants to offend the leader of our little planned coup d'etat._

_Everyone has noticed the change in Itachi. Even Kei whom he has been 'seeing' on and off for the better part of six months has asked me if he is well._

_Shisui Uchiha has been politely asked to assist Itachi in any of his intelligence gathering needs. The cover story is that maintaining a double agent life between the ANBU and the Uchiha is getting to be too much for my son, so hopefully, having his good friend Shisui by his side, knowing that he will have someone else there to depend on, will ease his burden somewhat._

_When he was informed of this, Itachi said nothing, but I could tell he saw through it right away. He knew that we no longer trust him._

_The one tiny bright spot... Fugaku is spending a lot more time with Sasuke than he used to. Our son came home covered with burns the other day... Apparently he was trying to teach himself the grand fireball jutsu. The poor boy is desperate for some attention._

_With Itachi's behavior getting to be so odd... and his loyalty in question... It's up to Fugaku and me to ensure that Sasuke realizes he is an Uchiha too. I hate to say it, but we have been neglectful as parents where he is concerned. Sasuke looks up to Itachi so much. He practically worships the ground he walks on and in reality it's our fault. For his whole life, we've been praising his older brother and telling Sasuke he needs to measure up. It's no wonder the boy has such an inferiority complex._

_We will have to do a better job with him and his yet to be born little sister (I'm so hoping for a girl this time!)_

* * *

_Hishyona,_

_I'm just beginning to show. I can tell it's there... but to almost everyone else, it just looks like I ate an extra large breakfast. If Fugaku wasn't so busy, I'd be telling him right about now. The poor man doesn't need any more distractions though._

_I must say, given everything that has happened and the apparent feelings on both sides, I am surprised at how well the negotiations are going. Fugaku comes home every night, pleasantly surprised at the lengths the Third Hokage is willing to go to meet our demands and rectify our concerns. Even when there is some point that they simply cannot agree on (appointing an Uchiha to the Hokage's small council for example) Hiruzen-sama makes a personal effort to ensure that this slowly growing agreement is sweetened with some other salient point (the Hokage to hand pick three Uchiha to be added to his personal bodyguard.)_

_I am surprised to find myself saying this, but Shisui and Itachi make a very good team. It is noticeable how much Itachi's mood has improved. I've seen him out walking about the Uchiha village with Kei again. I lay that credit at the feet of Shisui Uchiha. It's wonderful to see the burden lifted from Itachi's shoulders._

_I myself am beginning to doubt that Itachi was ever the 'leak' in our little conspiracy. Shisui reports back nothing but the undying loyalty my son has for his clan. Indeed the information Itachi has been supplying us has helped immensely in our negotiations. Fugaku often returns home late from his meetings with the Hokage and his small council with a smile on his face, chuckling about how some tidbit Itachi supplied him with allowed him to 'blow the negotiations wide open.' Having felt so powerless for so long, he needs more moments like those. He enjoys those moments almost as much as "sticking it to that bastard Danzo Shimura!" Fugaku hates Danzo with a passion. Given how unyielding and antagonistic Danzo has been over the years, it's hard to see how he couldn't._

_I never knew what an persuasive speaker Shisui could be. The other night, during the clan 'meeting' Fugaku was encountering some heavy resistance from a small faction who felt that negotiations were going too slowly. They were arguing that some select violence would speed things up._

_Fugaku tried everything he could to convince them that things were moving along better than could be expected, telling them that it was foolish to think everything in the negotiation was going to go in our favor. The whole meeting was beginning to dissolve into a ruckus, when Shisui slowly stood up and very calmly told everyone how hard Fugaku was working on our behalf. He just slowly reiterated all the amazing concessions that my husband managed to wring out of the leadership of Konoha so far. It was such a simple speech... yet so very eloquent and convincing... Order was immediately restored. From across the hall I could see Itachi and Shisui smiling at each other._

_If I didn't know better, I would swear that the pair of them were forming some sort of conspiracy of their own... the 'make sure everybody is happy and content so no one will argue and the negotiations will go smoothly' conspiracy. Whatever they are up to, it is plain that they are doing everything in their power to bring their clan back into its proper place in the Hidden Leaf village._

_Oh… earlier I said that my pregnancy isn't noticeable to almost everyone… I think Itachi knows. I have this chance to write to you because he told me to go sit down and do something relaxing while he took care of the washing up… Such a dutiful son, to take care of his mother this way._

* * *

_Shisui Uchiha is dead._

_He took his own life. Drowning himself in the Naka river. Or at least that is what his suicide note says. His body was never found._

_Itachi is falling apart. He and Shisui were always close but now, with the time they spent working together... Itachi thought of Shisui as being the older brother he never had._

_His collapse has been noted by nearly everyone. Kei has been by several times, pleading to see him. Every time he has refused her. He argues with Fugaku almost nightly. They get so loud and so violent at times that I fear they may come to blows. Even worse... if they do... I am not sure that Fugaku will be the victor._

_The worst moment was when three of the Military police, Inabi, Yashiro, and Tekka came to our house and outright accused Itachi of murdering Shisui. Itachi did something I have never seen him do before. He lost his temper... and it was terrifying to behold. He started ranting like a madman at the three of them, talking about duty and loyalty and strength and honor and how everyone expects great things from him. He muttered about how he was stronger than each and every one of them and that he was going to show them all just how weak and insignificant and foolish they were._

_Thankfully Fugaku arrived in time. He ordered Itachi to stop, and apologize...and for once, to my relief, my older son listened._

_Now... he won't speak to me or his father or even come to the table to join us at supper. I leave his meals by the door to his room, and take away the empty trays in the morning._

_The only one he tolerates is Sasuke. Somehow his little brother is able to break through Itachi's depression and get him to communicate again. I am so proud of Sasuke. Even with all the stress boiling amongst his family... even with everything coming down around him... he tries so hard to be good and brave. He is a credit to the clan._

_I wish I could do more... Unfortunately morning sickness came on hard and fast. This is good in the sense that apparently I will be keeping this baby (Yay! Girl! Fingers crossed!) and bad in the sense that I'm now going to be violently ill every time I try to cook. Fugaku thinks I just have a touch of the flu, and to be honest... for the moment I'm content to let it stay that way. I still haven't broken the news to him. I'll have to wait until there is a better time... a happier time._

* * *

_Hishyona,_

_I don't know what to say. All negotiations have failed. How things could have fallen apart so quickly... I have no idea._

_In the previous meetings, Fugaku and Hiruzen had been treating each other with respect. Ideas were exchanged with level headedness and while there was disagreement, both sides were working together towards the shared goal of finding some common ground that would be acceptable to both parties._

_From what Fugaku told me about this morning's meeting... It started off bad and got worse. First Hiruzen started off asking to renegotiate points already agreed upon. My husband refused, and grew even more unyielding on other requests the Hokage made. Soon Fugaku was countering with demands of his own and making veiled threats if he was not appeased. Tempers flared as Hiruzen made a cutting remark and Fugaku took insult._

_Fugaku told me later he was surprised at the Hokage's lack of restraint and indeed at his own anger, but it was clear that the time for talking was over. My husband looked almost ashamed as he told me how he and the Hokage snarled and roared at each other like a pair of rabid dogs over the negotiating table. Fugaku said the worst part was the Commander of the ANBU, Danzo Shimura sat there the whole time, smiling faintly at the pair of them... as if he had finally proved a point about the Uchiha and their uncivilized behavior._

_The rebellion begins in two days. We have been living with it for so long... and talking about it for so long... that now that it is here... It feels unreal._

_Two days. In two days , the Uchiha will rise up to stop the injustice that has been done against us. I hope that it will be a bloodless coup... But I know I am hoping in vain._

_Two days. Sasuke will have finished school for the week. He will be safe at home... If any place is safe anymore._

_Two days. Itachi will be back from his mission. The ANBU sent him away on another top secret S-ranked one. I hope he is safe. I hope that when the time comes, he doesn't have to face his partner in combat. The few times I met her... Chizu seemed like a nice enough girl._

_Two days... Oh Gods... this is madness._

* * *

Sakura let out a huge breath she wasn't aware she was holding. Beside her, Sai shifted uncomfortably, still reading. On her other side Neji was very very quiet.

She reexamined the date at the top of the page. "March 25th," she whispered, mostly because it seemed appropriate. "The Uchiha massacre happened the very next day."

"So... why do you think Itachi held off on killing everyone until that very night?" asked Sai quietly. "It is clear that he was well aware of their planned insurgency. If his desire was to kill people in order to prove his strength... why wait till then? If he was so obsessed with testing his skill, as the story goes, why not join his clan in an attack on the Leaf first, before seeing how he fared against his fellow Uchiha?"

"Maybe... He was more reluctant than everyone thinks? He might have been waiting to see if the negotiations were going to fail... before he took action?" Sakura said lamely, trying to come up with an answer to Sai's question.

"Oh yes... because forgetting to say 'Oh by the way Father, if your negotiations with the Hokage fail, I'm going to slaughter the whole clan" would not affect the diplomacy being discussed whatsoever," said Sai in a deadpan voice. He looked up to find both Sakura and Neji staring at him. "I probably should have told you that was sarcasm... shouldn't I?"

Neji shook his head. "I think the whole plan of theirs was mad. Rebelling against Konoha? How could anyone even conceive of something like that? What did they think would happen when they tried to capture or kill the Hokage? Every shinobi in Konoha would come to his aid! The Uchiha may be strong... yes... but stronger than the combined military might of the rest of the Hidden Leaf village? All that aside, think of the slaughter that would follow a coup attempt! Any sane man would do anything in his power to stop such a catastrophe," Neji snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "As far as I am concerned, the mystery of the Uchiha massacre has been solved. Itachi knew where his true loyalties lay."

Sakura looked up. "Loyalty? Neji... The whole Uchiha clan was murdered… the whole clan... down to the last child!"

Neji shrugged. "It does seem a bit… excessive. But we can't truly understand his reasoning... I mean look at the pressure he was under! As an ANBU he would have sworn to eliminate any threats to Konoha… Perhaps he felt his honor was at stake?"

Sai cleared his throat. "If honor demanded it, would you be able to kill your parents Neji?" The question hung there in the air, daring to be answered. Sai paused as Neji slowly grew red in the face and continued. "Do not get angry. I am simply asking out of curiosity. You see unlike you, I have no memory of my parents or parental figures. I did however have a few people in my life who were very... important to me." Sakura watched as Sai absentmindedly pulled out his calligraphy brush and twirled it between his fingers. "I know that I would never be able to do anything to harm them... no matter what deeds they were planning. Imprison them, certainly. Betray them for their own good... possibly... but kill them, never." He deftly slid his brush back into its holster, his eyes never leaving Neji's face. "Do you think you could, Neji-kun? You are one of the most honorable men I know. You treasure your duty above all things. Do you think you could kill your Father or your Mother or Hishyona-san... even if you knew that they were planning something evil?"

Neji blinked and then quickly turned away. "I... It doesn't..." He sighed. "You make a good point."

Sakura realized her mouth was hanging open. "Sai," she muttered in astonishment, "I never knew you were so... insightful."

Sai looked down. "I wouldn't exactly call it insight. You forget... I was once placed in a situation of having to... " He frowned and rubbed at his throat again, "be tested along those lines," he finished in a hoarse voice

"Well then," started Neji, "if you don't believe that theory, what do you propose convinced him to kill everybody? All the Uchiha are dead. Itachi confessed to doing it."

Sakura shook her head. "He did… but "I'm beginning to have doubts that the official story is the whole story. Assassinating the ringleaders of the insurrection to take the wind out of it's sails would be one thing, but killing your whole extended family, down to the last child, just to prevent them from beginning a rebellion? That is insanity! We've read how the Uchiha felt about their treatment. Why would Itachi think mass murder was the answer? And if he was compelled to kill everyone for his honor, or given an order... Why would Itachi have left Sasuke alive?"

"Maybe Itachi actually did go insane," countered Neji. "You read from Mikoto-san saying how depressed and short tempered he was. Maybe this whole conspiracy of his family's pushed him over the edge?"

"That is part of the official story after all," Sai pointed out. "Perhaps it is correct?" He turned back to Sakura. "Certainly that is the most likely reason for Itachi's actions?"

Sakura interjected. "It does... seem to be the most obvious explanation... I mean, killing everyone but your younger brother... Telling an eight year old that he is the only one ever likely to match your strength… taunting him into following a path of hatred and revenge until he is strong enough to offer Itachi a challenge..." Sakura swallowed. "That could be someone drunk with power… But if it was only about the power… then why would he have waited until the coup d'etat date was finally set? If it was only about power and glory, then why run away and become a missing nin? He could have come clean with the story, and be named a hero! I suspect something else happened as well… Something that Itachi wasn't expecting… Something that forced Itachi to decide that this was the only logical action to take."

Sai sat back. "Why do you say that? There is no evidence here that there was any conspiracy other than the one the Uchiha were plotting."

Sakura exhaled, and tried to figure out how much she wanted to reveal right now. "Because... I've talked to Sasuke... I have no hard information but, I get this... feeling... from what he isn't saying. He holds Itachi in high regard, much higher than you should hold someone who killed your entire family... And then there is the complete switching of his attitude. Sasuke hated Itachi more than anything else... but then once he killed Itachi... he shifted all that hate to Konoha. Why? His lifelong enemy was dead! I wish I could have gotten him to tell me, but he just won't talk." She scooped up the letters and shook them in a frustrated manner. "I was so hoping we'd find the answer in here... but all we have are more questions!" Sakura took another deep breath. "Anyway, we now know the Uchiha were planning an uprising but that... Neji?" She stopped in confusion as Neji had reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.

"I apologize, but I think I have another new set of mysteries for you," Neji said quietly, pulling the letters from her hand. He slowly began to arrange them up with the envelopes that Sakura had left on the floor. "Now that we know the contents of these letters, we can ask ourselves... why were they mailed? Mikoto Uchiha had no reason to send these messages to Hishyona-sama... she was already dead... They contain important secrets about the Uchiha clan, things she would share with no one, not even one of her best friends. They were more a vehicle for Mikoto's own musings than anything else." One by one Neji tapped the post mark for each of the envelopes. "Yet they were all mailed... three days after the massacre."

"Maybe some kind person found them and sent them as an act of charity?" asked Sai thoughtfully.

Neji nodded, "A possibility perhaps, but I doubt even the most well meaning ANBU investigator would have let evidence leave the scene of the crime."

"Then do you think Itachi..." Sakura stopped mid sentence as she saw what Neji was pointing at. There was a trail-like pattern across the backs of the envelopes and letters. As if a small animal of some sort had stepped in mud and walked across the scattered paper. "What is that?" she asked leaning closer. "Pawprints? I don't recognize the animal... Whatever it is... It's tiny."

Neji smiled. "I do not think it was Itachi who mailed these for three reasons. One, I'm fairly certain that whatever transpired, he would not have stayed around in Konoha for three days to mail these letters and Two..." Neji pointed to the address on the outside of the envelope. "The handwriting is very neat and clean... very feminine. Yet it does not match the handwriting of Mikoto Uchiha." He held up one of the previous messages. "You can see here how Mikoto-san has a finer brush stroke for her greeting to Hishyona-sama than here on the address on all these sealed envelopes. It is similar but not the same."

"Maybe a servant, or a friend could have done it for her?" asked Sai

Neji shook his head. "As I said before Mikoto never intended these letters to be read by anyone... Yet it appears to me that someone at the scene of the crime took the time to fold these letters up, place them in envelopes, and eventually addressed them and mailed them."

"Okay... It's weird, but how do you know Itachi didn't have someone else make the envelopes for some reason and mail them later?" asked Sakura. "Didn't you say you had three reasons to suspect it wasn't him?"

Neji grinned as he ran a finger along the tiny set of footprints. " Reason Three... his feet and hands weren't this small. Look closely." He tapped the parchment and held it up to Sakura and Sai's faces. "These are the boot prints of a shinobi... albeit miniaturized." Neji looked up and stared at Sakura, his byakugan active. "You can even see a tiny handprint here where the person stumbled and caught himself. The trail itself made of very old, dried blood. It would appear that someone very small walked through a pool of blood, across the pages here and then," he pointed delicately to the corner of a letter which had a faintly smudged but normal sized fingerprint, "the very same person, but now with normal sized hands decided to pick each of them up, fold them," he directed their attention to a fine line of dark brown where someone with a bloody finger had creased the letter, "and put each one in its own envelope." He opened the envelope wide and showed there was a corresponding stain of dried blood in the interior. "Although the letters themselves are marred by blood, the outside of the envelopes are pristine. Someone washed their hands before addressing them..."

"And then waited three days to mail them off to a dead woman," said Sakura in an uneasy voice. "What the hell was that supposed to accomplish?"


	91. Chapter 30: Sakura's Tale part 1

**Chapter 30 Sakura's tale: Battle Without Honor or Humanity**

_So I ran… as fast as I could_, _blades drawn, to where the fighting was thickest, to Hashirama-sama's side. As Madara-sama had predicted, that offer of a peace treaty with the shinobi from the Land of Stone had not been made in earnest. Thankfully we had three of the four founders with us that day. The noble Uchiha brothers, Madara and Izuna adding their power to that of the Hokage, had turned what would have been an almost certain slaughter into a rather incendiary and disorganized brawl. I wormed my way through the edge of the melee, my small size an advantage as I struck out at the ambushers wherever I could, defending my comrades and the honor of the fledgling Hidden Leaf village._

_A hang gripped my shoulder and pulled me inside our defensive ring. Izuna Uchiha looked down on me with a wide grin. "Hiruzen! Thank the Gods you're okay... that makes all of us!" His hands flashed through a series of signs and he fired a thunderbolt off towards a small hill where a squad of enemy archers were readying bows. "The Hokage bet me ten thousand ryo that we wouldn't all make it out of here alive! I'm rich!" That was the younger Uchiha brother for you, making jokes, even in the darkest situations. He gave me a shove towards the other side of our formation. "Be a good lad, and make sure he and my brother don't get themselves killed... will you? I really need the money!" __I knew he wasn't serious. Izuna was always watching out for us younger shinobi. And where ever Hashirama-sama and Madara-sama were was usually the safest place to be. _

_Usually... As I made my way to them, it became clear that they were in the middle of an argument. _"_... had everything under control until you barged in with your ham fisted ways!" snapped the Hokage, spinning his katana and deflecting a spear that had come sailing towards us._

_Madara Uchiha swung his kusagari, decapitating three of the attacking shinobi with a single blow. "Really, old friend," he said in a voice dripping with contempt. "Is that that what was happening? How silly of me. And here I was, so certain that this was a well planned ambush to murder the first Hokage at the peace summit." He paused to summon a huge gout of flame that incinerated a squadron of enemy chunin moving to cut off our retreat. "I do so apologize... Here, why don't you offer them your treaty terms now? Oh wait... you can't... they're dead... what a shame... If only they were all still alive, then you could stand there and tell them how important forging a lasting relationship between nations was as they merely tried to murder us all." He spewed forth another fireball. "I'm sure it's just a cultural misunderstanding."_

_Hashirama scowled as he called forth a huge twisting bulwark of wood to block an incoming water jutsu. "You are being a pessimistic fool! How are we supposed to earn the trust of the other villages if we do not respect them in turn? Where do you suppose true peace in the shinobi world will come from, if no one is bold enough to take the first step forward and propose it?"_

_Madara shrugged. "You can call it pessimism, I call it realism, Hashirama... Watch your blind spot now!"_

_That last comment was an admonishment to me. I quickly whirled and blocked a flight of shuriken with my kunai. Madara coldly smiled down at me. "Well done young Sarutobi... If you live through this afternoon, we might make a shinobi out of you yet."_

_There was a thunderous roar. The rest of the field of battle erupted into a huge leafy forest. "Withdraw!" called out the Hokage "We withdraw!"_

_Hashirama-sama was sullen for most of the trek back to Konoha. The one time he did speak, it was to pull his oldest friend aside. I overheard some of their quiet conversation. "...had no right to interfere like that!" insisted the Hokage._

_Madara Uchiha just stared. "So next time you would prefer me to wait until after you have a knife in your back?"_

"_You have no hard evidence that was their plan!" Hashirama spat. "They gave me their word that their intentions were honorable! They wanted to open a dialogue for peace!"_

"_You're quite right... I'm sure they just decided to bring along an extra four platoons of shinobi and camouflage them around the meeting site so they could practice their shogi game." All sarcasm fell from Madara-sama's voice as he prodded the Hokage with his finger. "This is not a game, Hashirama... This is real. The stakes are real. You are the Hokage, the hopes and dreams and success of us all are riding on your shoulders now. If you are not willing to be more careful with your life for the sake of our village, then perhaps you'll be willing to be more careful for the sake of that pretty little bride of yours, hmmm?"_

_Hashirama-sama's face clouded over and he angrily stormed away. As Uchiha-sama was swaggering back to camp, he must have sensed my presence in the bushes for he stopped right next to me and pretended to adjust his armor. "Did you hear any of that boy?" I nodded, barely daring to breathe. I could feel his cold power radiating through the air. The sweat was pouring off of me just from catching the attention of this infamous legend as I was eavesdropping. "What did you think of this weak attempt at making a treaty? Speak true lad!"_

_I licked my lips nervously. Madara Uchiha was asking the opinion of a seven year old? "Uchiha-sama... I can see your argument but… He's the Hokage... shouldn't he be the one to make the decisions? Shouldn't we follow his guidance?"_

_Madara chuckled. "Hashirama was being a fool and he knows it. Right now, his pride just won't let him admit he was wrong. Hopefully, the next time someone makes him an offer of peace, he'll listen to others before he goes blindly wandering off into an early grave." He glanced over at me, a grin on his face. "Hashirama speaks of you proudly, boy… Says you're a natural scholar... says you have a great future ahead of you as a learned man." One moment Madara was off to one side of me, the next he was crouched directly in front. I never saw him move. He jabbed me sharply on the crown of my head with a stiff finger. "Write this down," he hissed at me. "Write this down, my little scholar and put the wisdom of Madara Uchiha in your books so that future Hokage may learn... Treating your fellow man with honor at the dinner table is fine… but when you need to kill him, use any and all means at your disposal. In the heat of battle, honor matters not; righteousness matters not. All that matters is who is left standing." Madara-sama's teeth gleamed in the darkness. "All that matters is the killing. If you want to live… make certain you are the one doing it. Don't hesitate and feel no remorse."_

_From: Lessons Learned at the Feet of Giants: A Memoir. By Hiruzen Sarutobi_

* * *

"Who the hell can make themselves that small? I've never heard of a jutsu like that," muttered Sakura, deep in her own thoughts. After she and Sai had received the formal permission to take the letters / journal entries from the archive (thanks to Neji's assurances to Hiashi-sama), they had left the Hyuga compound as quickly as possible. They had spent far much more time on searching than Sakura had hoped, but at least she had found something to show to Tsunade-sama... And what a thing to show!

"Excuse me Sakura, but I think that..."

"Not now Sai," Sakura growled at him. There was too much going on in her head right now to waste valuable brain power with idle chit chat. A significant piece of the puzzle had just fallen into her lap

So... The Uchiha had been planning a coup. That was... surprising she thought, but significantly less surprising than she would have found it a week ago. She was beginning to come to grips with the idea that maybe there was more to the history of Konoha than what you would find in the history books. The Hidden Leaf village was clearly not the shining happy place she thought she was living in when she was a twelve year old genin, just out of the academy, fresh faced and with ribbons in her hair. As Sakura dwelled on it for a few moments of time she was slightly humbled by just how unassuming she had been for most of her life. She was in a village full of shinobi! Of course if she started to poke around, a few dark secrets would crawl to the surface.

"Um, Sakura... I really think that..."

"Sai, not now, I really need to think." Danzo Shimura... Now there was a man who kept his secrets. Of course he was in charge of the ANBU during the reign of the Third Hokage... He was overseeing the the Uchiha village. But immediately after the massacre he was pulled from the job.

Danzo Shimura. His face as she remembered him floated to the forefront of her mind. He was always arguing for an 'aggressive defence' for the Hidden Leaf village. The hardest of the hard-liners, he was always arguing with Tsunade-sama criticizing her every move, predicting that every treaty she signed, every deal she brokered and every joint mission she proposed would one day lead to the downfall of the Hidden Leaf. He was a very stern, very forthright man... which of course was just another way of saying he was bullheaded and argumentative. "Still," Sakura supposed, "if you'd been through as many wars and racked up as many permanent injuries as he had, you would have earned respect no matter what your personality was like. After all, the man had a pronounced limp, a useless arm that he kept constantly swathed and splinted, a missing eye...

Sakura suddenly stopped mid-step, causing Sai to bump into her. "What..." was all he managed to ask before she shushed him.

A phrase was tickling the back of her head. "Is it true that Danzo Shimura had the eye of Shisui-kun?" she heard Shizune's voice echo.

But how would Danzo have gotten Shisui's eyes? According to Mikoto's letter. Shisui had committed suicide... and the body was never found.

"Excuse me Sakura, but I really think that..."

"What is it Sai? Can't you leave me alone for..." she followed his pointing finger to where an orange clad ninja was frantically waving at them from a tree.

Sai cleared his throat. "... I really think that Naruto is trying to get our attention," he said reproachfully.

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed as they approached. "What are you doing here? I asked you to keep an eye on Sasuke!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "He made it quite clear that he didn't want me around."

"And you listened to him?" yelped Naruto. "Look Sakura-chan, the stupid jerk doesn't know what's good for him." Naruto paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Actually he does know what's good for him... he's just too busy wallowing in his guilt to get out of his funk and do something about it." Naruto leaned down from his tree branch. "That's why you've got to help him!" he said insistently.

"I am helping him! I'm trying to find some way that will convince the Idiots on the Leaf council that maybe he's not the threat that they think he is." She felt herself beginning to smile. "And I think I've found a promising start."

"Yeah?" asked Naruto. "What?"

Sakura was about to answer when Sai tilted his head and looked at Naruto inquiringly. "What are you doing in that tree?"

Naruto immediately blushed. "I... um... was trying to see in Hinata's window and..."

Sakura sighed. "We heard. Neji isn't happy about the uproar you caused."

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah... well... we kind of really wanted to talk to her and we sort of got carried away."

"We?"

"Oh yeah... I'm one of seven clones," The clone said with an embarrassed smile. "The direct approach didn't seem to work so then the original made a whole bunch of us to serve as a distraction... You know, to try to fool the byakugan and all... Only, well... there's a lot of Hyuga in that compound... And... um, after a while we got tired of being chased and we decided to set up a perimeter and wait for her to come out. After all, she's got to leave sometime... doesn't she?"

"Great plan Naruto," Sakura said sarcastically. "I'm sure laying siege to the Hyuga compound is a great way to win a girl's heart."

"Hey!" barked the clone. "I'm being perfectly reasonable! Kurama is suggesting that we should just plow through the wall, tear off the roof and carry her away, but I keep telling him that's going too far." The clone looked up to see both Sakura and Sai staring at him in shock. "What? I said it was going too far didn't I? Being a fox spirit, he doesn't get the whole human boyfriend / girlfriend dynamic thing." Naruto's clone's eyes widened as he suddenly realized something. "Hey! You just came from the Hyuga compound! Did you see Hinata at all? Is she okay? Did she ask about me?"

Sakura sighed. "Neji told us that she's still in her room and he's not going to let you near here until she tells him she wants to see you." Sakura started to look around. "Where are you anyway... The real you, I mean."

The clone frowned. "Ramen run... Can you believe the cheap bastard wouldn't treat the rest of us? He kept saying it's vital that someone keep an eye out for her." The clone's stomach growled, "Heh... You wouldn't by any chance have any spare cash so the rest of us could get something would you? I wouldn't ask but it's been a long night and... well..."

"Don't you have your own money?" Sakura asked in an affronted voice.

The clone hung his head. "You can get into a lot of trouble in this town when you pay for stuff with shadow cloned ryo."

"Well don't expect me to..." Sakura stopped as the bells of the clock tower pealed the half hour. "Crap!" she swore. "We've got to get to Tsunade-sama, she needs to see this right away."

"Wait!" the Naruto clone yelled after their retreating forms. "You never said what you found!"

"No time!" shouted Sakura back. "I'll have to tell you later!"

* * *

Tsunade did her best to skim the letters as Shizune flitted around her like a hummingbird, trying to tidy her up and making sure her ceremonial robes were on straight, pressed and not too obviously stained.

The Hokage looked up into Sakura's eager face and said, "Well... It is... interesting... and it does answer some questions... But if your goal is to convince everyone that Sasuke deserves an ounce of sympathy... Well... this will never do that."

"But what about the rebellion?" blurted Sakura. "Don't you see? That's got to be one of the reasons Sasuke doesn't want to talk about it! He told me late yesterday that he didn't want to disgrace the Uchiha name any further!" Sakura exhaled. "He doesn't want to say anything because he doesn't want to dishonor the dead! Can't you present this to the council?"

"Because right now, the only thing that knowledge of the planned Uchiha coup d'etat will get you when you present it to the council... is to convince every last councilor that his whole clan was nothing but outlaws and mutineers and that traitor's blood runs in Sasuke's veins." Tsunade handed the pile of papers back to Sakura.

Sakura in turn shoved them right back at the Hokage. "Yes.. they do say that the Uchiha were planning an uprising. But did you read why? Did you see everything that is hinted at in there? Look at how they were treated! They were forced to leave their homes and resettle in a tight, eight block area. They were walled away from the rest of the village, with checkpoints and armed guards keeping them in! What did the Third Hokage think would happen if he took one of the founding clans of Konoha and started treating them like a bunch of criminals?"

"There are some Elders who would look at these letters from the wife of the head of the Uchiha clan and say that Hiruzen-sensei had remarkable foresight," Tsunade said dryly.

"Or you could make the claim that he brought it on himself!" snapped Sakura, her temper flaring. "Maybe the Uchiha were right to be suspicious of his motives. Maybe this whole thing was some sort of plot that the Third Hokage cooked up with Orochimaru... Maybe that's why he had such a hard time hunting him down back then!"

"Sakura," said Tsunade very carefully through clenched teeth, "Orochimaru was Hiruzen's prize student. He loved him like he was his own son."

"If he'd been less loving back then he might have saved the Hidden Leaf village a lot of pain and suffering... and maybe even his own life in the bargain," sneered Sakura.

"I'm surprised you even chose to make that argument," Tsunade said icily, her hands clenching into fists. Shizune slowly started to back away. "Considering that is exactly how everyone feels about Sasuke Uchiha. It seems to me that there is very little difference."

"There is a difference!" Sakura snarled at her teacher. "Sasuke came back! He is here, and he wants to help us!"

"No... he just says he wants to help!" roared Tsunade, slamming her hand down on her desk causing the whole floor to jump. "And that, you foolish, naive, hopelessly optimistic girl, is the whole of the problem, isn't it? Aside from you and that idiot Naruto, nobody else in the entire Hidden Leaf Village trusts the Uchiha one iota! Yes... what is it Sai?" She barked at the shinobi who had timidly raised one hand.

"I would like to be included in the number who trust Sasuke," he said amicably.

"Oh... Well... That makes all the difference then!" grumbled Tsunade, her voice dripping sarcasm. "I do realize that I'm going to regret asking this but... Why?"

"Sasuke-kun has many negative aspects to his personality... but deception is not one of them. Anyone who attempts a full frontal assault on the Five Kage of the Great nation, their bodyguards, and a full company of samurai is more interested in making a statement than actually assassinating anyone. Likewise in the Fourth war, if Sasuke's true goal was murder, he could have easily slipped into our lines and wreaked havoc. Instead he again appeared in a flashy, showy manner challenging us all."

"Are you insinuating that he wasn't trying to kill everyone?" Tsunade asked incredulously.

Sai shook his head. "Not at all... I'm just trying to point out that so far he has always stated his true intentions openly and then acted on them. He has a very honorable way about doing things." He looked up at Tsunade's frown. "From his own perspective of course."

Tsunade's harsh demeanor flickered and her hand dropped. "Look... That's all very well, but that doesn't change the fact that all you've brought me here isn't convincing enough... There are some councillors I might be able to get to agree with you that... yes, at the very least, the Uchiha did seem to be singled out in an overly harsh manner... But given all the crimes that Sasuke has accumulated over the years, I would need to show them something much more conclusive to get them to take a risk on being lenient with him."

"What about something that ties criminal wrongdoing to one of the major clans in Konoha?" asked Sakura in a cold voice.

Tsunade sighed. "Sakura, taking precautions that a certain group of individuals could be a significant potential threat to the security of the village... while, I'll admit it could be seen as being... morally grey, is not considered criminal wrongdoing."

"What about stealing Shisui Uchiha's sharingan?" asked Sakura.

Tsunade froze. "And... where did you hear about that?" she asked quietly.

Sakura gave Tsunade her most determined glare. "You were talking about it yesterday in this very office. You and Shizune both knew... It makes me wonder what else you might know but aren't saying anything about."

Tsunade very slowly turned and stared at her. Sakura might have been scared if it wasn't for the fact that her own anger was overriding all other emotions. The Hokage took a single step forward. There was a scrambling of hooves on the floor and a squeal from Tonton as she ran and hid behind Shizune. "I want everyone out of here but Sakura," she said firmly.

Shizune squeaked nervously. "But Hokage-sama... the council..."

"The council can wait, I need to talk to my student... Alone."

Tsunade and Sakura stared at each other in cold silence as Shizune, Tonton and Sai slowly filed out. As the door clicked behind them, Tsunade sagged slightly. "Spying on your dear old sensei? Really Sakura? Is that where we have fallen to?"

For the briefest of moments Tsunade seemed to flicker. Her younger, beautiful appearance vanished and there was the flash of an almost sixty year old woman standing there. Sakura was surprised at how tired she looked, but not surprised enough to not press her. "I wouldn't feel the need to, if you would just come out and tell me the truth."

Tsunade sighed. "And which truth would that be? Even I don't know them all... Some of what I hear as Hokage is merely speculation... rumor... and as Hokage… to act without proof is very dangerous indeed. Is that kind of truth worth the destruction of Konoha? I don't think so... Indeed, throwing accusations around like that might even be the Uchiha's plan. He could ruin us all and not even have to lift a finger." Tsunade looked up at Sakura, her face returned to it's usual youthful vigor. "You do have to admit it's a better explanation for his sudden change in behavior than inexplicably deciding 'Oh wait! I'm supposed to be nice!' Don't you think?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Sakura said stiffly.

"Look... let's assume you go ahead and tell everyone on the council that Danzo Shimura stole a sharingan from Shisui Uchiha, one of his fellow Konoha shinobi. If you were to do it right now, with the these letters and a rumor as all the proof you have... Well, if you were lucky the Shimura clan would just deny everything, and the entire council would laugh at you. Depending on how things are going, you could be laughed at, you and your parents could be sued for libel, you could face jail time, or you could be banished."

"I'm not afraid of any of that," said Sakura in a low voice. "It's the truth. What harm can come from telling the truth?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "What harm can come from telling the truth? You honestly don't know? This is the real world Sakura… This is politics! Not some cheap paperback thriller where once a mystery is solved everything is wrapped up all neat and tidy!" She waved a hand, encompassing the view of Konoha from out her window. "You want to know secrets? I'll tell you a secret Sakura... this village is held together through a thin spider web of alliances. My grandfather founded this village in the hopes that each of the clans could see past their differences and make something greater. Do you know why the shinobi world was in an almost constant state of war? Because war brings people together. If you can keep people occupied long enough, they will forget about the distrust they have for another clan, and believe me in those early days my grandfather and grand uncle needed those distractions. It wasn't until Hiruzen-sensei became Hokage that the clan elders really started to trust each other. Before then the Hidden Leaf village was an endless mass of intrigue and casual betrayal barely held together by the combined might of the Senju and the Uchiha clans. Every clan was trying to gain the upper hand on the other by grabbing for power. Not political power mind you but real power... Jutsu's and Kekkei Genkai. Every clan was fiercely protective of what made them special... what made them worthy to be a part of the Konoha experiment."

"Then why do the History books say that everyone came together in a big happy family to start a Ninja village?" said Sakura hotly.

Tsunade gave her a brittle smile. "Do you think it would help your fellow villagers to know that a hundred years ago the Akimichi and the Yuhi clans were butchering each other on the banks of the river over water rights? What about the blood feuds between the Hyuga and the Sarutobi clans? And those are just the start. There were a thousand other small conflicts raging in this valley. All of them over power. Today..." Tsunade paused and gave a small cough. "Today we still play for power but it's in the political arena... Much more clean, not quite as many deaths, wouldn't you agree that's an improvement?"

"I still don't see what this has to do with not doing everything in your power to stop the Shimura clan and its bullying!" snapped Sakura. "Even if Danzo Shimura didn't play any part in the massacre, that's no reason not to pursue him over the stolen sharingan now!"

Tsunade wasn't listening, she was staring blankly at the wall. "There was a near riot amongst the Uchiha clan when Kakashi was given his sharingan freely," said Tsunade quietly. "It took every ounce of diplomacy and persuasion the Third and the Fourth Hokage had to prevent the Uchiha from demanding... and then attempting to take that eye back from his skull. It's true that things are much less... uptight these days, but that would change in an instant if all the various clans thought their livelihoods were at stake!" Tsunade shook her head. "We'd go back to the old times... I'm sure it would start slowly at first. A bit of blackmail here, some innocuous arson to send a message there. Pretty soon we'd start to see kidnappings and ransoms to influence votes and alliances. Not long after that we'd be at the point where we'd find fresh corpses in the street every morning." Tsunade looked up at Sakura. "The village would end up with a thousand little wars breaking out on every street corner. You should pick your battles wisely Sakura... Trust me, this is not one of them."

"But Tsunade-sama, that doesn't make sense! You need to hang on to your position… Why won't you use this information?" When it became clear that Tsunade wasn't going to answer, Sakura tried to continue. "You're the Hokage... If people start fighting you could..."

"Sakura, I can't even control the village council right now. What makes you think I can influence all the clans and all their factions?" She straightened the cap on her head. "Now if you will excuse me... I have to get going."

Sakura shook the letters at Tsunade one last time. "But surely there is something in here you could use to convince somebody? There has to be someone on the council who will be reasonable! Why won't you just present what I've found and take a chance?" Tsunade kept right on walking. "What is this really about?" Sakura yelled to her back "Are you worried something might reflect poorly on the Third Hokage? Is that why are you so hesitant to try anything?!"

Tsunade paused and the temperature of the room dropped a few degrees. "If you must know… Yes. You're asking me to put the honor of my teacher, the peace of the village and my own very tenuous political future on the line because a known criminal and an admitted traitor may have had 'extenuating circumstances' influencing his actions." Tsunade stopped and looked down. "The stakes are too high and the payoff is too low. His offer of information is all but worthless. I'm sure we'll find out about Kabuto sooner or later... I'm sorry Sakura. I've done all I can."

Sai crept in as the Hokage marched out. He made a show of waiting patiently for a while before he delicately cleared his throat. "So... What do we do now?"

Sakura exhaled. She didn't want to admit that she was out of ideas. "Give me a minute. I'll think of something.

"Oh, well that's good then," said Sai with one of his smiles. " In the meantime... I'm hungry. Let's get lunch."


	92. Chapter 30: Sakura's Tale part 2

Sai listened to Sakura recap as she greedily slurped down noodles. She ended up being a lot hungrier that she thought she was. "... So that's it basically... Tsunade's not going to do a single thing. She doesn't think what we have is good enough." She used her chopsticks to pick through the chicken pieces floating in her udon bowl. After a moment she let them fall with a plunk. "Sai," Sakura said carefully. "You've been a big help, but if you have other stuff to do... just go and do it. I don't want to waste any more of your time on... this."

Sai pulled a long stalk of watercress up from his broth and eyed it carefully before nibbling on the end. "Actually, I'm rather enjoying myself... all things considered." He paused while he chewed and swallowed. "It's a welcome distraction. I feel like I am in a detective novel."

"I thought you only read self help books?"

Sai smiled. "Usually yes... but in 'Make Yourself into a More Interesting Person in Fifty Days' the author recommended branching out into areas outside your comfort zone. He said that going into areas that you don't usually frequent would broaden your horizons." He picked up a long noodle and sucked it down. "So I decided to try a mystery novel."

"Really?" asked Sakura lightly. "Which one? Was it one of the classics?"

Sai nodded. "Make-out Dark and Stormy Night. I borrowed it from Kakashi-Sensei. It was quite titillating."

Sakura winced. "Sai... I don't think that any of the 'Make-out' series could be considered a 'classic'."

Sai's face fell. "But Kakashi-sensei said they were the greatest books ever written."

"As far as mysteries go... No. As far as graphic descriptions of mammary glands go... probably."

Sai nodded. "It did seem odd that the hero of the story was so very descriptive on the subject."

Sakura smiled. "Well it does happen to be Kakashi-sensei's literary niche." She picked up her bowl and drank down some of the broth before absentmindedly adding, "Oh and Sai? Just to warn you in advance... If you're thinking it's okay to make comments about my breast size because you 'read about it in a book' I'll clobber you into the middle of next week."

"Ah," said Sai very carefully. "Thank you for the warning." He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it again very quickly.

"Is everything okay?" Sakura asked as Sai got up carefully from the counter.

"Oh… Yes," he said with a firm waxy smile. "I just... need to visit the restroom."

Sakura turned back to the counter and resumed methodically chewing her meal. She couldn't believe she had snapped at Tsunade-sama like that… It had to be the lack of sleep… and the stress... mustn't forget the stress she was under.

From the depths of her mind, her inner Sakura stirred. _It's not the stress,_ she chanted in a child-like singsong voice._ "You're still hoping Sasuke will smile up at you, say 'Good job Sakura-chan! I always knew I could depend on you!'_

Gods… there was no escaping it. Even her brain couldn't grasp the fact that she was over him. She continued picking through her noodles, barely registering that someone had just sat down at the lunch counter next to her. Where was all the legendary strength everyone assumed she had? How pathetic could one person be?

"Good afternoon," said the proprietor of the lunch counter with an odd note of anxiety in his voice. "I am honored that you would choose to visit my humble establishment, Shimura-sama."

Sakura whipped her head around, only to find herself caught in the laser like focus of Eri Shimura. "Yes… I'm sure you are," the woman said offhandedly.

The proprietor swallowed audibly and held forth a menu card with shaking hands. "May I recommend… the special?" His eyes kept flicking to the quintet of heavy set shinobi who were glaring suspiciously at anyone who approached the shop.

"You most certainly may not," the councilor for the Shimura clan said primly. "In fact… I do believe that it is almost time for your break… is it not?" She cast a single glance at the shop owner, who suddenly paled to the point it looked like he might faint. The man gave a quick bow and scampered away.

Sakura rose to leave as well, but as she scraped her stool back, the five shinobi surrounding the lunch counter tensed. Sakura looked quickly at each of them in turn, and then slowly sat back down. "If you attack me… The Hokage will hear of it," Sakura said with a growl.

Eri gave her a half-smile, the sort one might show to a difficult child threatening a tantrum. "What do you take me for Haruno-san? A common thug? Give me some credit please… I just want to have a nice little private chat with you that is all." She gestured magnanimously at Sakura's udon bowl. "Please, feel free to continue eating."

Sakura forced herself to glare back at the lean faced woman. "A chat? Really? I can't think of a single thing in common we would have to talk about."

"Hm," hummed Eri with a nod. "Not even the horrible things that Sasuke Uchiha could have lived through that would, no doubt, change my opinion of him? I might be very interested in hearing about those."

Sakura turned back to her bowl of udon, but kept her eyes on the Shimura woman. "I'm sure you'd love to… all the more information you could use to build your case against Sasuke."

Eri Shimura giggled behind a delicate hand. "Oh my, you think I need information to build a case against him? My dear, Sasuke has set the popular opinion against himself so thoroughly that if I wanted to see him executed this very day, I doubt I would even have to lift a finger. I don't fear the Uchiha."

"Then why did you try to capture him at the main gate?"

Eri gave a small sigh and folded her hands demurely in her lap. "I do so worry that you are talking the actions of my younger and considerably more impetuous brother more personally than you should. He is… and let us be frank here…. quite the idiot at times... more so when he sees the opportunity for fame and glory at hand. He has the horrible habit of allowing his actions to be tinted by his emotion. The rest of the Shimura clan is not like that. There is the clan honor to maintain, true, but some of us like to keep an eye on more… practical matters." She paused and waited to see Sakura's reaction. When none was forthcoming, she produced a closed fan from the folds of her obi. "I was hoping," she said delicately, "that perhaps the pair of us might be able to reach an understanding."

"What sort of understanding?"

Eri opened her fan with a snap and began wafting air towards her face. "Tsunade has been an… adequate Hokage, has she not? It's such a shame her tenure seems to be nearing its end."

"Only because you and your brother are trying for a power grab!" Sakura snapped.

Again the half smile crossed Eri's face. "I see that while the Fifth Hokage taught you much in the way of medicine, she neglected to show you anything about the role subtlety plays in politics," she said with an exasperated sigh. "Very well, I shall be blunt. The base of power in Konoha is changing. You would be wise to seek new mentors... new friends who could protect you in turbulent times such as these."

"And these new friends would be the Shimura clan I suppose?"

Again, Eri gave her that patronizing smile. "Perhaps… of course we of the Shimura clan don't give our friendship away lightly… although sometimes we can be convinced."

"I will never betray Tsunade-sama's trust!" Sakura snarled.

Eri laughed, a dry hollow sound. "Oh dear, betrayal? You misunderstand me girl. I am merely asking for a few small trifles. Perhaps a few words, the quick report of who enters and leaves the Hokage's presence." Eri paused and looked up sharply. "The possession of a few old letters that the Hokage herself has deemed worthless."

Sakura held her breath. How did the damned woman know? How did she always know? " It wouldn't be that hard," Eri continued. "All you would have to do would be to go and fetch them… perhaps, with all the troubles weighing down on your mind you might, understandably, accidentally leave them here on the counter." She folded her fan again with a snap. "Such a small price to pay for peace and security is it not?"

"You can't scare me with your threats," said Sakura coldly.

"Threats? Oh my dear, I wasn't threatening you! Goodness no!" Eri gently tapped the fan against her chin. "You Mother and Father are retired shinobi correct? Living a peaceful life in the village?"

There was a brief pulse of cold fear that tore icily through her. "You will leave my parents alone! If you lay a hand on them I'll… I'll kill you!"

Eri again smiled. "My dear, I have no idea what you are talking about… I would not dream of raising my hand against your parents."

The Shimura woman paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Let me tell you a story my dear…"

"I don't need to hear anything you might say."

"Oh but I'm sure you'll appreciate this… It's part of the history of Konoha," Eri gave Sakura a knowing smile, "I have heard that you are quite interested in history… such an inquisitive girl, not content to let the past lie."

"Roughly a generation before the Hidden Leaf was officially founded, there was another attempt to formulate some sort of peace between the shinobi clans in this valley. The Uchiha and the Senju clans had between them conquered the vast majority of the other peoples living here, and were butting up against each other. At a military stalemate, and at the incessant urging of their clan's two youngest and most charismatic war leaders, the two factions decided to try to make a treaty."

"There was a great meeting as the clans, the Senju, the Uchiha and all who swore fealty to them, came together, to discuss, to plot and to make alliances. Many clans brought their young with them, and that was the first mistake they made, for among them were Gin Uchiha and Inari Shimura, two youngsters known more for their pretty faces than their brains." Eri smiled softly. "Although some people more romantic than I have described them as love struck innocents."

"Anyway, they met at the gathering and fell in love, and soon afterwards the prize maiden beauty of the Shimura clan was showing ample evidence that she was anything but. Gin was deeply smitten with the girl and knowing his clan would never accept her, resolved to go and live with the Shimura clan."

"As you can imaging the head of the Uchiha clan was furious! These actions of Gin's were unconscionable! One night as Inari was in her eighth month, the head of the Uchiha clan led his strongest warriors in an assault on the Shimura compound. Hoping to prevent slaughter, Gin went out to met with his father, who promptly had the boy imprisoned. Then he proceeded to lay siege to the Shimura castle."

"His demand was simple, hand Inari over to the Uchiha clan. The sharingan belonged to Uchiha and the Uchiha alone. When he heard that the babe had been borne, they assaulted the fortress killing all who resisted, when they reached the nursery. They tortured Inari to point out her child, but she remained silent till the end. The Uchiha ended up slaughtering every newborn they could find."

"I suppose you're telling me this to prove some point about the inherent cruelty in the Uchiha?" Sakura said testily.

Eri laughed. "Goodness no! Actually, given the circumstance, I would have expected nothing less! Bloodline preservation, my dear girl! No self respecting Uchiha would ever dream of willingly diluting their Kekkei Genkai. The point of my story is what the Senju clan did the next day at the treaty negotiation."

"Which was?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Eri leaned forward. "And that my girl, is all you will ever need to know about your precious Hokage, her clan, and how they repay loyalty… Why trouble yourself with the lives of others and innocents, when you have the greater good within reach? The Senju elders decided to look the other way and continue negotiating for a homeland." Eri studied Sakura's face carefully. "Ironically... it was an Uchiha who granted the Shimura clan the gift of justice. It was Gin you see... when he heard what had happened to his love, he slew his guards and broke out of his prison cell. Legend says marched right up to the negotiating table where his father and the Senju clan heads were seated. He took one look at them and whispered 'you killed her'. If you believe the tale, he then transformed into a demon burning with pale blue fire before exploding, killing nearly all the major heads of the clans."

"A Susano'o?" asked Sakura, interested despite herself.

Eri shrugged. "Possibly, or some incomplete version of it. I have heard that both Madara and Izuna Uchiha were present at this meeting, so perhaps that was where they first learned of the potential for the Susano'o technique. At any rate, undoubtedly, it was the chaos of the power vacuum left by the death of the clan chieftains that cleared the way for the two aforementioned young war leaders, Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju to take their younger brothers and cast off on their own, abandoning their respective clans and found a village where all shinobi could live as brothers." Eri laughed coldly. "Even after all the cruelty and treachery Hashirama witnessed from the Uchiha clan, he still made peace with them… Time after time as they betrayed and attacked and rebelled… he still gave ground… all for his dream." She settled back on her seat and turned away from Sakura. "All for this faint dream of peace... Do you understand yet why I am telling you this?"

"You're trying to convince me that Tsunade-sama is untrustworthy."

Eri giggled. "Untrustworthy? My dear, she has already abandoned you to the wolves! This farce of an 'open mandate'. Sending you forth to do her dirty work… to take the danger and the pressure of the times off of her... And to take the blame when you fail. She is a politician through and through." Eri Shimura relaxed a little, smiling at Sakura, trying to appear friendly. "She's trying to stir up the situation. She is using you to create chaos, to create an opportunity… You should ask your Nara friend what the official name is for shogi pieces that are used to create an opening, an opportunity. If you would just open your eyes you would see this. It's time to find a clan who appreciates you… who's willing to protect you, not throw you out there with only some sketchy mandate for their own benefit."

Sakura felt her jaw ripple with anger. Part of her rage was directed at Eri, how dare she insinuate that Tsunade was using her! Another part was directed at a small whispering voice from deep inside Sakura's own head that wondered if Eri was right. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said stiffly. "Tsunade treats me with nothing but respect!"

"You are certain about that?" said Eri quietly. "Idealism can be an admirable trait, but it makes it ever so easy to lose sight of the reality of the situation… and I'm afraid my dear, that in the world of politics, such situations can turn on their heads so very very quickly… just ask Tsunade-sama."

"I want you to leave… Now!" barked Sakura.

Eri reached out and gently touched Sakura on the wrist. "It is a difficult decision, You may want to think carefully about the choice you are about to make. Saying things in the heat of the moment can only lead to regret."

Sakura slapped her hand away and stared at her, full of bravado. "I would rather die than betray Tsunade-sama!"

The Shimura woman stood slowly, her a flicker of icy wrath crossing her features before dissolving into a frown of feigned disappointment. "It appears you were correct my dear, we really did have nothing to discuss." Eri rose delicately from her stool, her kimono folding itself around her, perfectly creased. "Oh, before I go," she said, as if she had just remembered something. "One last piece of advice Haruno-san… In this shinobi world... dying is the least of the horrors that can happen." Eri smiled sweetly, and walked away in a whisper of silk.

Sai returned, walking stiffly. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists. "What do you think? I've just had my whole family threatened in the most indirect way possible… The Shimura clan knows about, and wants Mikoto's letters." She opened her eyes and glared at Sai. "And where were you hiding this whole time? I could have used some back up!"

I'm so sorry," he muttered. "I… saw them there and… I was watching you really, but it didn't seem overly threatening , so I just decided to hang back and see what happened."

Sakura groaned and calmed down some. Of course Sai would misinterpret everything. "It's all right, just next time, feel free to barge right in… okay?" She picked up her chopsticks and quietly resumed eating. She wasn't in any mood to talk, and it seemed neither was Sai. This suited her just fine. It gave her a chance to calm down. They spent the next ten minutes or so eating in silence.

Sakura scraped out the last of her udon bowl and set it on the lunch counter with a clink. "Okay... so the big question is where do we go from here?" she grumbled to herself.

"Well," answered Sai. "We have a set of letters mailed from one dead woman to another... We have the Hokage who will not act... and we have Sasuke who will not talk... Although he did seem slightly interested in talking to you, did he not?"

"If that was true yesterday morning, it sure isn't the case now. Sasuke's made it quite clear he doesn't want anything to do with me."

"Oh? He said that to your face?" asked Sai curiously.

"He called me annoying," Sakura muttered darkly.

Sai slipped one of his hands into his pockets and pulled out a thin book. "Annoying was it? That doesn't seem so bad."

Sakura sighed. "It's... well... when we were younger, he used to call me annoying all the time."

"Like a pet nickname?" Sai began paging through the book.

"He only used to use it when he was upset with me," said Sakura flatly, "So no... not like a pet nickname."

"Hmmm... So what was it that made him upset at you this time?"

Sakura shook her head. "Because he's being an idiot and won't admit it! He's refusing to help himself at all. It's like he just wants to have this Kabuto fight thing and that's the only thing left that matters."

"Ah," said Sai running his finger down a page. "So he's latched onto a single goal again. Only this time he's preoccupied with Kabuto instead of Itachi."

Sakura shrugged. "It seems like it."

"Odd... I wonder why? I wonder why he feels he needs to revenge himself on Kabuto?" asked Sai quietly.

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "What? Revenge?"

"Isn't it obvious? Sasuke is an obsessive. When he sets his mind to something, he does it at the expense of all other things. We know that in the past, he felt he had a compulsory duty to kill Itachi... Assuming that Mikoto Uchiha's letters are truthful, it looks like Konoha was at least partially to blame for the situation the Uchiha found themselves in... and then, Sasuke becomes fixated on destroying the Hidden Leaf village... Now there is Kabuto." Sai looked up at Sakura. "And, as you have pointed out, Kabuto is looming large in his mind... even to the exclusion of his own well being... I wonder what Kabuto did to him?"

"Who knows?" muttered Sakura. "But... I mean.. Sasuke being like that... 'obsessed' as you say... that's nothing new, he's always been driven to the point where he pushes people away."

"And yet you said he seemed to be opening up to you at some point?" Sai leafed through a few more pages. "Would you say he was trying to be polite?"

Sakura toyed with her chopsticks a little. "I guess so... But it wasn't like he was telling me anything useful."

"I think you make him nervous," said Sai closing the book with a snap.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "Nervous? Sai... He's one of the strongest shinobi in the world. I'm no threat to him! Why would he be nervous around me?"

"Maybe he likes you?"

The moment those words sank into Sakura's mind, the very air seemed to crystallize around her. She sat there, very still, with her heartbeat hammering in her ears. "No," she said once she found her breath. She followed it with a skeptical chuckle. "That's impossible."

"Why not?" asked Sai curiously. "He is displaying all the classic symptoms listed in here," he said holding up the book, "Arrogance... Mood swings... Feigning disinterest... Occasional threats of violence..."

"Oh Sai," she groaned in an exasperated tone, grabbing the book out of his hand, "What are you reading now?" Her eyes skimmed the cover. "How to Play (and win at) the Game of Romance by Jiraiya the Sannin." Sakura made a disgusted noise deep in her throat. "I swear, sometimes it seems like he wrote every other book in this village! Sai... Why are you reading this?"

Sai nodded. "He was very prolific wasn't he?" Sai cleared his throat. "After my most recent difficulty with Ino... I decided that I needed to brush up on... well... my romantic skills."

Sakura had heard all about Ino and Sai's three week long dating stint. Ino had summed it up with 'It started out great and then... it got weird... and then it got dull... but finally... well...it turned into a disaster."

"Yeah... well Ino isn't exactly the most..." Sakura started.

"Oh I know," said Sai. "It was all my fault. At first, she was happy that I brought her flowers, but when I brought her flowers every day, she complained that I wasn't being spontaneous enough. Then the chocolates were making her too fat and then all we ever did was go out to eat and go for walks... Eventually she told me that it wasn't working out."

"Well that's because you kept trying to do the same thing all the time."

Sai nodded. "I was following what I believed to be the standard model for a good relationship... Unfortunately, I was unaware that a relationship needs to ebb and flow like the tides.. otherwise it feels unnatural. At least according to Jiraiya-sama."

"Sai?" asked Sakura, annoyed, "What does any of this have to do with your theory that Sasuke likes me?"

"I'm getting there." He opened the book and began to read. "Often times when one first discovers love, there will be this elaborately choreographed dance of alternately fixating on the object of one's affection to the point where it grows awkward and foolish, coupled with teasing and tormenting the same person in order to convince yourself that you are not already trapped with no escape."

Sakura looked down at the lunch counter. "I'm pretty sure he's talking about school kids."

"Please, let me finish," said Sai. He turned a page and continued reading, "You may think that I am referring only to relationships between young children on the Academy playground... But what was as true then is true now. There will always be the testing of bounds in a relationship. The most difficult strain of love is the unrequited kind. It starts pure like all others, but then it builds resentment and longing. Obsession alternates with denial. If you are lucky it can be tempered with alcohol and carefree, loose pairings... if you are unlucky it wraps itself into a loop that builds animosity and can harden what's left of one's heart."

"While that's very poetic Sai," muttered Sakura. "I'm pretty sure Sasuke is not obsessing over me. The fact of the matter, is he doesn't want to see me."

"That's strange," said Sai. "It seemed to me that aside from Naruto and the Hokage, you were one of the three people in Konoha he was interested in talking to directly."

"Yeah, well that was before. Sasuke doesn't trust me at all now. He told me to get lost."

"Really? asked Sai. "Those were the exact words he used?"

"Well... no," said Sakura. "But like I said he called me annoying though."

There was a long pause. "Sakura," Sai said very reluctantly. "I am only telling you this because I am your friend." He took in a big shuddering breath and continued. "In the interest of full disclosure... sometimes... you are annoying… and very much so... Please don't hit me."

Sakura clenched her jaw. "Did you have a point to all this Sai?"

"Mmm," said Sai with a nod, relaxing once it was clear he wasn't going to get punched. "Sasuke has always had a very direct nature. If he wanted you to leave him alone, he would have come right out and said so."

"So?"

"So? He only called you annoying. There is a huge difference. We should go talk to him."

Sakura sat very still, torn between wanting to be stubborn and the persistent nagging need to solve this puzzle. (The fact that she would have to go see Sasuke again had absolutely nothing to do with it.) "I... need to think about that." She shook her head. "You are way off base with this liking me theory. He hasn't seen me in years. The few times we've met since he abandoned the village, he's tried to kill me. Maybe we should just stay away"

Sai nodded. "Maybe then you should consider this... Right now, you are one of the few people he has voluntarily shared anything about himself with, other than, I assume, Naruto. While everyone else was telling Sasuke what a horrible person he was, you said he waited and purposefully asked you what your opinion of him was before he turned around to leave. Finally," said Sai, reaching out to tap the haversack that contained Mikoto's letters, "we have with us one of the very last things his mother wrote... Even if he doesn't want to talk to us at first, don't you think we have a duty to let him see what his dear mother had to say?"


	93. Chapter 30: Sakura's Tale part 3

The desk guard at the interrogation center looked up as they entered. "Wow! That was fast," he said, the surprise conveying itself past his frog mask.

"What was fast?" asked Sakura.

"Well, we just sent the runner out a few minutes ago. I wasn't expecting Tsunade-sama to get the message and send anyone until after the council meeting."

"I wasn't sent," said Sakura. "I'm here because of an ongoing investigation at the request of the Hokage. I need to see Sasuke Uchiha."

"Um... Oh... well it's a good thing you're here then." The ANBU quickly read the expression of frustration growing on Sakura's face. "It's about the Uchiha. There's something wrong with him. Come, I'll show you."

Their footsteps rang down the mostly cinderblock corridors and up a flight of plain steel stairs. "Do you remember how he was having trouble standing yesterday and we all thought it was an aftereffect of the restraining jutsu? Well, it looks like it's gotten worse... There is some tearing up coming from his left eye as well."

"His eye? asked Sakura, flipping straight into her medical-nin mode. What color is it? How much?"

The ANBU shrugged. "Light yellow maybe? As for how much... I don't know exactly, but it's enough to mar the seals covering his eyes. We've had to re-do them twice."

The frog masked ANBU unlocked the secondary gate leading to the interrogation wing. "The prisoner claims it hurts a lot. He says he's not doing it on purpose. But he's also been flagged as a high risk for escape attempts, so we decided to call in a medical expert." He rounded the corner and unlocked the final gate. "Hey! Uchiha!" he yelled as he stepped through. "I brought someone to look at your eye! Assume the position!"

"The... position?" Sai's voice was strange, hesitant. Sakura turned to admonish him, thinking he was going to try to make another off color joke, but she stopped when she saw his face. He was looking more pale than usual.

"We won't open the cell until he's sitting on the floor, back against the bars, both arms through the cage with the short chain fastened between the chakra repressors. It's impossible to stand in that position. It's quicker than getting him in the full restraints and well... look at him... he's either a good actor or he's really messed up." There was a cloying sickly smell permeating the air. Sasuke tried to rise up off the cot, and instead collapsed down to one knee. Sakura clearly heard his grunt of pain as he rested there, his hand pressed up against the right side of his face.

"Open the door," she ordered the ANBU. "I need to check on him now."

The frog masked ANBU shrugged. "Sorry but that's not..."

"I said open it now!" Sakura bellowed in her best commanding tone.

Sasuke's head weakly rose. "Sakura," he said faintly, "I don't... feel so good."

"You don't understand," said the ANBU placatingly. "There are safeguards put in place. The procedures for visiting a dangerous prisoner like this one are there for your own..."

He paused at Sakura's open hand, right under his nose. "Keys! Now!" she demanded. "Do you smell that? He's got a massive infection, probably in his face, from how he's acting. I need to look at it... Now!"

Her last shout did the trick. The frog masked ANBU produced a ring of keys and seconds later the lock on the door clicked open.

The first thing she did after she barreled through the door, was haul Sasuke up off the floor and lay him down gently on the bed. As she slowly lowered his head down, she made note of the fact that his hair was soaked with sweat and his skin felt clammy. "He's definitely running a fever," she muttered to herself. The second thing she did was start to undo the seal restraining Sasuke's eyes.

The third thing she did was slap the ANBU's hand away as he jumped forward and yelled "Hey!"

"I need to examine the infection site! I must have missed it before because your damn sealing jutsu was blocking the chakra scan. This seal has to come off!"

The ANBU stiffened. His hand twitched slightly. "I have standing orders not to..."

"I don't care about your orders. Now get out of the light so I can see!" It was a fairly complex restraining seal. It took her an embarrassing long five minutes to disarm it and start unraveling the blindfold. She made a quick note to herself to spend more time brushing up on sealing jutsu. Sakura peeled away the last layer of the cloth seal, and promptly wrinkled her nose. The smell was much stronger now. There was a thick layer of crusty yellow material coating Sasuke's eyelashes. From the corner of the closed eyelid of his left eye a small pearl of milky yellow fluid slowly grew as she watched. "Okay Sasuke?" she said in her calm steady medical-nin voice. I'm going to need you to open your eye so I can take a look... okay?

"I can't," Sasuke murmured. "It's stuck."

"Hot water and a towel! Now!" she barked at the ANBU.

"I am not leaving you or anyone else alone with him," was the frog masked man's cold voiced reply. "No one is to be left unsupervised with the Uchiha... Doubly so if his eyes are unsealed."

"I'll go," volunteered Sai. "That is... if someone will tell me where?"

"There's a bathroom to the left of the second gate that we use for washing up," said the ANBU. "You should be able to find a bucket and a towel in there."

Sakura reached out for Sasuke's face as Sai went running off. The first chakra echoes she got back were very worrisome, all she could see through her pulsing was the infection.. "Fluid mass in the right orbit, pressing right up against the lesser wing of the sphenoid, the orbital plate and the lacrimal bone. The infection itself seems to be spreading through the soft tissue... Thank God."

"And... why is that good?" asked the ANBU hesitantly.

"Because if it forces its way through the bone sutures in the orbital cavity, the bacteria will end up in his brain," she said coldly. "Now please stop asking questions and let me get to work."

Sakura gently ran her fingers over Sasuke's face. Given what she saw, it was easy to quash any latent annoying romantic thoughts that might have arisen. "I can see the inflammation going along the zygomatic arc, spreading back behind the mandible and..." she paused moving her fingers, "up to the right ear where," Sakura's fingertips pulsed a particularly brighter shade of green and Sasuke winced as the deeper chakra echo coursed through him. "Hah!" she called out triumphantly. "I knew it! You've got a secondary infection in the inner ear. That explains the problems with your balance."

Sai came jogging back. He handed her a small towel and a small bucket of steaming water. She soaked the cloth and wrung it out. "Okay Sasuke," she said softly. "I'm just going to be putting this on your eye."

He stiffened as she gently began rubbing away. "What's bothering you, the heat or the pressure?"

"Pressure," Sasuke grunted.

"Sorry, I'll try to be a little more gentle." She didn't want to add that too much pressure could force the infection into the eye itself or possibly even leak along his optic nerve.

A short ten minute soak, and some easy tugging on his eyelid was all that it took to open the stuck eye. Sasuke's sclera was a bright angry red, and his lens was cloudy with long clinging strands of yellow/white matter. The smell was much stronger now. As she watched, a lumpy, white globule, tinged with red, oozed up and out of the corner of his eye. Sasuke blinked and it broke away dribbling down his cheek. It was quickly replaced by another.

Sakura ignored the gagging of the frog masked ANBU. "Sai?" she asked calmly. "I'll need you to make a quick trip to Konoha Hospital. Tell them I need a yellow Medic Kit. Bring it back here as quickly as you can. Hurry." Sai nodded and left at a dead run.

"Yellow?" asked Sasuke with a grunt.

Sakura shushed him, but answered anyway as she cleaned up the pus running down his cheek. "The Medical-nin field kits are color coded these days. Black is a basic kit, it has a little bit of everything but nothing too specific. They're designed for first aid, field treatments, stabilizing the injured so they can be moved from a combat area back to a medical unit, that sort of thing. Yellow is more of a treatment kit. It places more emphasis on medicines, chakra enhancers, painkillers, and the three A's: Antibiotics, Antivirals, and Antivenoms. It's made more for someone who's in a hospital or a field station and isn't in immediate danger." She rinsed the towel in the hot water and wiped some more at his eye. "Blue is a surgical kit. Everything someone would need to perform surgery. Then there's the red kit. That's a crash kit."

"Crash?"

"Flatline. No heartbeat. You're dead. The red kit gives a good medical-nin a slightly better chance at bringing you back to the land of the living." She re-moistened the towel and found a much cleaner corner. This time when she wiped away the protruding lump, she gave just the tiniest prod. There was an audible spurt. A centimeter long chunk of doughy, pale green pus popped out of the corner of Sasuke's eye, followed by a virtual fountain of straw colored fluid.

The ANBU swallowed heavily. "Why... Why do you keep doing that?"

"I'm releasing as much of the pressure as I can." She glanced up as she heard him swallow a second time. The mask was hovering just over her left shoulder. "If you're going to be sick, I'd really appreciate it if you would go stand somewhere else," she said to him pointedly. "How's that Sasuke?" Sakura asked turning back, "Any better?"

"A little," Sasuke mumbled. "The room still feels like it's spinning though."

Sakura ran her hand over his forehead. He was running a moderate temperature. "I'll try to do something about your ear as soon I can. I just want to try to get as much fluid out from back behind your eye as I am able to, okay? Everything will be fine."

Time passed relatively quickly considering all she was doing was gently squeezing and then cleaning up the discharge from Sasuke's eye socket. She remembered looking up and seeing the sun set through a crack in a shuttered window, but that was hours ago. There seemed to be almost an endless flow of matter as she very gently worked her fingers into the soft tissue around his eye. The ANBU stayed far away.

When the discharge finally stopped she exhaled and slowly smiled down at Sasuke. "Well, that looks to be all I can get out this time around."

"It still hurts," grumbled Sasuke.

"It's going to be tender and puffy until the swelling goes down, and I shouldn't really get started on that until Sai comes back with the medical kit." She watched Sasuke for a moment, as he lay there, shivering. He looked so vulnerable. Where the hell was Sai? "Is it bothering you a lot? There are a few jutsus I can try."

Sasuke's head dipped slightly in a nod. "Please," he croaked.

"Woah, woah, woah!" called the ANBU hurrying over as Sakura reached out for Sasuke's face. "What do you think you're doing now?"

"I'm going to try to reduce some of the swelling. Give him a mild analgesic jutsu, and give his immune system a localized chakra boost to help with the infection... Is that a problem?" she asked, not stopping her treatment.

"We need to get his eyes re-sealed as quickly as possible." The frog masked ANBU insisted.

Sakura shook her head. "Not going to happen. I can't use any sort of medical ninjutsu through the seal you use. It blocks all chakra flow... and besides, the infection needs to be able to drain." She haughtily turned back to Sasuke not giving the ANBU a chance to argue.

As she began an anti-inflammatory series of pulses, she sensed an odd echoing texture at the rear of his eye. At first she thought it was some remnants of the core of the infection, but a more thorough exam revealed it to be extensive scarring. Curious she quickly scanned his left eye to compare. There were ridges there as well but they were very faint, very fine, as if they were made by a surgical scalpel in the hands of an expert. She moved back to his right eye and in the areas left clean by the heavy scarring, she thought she could detect some of the finer lines as well.

"Sasuke... What happened to your eye?" He was pretending to be relaxing under her ministrations, but Sakura knew that he heard her. She saw his jaw tighten as she asked her question. "Sasuke, what happened?" she prompted again.

He gave a barely perceptible shrug. "It... just got infected I guess," he said evasively.

"No... I can tell that..." she stopped as his eyes popped open, staring at her in an almost pleading way. Sasuke's gaze flicked to the ANBU guard and back to her.

Sakura took a deep breath to quell the warm flip-flopping in her stomach. "I can tell that you got it infected. I just want you to tell me how." Sasuke was still staring at her with his onyx eyes. She resolved to herself to ask him about the scarring later. "It looks like it's a topical infection, but one of the nastier ones I've seen... Were you swimming in dirty water or something?" she asked, throwing him a way out.

Sasuke slowly shut his eyes, but before they closed she thought he gave her a look of thanks. "I fell in a river," his voice rasped quietly. "Does that count?"

"Maybe... We'll have to talk more about this... later." Sakura would have sworn he smiled as she ran her hands over his forehead and ear. "There's no good site to drain the fluid from," she muttered to herself as she pulsed away, plotting the course of the bacteria through his flesh.

"Hmm?" Sasuke's eyes were open again.

"I said, there's no good place to do a drain around your ear," she said, slightly annoyed that he kept answering every time she thought out loud. "I'm going to have to wait on that until..." There was the patter of running footsteps and Sai came skidding to a halt.

"I brought the kit," he panted, sliding the thick canvas bag along the floor. Sakura snatched it and tugged the zipper open in one practiced move, letting the two sides fall open exposing an array of pouches.

"Took you long enough," grumbled the ANBU

"I am sorry. I had to wait longer than expected at the Hospital. It was very difficult to find a complete kit," said Sai straightening and glancing nervously down the hallway.

"Thank you Sai," she said digging through the various containers for a sterile syringe and an ampule.

"You're using an injection... Why?" asked the frog masked ANBU suspiciously.

"Given the size and potential of the infection to spread to sensitive areas, I want the antibiotics to start having an effect as quickly as possible." She stuck the needle into the ampule and pulled out a dose. With a practiced flick she cleared the syringe of air, and then gave another flick to Sasuke's antecubital vein, making it rise. "That means I need to administer it intravenously. I'll give him an oral dose later on."

"Later on?" asked the ANBU.

Sakura nodded. "What... you thought this was going to be it? Sasuke is going to need constant monitoring. If the swelling doesn't go down in a few hours, it could be a sign of bacterial resistance, and then I'd have to test different types of antibiotics."

"So... That means you are... planning on staying here... all night?" Sai asked very hesitantly.

"Well, unless there's another medical-nin sent to take my place, it's going to have to be me." She glanced over at Sai curiously. "Why? do you have something you need to do?"

"Oh no," said Sai with one of his broad smiles. "I was just thinking that it was very fortuitous that you have to stay here... Now you have an excuse to continue your questioning."

Sasuke's eyes launched open. "What?"

"Never mind that Sai!" Sakura snapped at him. "Any questions I have can wait!" She continued working for the next few hours, the silence only broken by Sasuke's breathing, the occasional shuffle from the Frog masked ANBU, or Sai tapping his foot.

She leaned back and exhaled. "Well, that's about all I can do right now… How does it feel Sasuke?"

"A little better," he mumbled. "It doesn't hurt as much but it still feels puffy."

The ANBU sat up. "Alright so we'll re-apply the seal now?"

"No," said Sakura flatly. "It needs to drain, and there's no sense putting it back on when I'll just need to take it off again in an hour or two."

"Well, you've done an excellent job Sakura," said Sai with a smile. "Why don't we go home and get some rest?"

Sakura shook her head. "Sai, just because the treatment is done for the moment doesn't mean that this doesn't need to be monitored! It will take a while."

Sai shrugged and gave another grin, a much weaker one this time. " I see... Well then... How much longer do you think this will take?"

Sakura grunted with frustration. "Sai! Aren't you listening to me? I just told you! I'm going to be here for the another few hours at least! Maybe even until morning! I told you earlier, if you have something else to do you can get out of here... I don't need you."

There was the sound of footsteps echoing down the hall followed by the squeal of metal as the secondary gate was pulled open. Sakura heard the rustle of cloth as Sai reached over and unclasped his art supplies bag. She looked up to him holding his scroll and brush in his hand. It was shaking. "Actually Sakura... I think you will need my... help," he said quietly

Five cloaked and masked figures purposefully rounded the corner. The frog masked ANBU took a step out of the cell to meet them. "It's alright!" he called with his hands upraised. "They're with me. She's been treating the prisoner." The mask flicked back to glare at Sakura. "Although it's in my opinion she's been taking too many risks," he said sourly.

"Nicely done Kaeru," the lead figure, wearing a painted snake mask, said in a scratchy voice. "We'll be taking over from here. Go return to your original post."

The frog masked ANBU paused. "Well actually... this is my original post. I was just manning the desk because practically everyone else was either on Hokage duty or..." He stopped suddenly and leaned forward. "Hebi? Are you getting a cold? You sound..."

The cloaked man who spoke leapt forward and tried to slash a kunai across the frog masked ANBU's chest. Kaeru jumped back two meters to the back wall and kicked off, launching himself at the snake masked assailant.

"Forget stealth! Grab the Uchiha!" bellowed the snake masked man. The frog ANBU crashed into him and as they started exchanging blows, Sakura dipped her hand into the yellow kit. Nobody saw her palm a handful of morphine syrettes.

It was Shizune who had shown her the offensive possibilities in the most common medical supplies. The Hokage's right hand man... or rather, woman frequently used senbon needles, scalpels and whatever else happened to be at hand as weapons when she needed them.

Sakura flicked her wrists as the remaining four cloaked attackers charged forward. Three of the auto-injecting syrettes found their mark, causing one of the attackers to stumble drunkenly and the other to heavily sit down. "Come on Sai!" she yelled as she made for the entrance to the cell. "If we hurry we can..."

Something tangled up her feet and caused her to trip. As she fell, it wrapped tightly around her knees. She looked down there was a large anaconda made of ink squeezing tightly around her legs. "Sai!" she screamed out. "What are you doing?"

Her only answer was a slight look of shame on Sai's face... And right then she knew that her teammate had betrayed her.

With a scream of frustration she tried to throw the remaining syrettes at him, but the drawn snake was coiling up her body in huge loops, tying down her arms. Her throws went wild. Within seconds she found herself tightly bound, lying on the floor.

There were a few heavy blows and the sound of a body falling. Footsteps entered the cell. She could see Sasuke wearily raise his head from the cot and stare at the intruders. "Damnit!" swore the raspy voiced man. "They took the binding jutsu off his eyes. Avoid meeting his gaze until you get them re-sealed," he called to the remainder of his men. He strode over to Sai. "I suppose you couldn't have taken the medical-nin down sooner?" he asked accusingly.

Sai shrugged. "I was only carrying out my orders," he said flatly. A frown crossed his lips as he watched the remaining three masked figures hold down a struggling Sasuke and start to re-apply the seal to his eyes. "Take the Uchiha and go."

"Then you'll clean up after we have left?" the voice rasped.

"Clean up?" asked Sai incredulously. "But... but the orders we were given said to avoid casualties!"

"And?" came the half grunt from behind the snake mask. "That was before two of my men were injured... and besides you were supposed to insure that this went smoothly... We're not going to be able to make this out to be an escape attempt if there are witnesses... are we?" Sakura began to squirm and wriggle her hands. There had to be something she could do, some way she could get free. "Some hotshot operator you are," sneered the snake masked man. "I've heard there was an order that the pink haired medical nin was to be 'taught a lesson.' Tamago-sama's beside himself with glee," he laughed in a humorless way." I thought death might be a bit more kind, but really... she's your friend, so the call is yours. Do whatever you feel is best and then meet us downstairs when you're done."

"You don't understand..." Sai began to protest.

There was the sound of a punch and Sakura saw Sai sprawl into her field of vision down on the floor of the cell. "No... you don't understand," the cloaked man growled. "You've been away for far too long 'Sai'." The contempt was plain in his voice. "You enjoyed your status as the favorite for too long. You've forgotten what Tamago can be like... You want to tell him that he doesn't understand?" Sai shifted on the floor, and slowly got to his hands and knees. The snake masked man kicked him sharply. "Hurry!" he spat. "We only have five minutes left on the window before the rest of the ANBU start to return!"

Sai crawled forward slowly refusing to look at her. Sasuke was grunting and throwing out weak blows at his opponents, but the blunt end of a kunai was slammed against his temple and he went down. "There has to be something I can do!" she repeated over and over in a panicked voice in her head. "Think… think… think! There has to be some way to get out of this! Think you stupid, weak, worthless…"

Sakura's writhing paid off. The inside of her right palm pressed firmly against the ink summoned serpent, and the idea appeared in her head with crystal clarity.

Sealing jutsus can work in many different ways. They can involve a blood contract, such as with a summoning animal. They can be inscribed with ink infused with chakra and on a slip of paper, such as the explosive tag, or, if you have the exact seal memorized, have practiced and trained, have superb chakra control, and are really willing to take the risk that you will absolutely positively not make the tiniest little mistake... you could try inscribing and activating the seal with chakra... all in one go. Usually what would happen next was the inscriber would pray that it didn't all blow up in his face.

As a level four medical-nin, Sakura was expected to have an unearthly fine degree of chakra control. She also had near perfect recall from her memory.

The three robed intruders were trying to haul a weakly struggling Sasuke to his feet when there was a boiling hiss, and the scent of burning charcoal filled the air. Sakura had carved the chakra disrupting seal the ANBU used for Sasuke's eyes into Sai's drawn python. There was the pop of a bubble bursting and a splash. Sakura was drenched in black ink from head to toe.

The raspy voiced man let out a cry of alarm as she rolled to a squatting position and lashed out with a chakra charged backhanded fist.

There was a gunshot loud snap as her punch connected with the side of one of the robed men's kneecap. His femur shattered, sending a long jagged spur of bone tearing through the meat of his thigh and the cloth of his trousers in a bright red, jetting spray of arterial blood.

She threw herself sideways, away from a kick, and sprang up. As she was rising she caught a second man under the point of his chin with a chakra enhanced uppercut. His neck popped and he fell like a limp rag doll.

The third man dropped Sasuke like a sack of potatoes, dodged her punch and tried to grapple with her. It might have worked if she hadn't had such a huge advantage in strength. Sakura easily broke the choke hold he was trying to put her in and used the momentum of her swing to spin around behind him and plant an elbow solidly in his lower back. He gave a tiny, almost kitten-like cry as his kidney ruptured. Then he breathlessly fell to the floor clawing at his side in pain.

Sakura slowly turned to face the snake masked man. Her green eyes glanced at the scene of everyone else lying around her. Three men either dead, or dying, soon to be dead in a matter of seconds. As always, the ease of it took her by surprise. There was a brief moment where the whole thing felt unreal. Those couldn't be real people lying there. Then Sakura felt it, that dark shiver of revulsion that crept down her spine every time she killed someone. There was no time for it now, she pushed it away. Her frown was grim on her ink stained face as she glared at the last man standing. "Looks like it's just you and me now," she said in a quiet growl, trying to sound fierce.

There was the skin tingling sensation of a high level shinobi unmasking their chakra nearby. The snake masked man gave a short, nervous chuckle, "Not anymore girl," his raspy voice grated. "Believe me, you're going to wish we had made it quick." Sakura's fists clenched involuntarily as a familiar, oily, corrupted chakra, spread its foul miasma though the air.

There were footsteps. Sakura's eyes twitched to the entrance way to see the featureless masked man confidently striding down the corridor... and that was her mistake.

The moment her attention was focused elsewhere the snake masked man pulled a kunai from a fold in his robe and lunged forward. She saw him move and started to twist away. It was just enough to save her life. The knife point which had been centered on her chest, luckily grated along a rib.

Pain slowed Sakura and the man ducked her counterpunch. Her assailant was an experienced knife fighter however, and when he felt the kunai hit bone, he added an upward thrust to the stab, hoping to slide the blade in between her ribs.

She struck at him again quickly, but he blocked it with his left hand. Sakura gasped in pain as the knife tip came loose from the rib and slid a few centimeters inside of her. Thankfully she managed to catch it with her free hand.

They struggled, the occasional grunt echoing in the cell. Sakura could tell from the slow steady flow of blood, leaking down through her shirt and making her skirt wet and heavy, that the kunai had probably cut a vein. The ice cold sensation of the blade stuck inside of her torso was disturbing her concentration, making it harder for her to use her enhanced strength. The robed man continued to dig with his kunai and attempt to land other blows on her as well. It was all Sakura could do to focus on the knife, and she was running out of time. The smooth masked man was nearly at the second gate.

"Sai! You lazy ass! Help me!" As soon as those words left the snake masked man's mouth, Sakura knew she had to act or die.

Charka crackled down her legs and she launched herself forward, shoulder blocking her opponent into the wall of the cell. His scream as six of his ribs snapped harmonized with her own as his kunai slid a few more dangerous centimeters deeper into her chest.

Sakura inhaled sharply, and while he was still stunned, stuck the fingers of her free hand through the eyeholes of the snake mask. She charged her arm with chakra and slammed his head against the wall.

There was the crackle of an extremely large egg breaking and her hand was buried in a spongy, warm wetness. She let go of the body, and what was left of the Snake masked man slid to the floor, legs twitching uncontrollably.

Sakura pressed her hand up against her wound and started pumping chakra into it. She found the transected vein and began to knit it closed. All the while she watched the smooth masked man.

He calmly raised his hand and slowly pushed open the gate, as if seeing a skull smashed open in front of him was the most mundane of experiences. Once he had cleared the passage though, he just stopped and stared. The mask bobbing every so slowly with his every breath. Sakura got the feeling that he was hypnotized by the sight of watching her bleed.

She fixed the major damage and did a quick job of closing herself up. Sakura knew that she would probably have to go back and fix things later, but right now she needed to conserve her chakra.

Sakura rested one hand against the wall of the cell and, never once taking her eyes of the masked man, began to rotate her torso, trying to stretch out the tautness of her newest scar. The eyeless mask tilted ever so slightly as he watched her bend and twist. The attention he was paying to her was beyond what one would show to an adversary. In fact it was beginning to make her feel slightly queasy.

Even so, she gave him her best cold stare. "You're not taking Sasuke," she said with more bravado than she felt. "I won't let you take even a single step closer."

The mask nodded once and the robed figure took a single step. Then just to make sure she understood the challenge, he took another.


	94. Chapter 30: Sakura's Tale part 4

**Authors' Note:**

Hello Reader! I'm so happy to see that you have stuck with my story thus far. Really... your loyalty warms my heart. At least I hope you're reading this out of loyalty. If you're reading this to win some sort of bet, don't say anything... just leave alone with my delusions of grandeur.

So... you know how in the description for Konoha Children's Crusade I mention that "This story might be rated 'T' but it's a hard 'T'? Well this chapter contains one of those moments that push it into hard 'T' territory... Hard enough that I'm going to get out my metaphorical megaphone and shout 'Trigger warning!' to y'all before you continue.

Yeah... something happens and it isn't very nice... Now... it's not graphic and I don't think it's too disturbing or out of line... but at the same time, I wouldn't want any small children to read this part unsupervised, or for anyone who is sensitive to such matters to be caught completely unawares. So you've been warned.

At the same time, I hope I haven't frightened you all away with the warnings, there is some pretty important stuff that happens as well.

-Cas

* * *

Sakura slammed her palm into the cell wall, shattering the mortar and shifting the cinderblocks. With one quick move she hooked her fingers into this new fissure and tore out a brick with each hand. With a windmilling throw, she hurled both at the smooth, featureless mask.

He sidestepped them both with an easy grace, so both blocks exploded against the wall behind him. Sakura tore into the wall, pulling loose anything she could use as a missile. She even stopped throwing them directly at the robed man, she started smashing them into the walls, into the ceiling in the hopes that the bursting showers of fragments might have a better chance of injuring her assailant.

He calmly shifted out of the way of each one. After throwing about fifteen blocks with no effect, Sakura paused, panting, with a snarl on her face. Behind her she heard Sai whimper.

The smooth masked man straightened, brushed a smattering of concrete dust from the shoulders of his cloak and nodded at her once again. One second he was halfway down the hallway, about five meters back, the next his fist was crashing firmly into her stomach.

It was a good solid strike, but Sakura had had worse. Besides if he wanted to go toe to toe with her, trading blows, there was no way she would lose. No matter how fast he was, no matter how many times he hit her, all she needed to do to win was hit him with a single punch.

Except, she couldn't. No matter how many times she tried, Sakura just couldn't seem to land that one blow. He saw through everything she launched at him. Punches, kicks, elbows... Everything just seemed to breeze on by him as he made the most subtle of movements to dodge her attacks contemptuously. She felt her fear and desperation beginning to build... and that was when he struck.

The masked man started slowly at first, landing a slap across her face. Next came heavy punches to her body, hard enough to raise huge stinging welts, and bruise muscle tissue, but not strong enough to break bone. Sakura realized that she was being insulted and toyed with, so she pulled in her arms to guard her torso. She could feel the bruises growing under her skin as he leaned in for a second blow.

She took the punch on her left shoulder and in turn lashed out with a kick that should have crushed his trachea. Somehow she missed. Even worse he caught it.

The masked man put sideways pressure on her kicking leg and swept her other leg out from underneath her. As she was falling, he pulled on her elbow and shoulder and slammed her head into the wall.

Sakura saw stars. Everything in her body felt rubbery and disconnected. There were footsteps approaching her but they sounded echo-y and strange. The phrase 'probable concussion' drifted through her addled mind.

Someone crouched down next to her. A hand reached out and brushed the hair carefully away from her face. It ran slowly down one cheek. For some reason she thought "Sasuke..."

Then the same hand clamped cruelly on the chin and hauled her up to a sitting position. A gleaming, white, featureless mask hovered in front of her face. As Sakura flinched away, some analytical part of her mind swore that it could sense a smile behind the bone white lacquer.

She panicked and began to struggle as his hand ran down the front of her tunic. He dodged her awkward attempt to kick and backhanded her across the face, once again ringing her head like a bell.

Sakura found herself staring blearily at the cracks in the floor as she was flipped over roughly. There was a low ripping sound as the heavy cloth of her skirt was torn away leaving her in her spandex shorts. Moments later his fingers were clawing at those too. She let out a weak yell and struck behind her with an elbow, but the masked man just pressed himself down on her harder, breathing heavily in her ear. She fought and squirmed, and tried to do her best to throw him off, but that only seemed to excite him more.

"Tamago-sama! Stop!" cried Sai's voice. The weight rose from her back and there was a guttural grunt. She hear Sai start to choke and cough. "No... Time..." he gasped as if he were fighting for air. "Important... Check pouch!" She heard Sai collapse and start to kick his legs in a fit for air.

There was a long pause. Someone fumbled with her equipment pouch and tugged it open. Grateful that she was no longer the object of the robed man's attention, she just lay there... until she heard the rustle of paper. "No!" she cried out as she realized that Mikoto Uchiha's letters were being taken away. The only response she got was another cuff to the back of the head.

She could hear the flipping of pages as the world swam around her. After a short pause there was the sound of Sai sucking in a huge lungful of air. "Thank you Tamago-sama! Thank you!" he said through a coughing fit. "You are... most kind. Please... you must leave now with the Uchiha if you are not to be discovered."

Sakura's thoughts were very hazy by this point, the head trauma combined with the emotional panic she was having from this robed man trying to force himself on her, left her a shaking mess. She lay there, twitching like a mouse, praying that the masked man wouldn't look at her again. She heard the footsteps enter the cell and thought she heard Sasuke grunt. There was a brief bright flare of blue light as if several flickering campfires were lit... and then there was the sound of receding footsteps. The foul chakra corrupting the air faded as well.

Sakura lay there with her cheek pressed against the cold floor and took a long slow breath. She jumped and cried out when someone touched her.

"It's okay Sakura... It's me," Sai said in a half whisper, half whimper. "He's gone now. You're safe... He's gone..." Sai rolled her over and helped her up to a sitting position. He pressed a canteen up to her lips. "There was nothing you could do," he murmured as the water flowed into her mouth. "There was no way you could have beaten him."

Sakura spat the mouthful of water back into his face, and followed it with a vicious short jab. Sai flew back and landed against the far wall. "Don't touch me!" she shrieked. She was awash in feelings of anger, hurt, fear and shame. Her head was throbbing drunkenly with pain and rage so hard that she felt the udon noodles she had eaten for lunch rise in the back of her throat. She swallowed them back down and glared at Sai. "Don't you dare touch me! Don't talk to me ever again!" Her voice was high pitched and unsteady. She staggered up unsteadily to her feet. "I can't believe I ever thought that you were my friend." Leaving him cowering there, she turned and started limping away from him; she had no direction in mind and it took her far too long to realize that she was heading into the cell.

Sasuke was gone. The masked ANBU, Tamago, must have taken him. She was sinking into a quagmire of pain and panic. Sakura found her mind unable to focus on any one thing. Her hands were shaking, and the her legs, when they weren't aching from the contusions she suffered, felt weak and rubbery. She tried to tell herself that it was just the symptoms of emotional trauma setting in, but knowing something and having it happen to you are two entirely different things.

She pushed back a shudder as the memory of his hands on her crawled back up into her psyche. She had to get Sasuke back. She didn't want to have to fight Tamago again... She didn't want to be near him. She wanted nothing more than to let herself collapse in the corner… no one would blame her. She had done her best.

_Your best sucks! _snapped a voice inside her head. _What the hell have you been fighting for all this time if you're just going to break down and cry like a little girl again?_ Her inner self was vibrating with rage. _Do you think Naruto would respect someone who gives up like this? Do you think Sasuke would respect someone who gives up like this?_

"I'm not crying!" Sakura insisted to herself. "I'm not giving up… this is just... impossible!" Another wave of fear and revulsion threatened to crash over her.

_It's not impossible! You're just scared!_ insisted her inner self.

"And with good reason!" Sakura argued back. "He is way out of my league!"

_Then cut the fear away!_ her inner self said coldly. Sakura had the sudden flash of being held captive by that Hidden Sound Kunoichi during her first chunin exams. At the time she was so proud of her hair and her primped looks, hoping , praying that Sasuke would notice her. She escaped by hacking off her locks with a kunai. _You've done it before!_ her inner voice whispered, calling out to her, tempting her. _Cut it away and do what you have to to win!_

One of the first things you learn as a member of the Medical corps is how to shelve your emotions. When you are up to your elbows in your fellow shinobi's innards in the middle of a battlefield and your patient is screaming in pain and crying for his mother, the last thing you can allow yourself to do is view the situation like a normal human being... No one who is 'normal' can function in a situation like that. So you have to become abnormal.

Like flicking a switch, all your feelings have to shut off, and the only thing that you can allow yourself to focus on is the task at hand. You can't afford to think about the fighting around you, you can't afford to hear the screams of the wounded, you can't even allow yourself to think of the patient you are operating on as a real person. It has to be all automatic, cool, professional... It saves lives... and damages your own in the process.

Sakura took a single deep breath and felt her analytical side come to the forefront of her mind. The panic, the cold sweats from her assault, the anger at Sai's betrayal were locked away... to resurface in her nightmares and other inopportune moments no doubt. A few more breaths and she felt herself slip back into her cold, calculating medical-nin persona.

Even with her relaxation exercises completed, there was one thing her mind kept coming back to... that there had to be some way of getting Sasuke back. There had to be some way to rescue him. There had to be some way to beat a man who could dodge everything she could throw at him.

_Well... you know __one__ of his weaknesses,_ her inner voice muttered disgustedly. _How can you turn that against this asshole?_

Her eye came to rest on the bright yellow med kit.

She stumbled over and searched the pouches. Sure enough all the ingredients were there.

When the preparations were finally complete, she held the auto injecting syringe over her neck and hesitated. This was going to be dangerous... was she sure she wanted to do this? She glanced down the corridor where Tamago had taken Sasuke, took a deep breath and plunged the needle in. She was going to have to act fast. The antidote was going to be almost as bad as the poison itself.

* * *

She caught up to him in the lobby. Somehow she managed to make her way down the stairs without tripping and killing herself. The lights were too bright and her heart was beating like a fast snare drum in her chest. Sweat felt like it was cascading down her body in a waterfall. She didn't think she miscalculated the dosages, but even so it was clear that she was going to have to finish this fast. "Hey!" Sakura yelled, her voice coming out in a high pitched warble. "Hey! Tomogo, or whatever your stupid name is! I thought I told you I wouldn't let you take Sasuke!" The masked man didn't stop walking in his slow deliberate pace. She took a few stumbling steps after him. "Hey! We've got unfinished business you and I!"

There was just the slightest hesitation in Tamago's next step. Sakura squinted out through the glass doors on the interrogation center. There was a gaping hole with an obvious set of stone steps leading down a few meters in front of the building. If he managed to climb down in there, there was little chance Sakura would be able to stop him. He was an earth style user. Once underground there would be little that he couldn't do.

"Hey!" Sakura yelled again. "Why are you running away? I didn't know Root shinobi were such cowards!" she spat. Again, there was that hesitation, longer this time. "What's the matter?" she asked, forcing her voice into an amused, conversational tone. "You're not man enough to take on a little medical nin?"

There was a loud thump as Sasuke was dumped from the shinobi's shoulders. One moment the robed shinobi was standing stock still in front of her, the next he was a blur of motion. He was on her, battering her. Sakura fought back, swinging as wildly and as hard as she could. Sakura thought she might have made contact a few times, but it was nothing compared to the beating she was taking from his fists and knees. Besides, her own blows weren't going to be enough... and her plan didn't depend on them.

Sakura turned a low kick into the first position for a basic hip toss, but the masked shinobi seized her about the waist and bore her to the floor. She fought back the revulsion as he pinned her underneath him again and began pulling roughly at her blouse. The thick fabric pulled and tore, spattering viscous oily drops of liquid. He squeezed the shirt in his hands once, and watched the fluid flow before disgustedly tossing it away.

It was all Sakura could do to keep from smiling. Now all she had to do was wait... well, wait and fend him off. She took two heavy punches to the face before she got her arms up. The pounding made her briefly worry that the potency of the neostigmine had been reduced somehow. But after ten seconds his blows were noticeably weakening. Twenty seconds and he was struggling and shaking just to pull back his arms. Thirty seconds after the smooth masked Root ANBU had torn the blouse from her back, the only way you could tell he was still alive was by the very, very slow rise and fall of his chest.

Sakura shoved him off of her and let him roll, unceremoniously, to the wall. He lay there face up, arms clenched in a crab like position. Theoretically there should be no way for him to move. The neostigmine should have paralyzed every major muscle group, but why take chances? Sakura raised one boot and brought it down sharply on his hip. There was a crunch as his pelvis shattered... Purely to ensure he couldn't escape, of course.

She took a deep breath to try to calm her pounding heart and clear the headache building behind her eyes. She turned her head back and forth between Sasuke and Tamago, the woolly question of what to do now tumbling around inside her addled head.

Sasuke groaned and shifted slightly. That sign of life was enough to convince her that he was okay, and that maybe she should go check on her prisoner.

Heh, prisoner... she would be lying if she said she didn't feel the slightest bit proud about that. She crawled over and gingerly reached out for the plain white mask. Sakura hooked her fingers under the smooth shell and with one quick tug, popped it off.

He had the face of an older man, in his forties maybe. His features were almost wholly unremarkable from what you would see walking around the village or what you could find working behind the counter of a shop anywhere in Konoha.

Except for one thing. His eyes were staring, paralyzed and unmoving, at the ceiling. They gleamed a bright glowing red in the reflection of the ceiling lights marred only by the black flecks of spinning tomoe.

The masked man had a pair of sharingan.

Sakura staggered back, making sure she stayed out of his line of sight.. Another Uchiha? Who was he? Shizune's words from earlier floated to the surface of her head, _Is it true that Danzo Shimura had Shisui-kun's eye?_ The next thought that pierced the fog in her mind was a cold spear of drug induced paranoia for Sasuke... Sasuke and his eyes.

Sakura scrambled over to Sasuke as fast as she could. She called out his name, her voice jittery with side effects, shock and fear. "Sasuke!" she hissed again.

His head stiffly rolled on his neck, a new, rougher seal bound tightly around his eyes. "Mmpf," he grunted. His tongue flicked out and licked his lips. "Who?" he mumbled.

Moving as quickly as she could, Sakura reached into her shorts and took out the latex exam gloves she had stashed there. She pulled them on with a snap. "It's me," she called softly. "I'm here." Careful only to touch him with the gloves, she began tugging at the wraps over his eyes. The inscription on them was much sloppier this time around. It took her much less time to remove it than the first one. There was a complete lack of blood or any other sign of trauma on his face. Even so, it was still a relief to find both of his eyes still there.

He blinked and stared questioningly up at her sigh. "What?" he mumbled.

In spite of the aching in her jaw, Sakura found herself smiling at him. "I'm just glad that you're okay."

Sasuke tilted his head, looking her up and down, and kept right on staring. "What happened to you?" He swallowed. "You look... um..."

A high pitched, nervous laugh borne of adrenaline and the conflicting drugs coursing through her system escaped her lips. "I do look like a mess, don't I? But I guess none of that matters... I won!"

"You... won?" asked Sasuke slowly.

Sakura collapsed down into a seated position as an enormous shiver wracked her body. "Yeah," she said with another laugh. "I won. I killed the five men who tried to take you earlier, and then I had to fight that guy over there... twice." She shook her head sending drops of sweat spraying to the floor. "He was using me like a punching bag... Tough little bastard."

"Actually... I was... um... more wondering... what… uh... happened to your clothes?"

Sakura looked down. Black sports bra, black spandex shorts and knee high boots. The only other thing covering her was blood and bruises. She couldn't help it, the absurdity of the whole situation got to her and she started to half laugh-half gibber. "Oh Gods!" she exclaimed in a borderline hysterical voice. "I look like an S and M fetishist's dream come to life!" She held out her arm and dazedly started to inventory her injuries.

"Hey," said Sasuke soothingly. "You need to just relax. You've had a..." There was a jingle of his chakra restrainers as he reached out for her.

"Don't touch me!" Sakura snapped in a panic. Sasuke jumped back. "Sorry," she said with another extended high pitched giggle. "I don't mean 'don't touch me' I just mean... Don't touch me. I made a contact poison and basically just drenched myself with it." Another shiver wracked her body, but she kept right on babbling. "It's based on a mixture of neostigmine, which normally we use to remove the effects of muscle relaxants during surgery, but in a high enough dose it can act like a neurotoxin." She looked up at his confused expression. "Normally you inject it, but I suspended it in some DMSO which can act as a carrier for other drugs to penetrate the skin." She giggled again. "I just mixed it all up and took a bath!"

"Okay... I... think I understand," said Sasuke, a little timidly. "Is there some sort of... antidote? You don't seem to be doing so well."

Sakura's laugh grew louder and more manic. "I already took the antidote," she chortled, sweat running down her nose. "Most of this is from the antidote. Atropine is nasty stuff." She giggled again and tilted her head back to look at him. "This time I rescued you Sasuke," she said a little teasingly as another shudder ran through her. "I f-finally managed to p-pay you back for all the times you rescued me when we were genin."

Sasuke gave her a long slow look. "You did at that," he said in an oddly wistful way. "Thank you Sakura."

Sakura had a sudden wave of self consciousness wash over her as she and Sasuke's eyes met. Without thinking, she tucked her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "W-what?" she asked quietly, still shivering.

Sasuke blinked and the spell was broken. "So... how long is he going to stay paralyzed like that ?"

Sakura wiped her face in the crook of her elbow. "Good question... I've never done anything like this before. I should probably get some of the chakra restrainers on him before he wakes up, but I have no idea where they keep them."

There was a slight jangle as Sasuke shook his wrists. "I've got a pair you could borrow right here," he said with a half smile. That quickly faded under Sakura's astonished stare. "Okay... I guess not," he said, attempting to be casual. After a brief pause he changed the subject. "So... you poisoned yourself to ensure that you'd poison him too huh?" He jerked his thumb at the body of the lying down man. "I'm surprised an old guy like this gave you such a hard time that you had to resort to something like that."

Sakura snorted and tried to sound brave, "Well it wasn't just him you know... There were five others." Her teeth chattered as she frowned. "And Sai... that rotten little bastard. I'd already been stabbed by the time that that freak over there showed up," she said, another shiver running through body. Sasuke slowly reached out to her again, and she quickly slid away. "No touching! P-poison... r-remember?" Sakura stammered.

"Sorry," muttered Sasuke, leaning away with a grimace.

Sakura leaned back against the lobby wall. The stone felt blissfully cool against her skin. "He shouldn't have ever gotten that chance. I should be stronger than this... I am stronger than this! He wouldn't have ever gotten that chance if this was anything close to being fair. The only reason he was able to best me at all was because he could dodge every single last thing I could throw at him... and no wonder, he's got a freaking sharingan!"

The temperature in the lobby felt like it dropped so suddenly Sakura expected to see her breath crystallize in the air. Only it wasn't the actual temperature... it was Sasuke's chakra suddenly building. "He has... a what?" Sasuke said in a slow deliberate growl.

The change in him was so fast it was almost supernatural. One second he was calm... almost caring, and now his face was locked in a grotesque snarl. He slowly, deliberately pushed himself up to his feet and plodded heavily over to the fallen man. "Sasuke... W-wait," Sakura called after him.

He ignored her. "Why so he does..." Sasuke hissed in a venomous tone. "And he's certainly no relative of mine... No... He most definitely is not."

"S-Sasuke... He's my prisoner," Sakura clumsily crawled up to one knee, fighting the tremors in the leg every inch of the way. "Believe me... I'm not... happy about it but..."

"Not happy?" Sasuke whispered. "Not happy?" He let out a most evil sounding chuckle. "NOT HAPPY?!" he roared. "Do you know what those assholes did to my people? To my family? Do you know how many Uchiha were living in that village? Do you know how many men, women and children died that day? Do you know how many ghosts follow my every step?"

There was a sharp click as the main door of the interrogation center was pulled halfway open. A porcelain masked face stopped in shock at the scene before him and then dove back outside.

Sasuke didn't even pause or look up from his rant. The only thing holding his attention was the man lying on the floor. "I see them every time I close my eyes. I can still hear them crying out for vengeance every time I try to sleep!" He giggled, a mad twisting cackle. "And whose pretty eyes do I see before me now? An aunt? An uncle? Some young cousin perhaps who screamed and cried and begged for mercy as the knives came flashing down?"

The chakra restrainers on his wrists and ankles and neck were crackling with loud snaps of a bright purple energy. "Sasuke... you need to stop! You can't build or mold chakra with the restrainers on! You're just going to hurt yourself! Calm down!" Sakura staggered over to his side and caught profile glimpse of him glaring down at Tamago. Sasuke's eyes were burning red and bright, like coals in a dying fire.

He took another unsteady but purposeful step towards Tamago. Sakura put both of her gloved hands on his chest and pushed him back."Stop it Sasuke!" she yelped. "Let it go! He's my prisoner! We need him!" She looked up at him, and for a second there was the flicker of uncertainty in his gaze. "We need him… alive." Sasuke stopped resisting her and stumbled back a step. "Good," she breathed out. "That's good… just... relax." Her gloved hands were warm on his chest.

The uncertainty in his eyes faded into something else, again that emotion emerged that she hadn't ever seen grace his features before. Another shiver wracked her body. Sasuke's fingers came up and brushed hers.

She flinched away. "No touching," she barked.

It was like a mask fell across his face. One moment he looked almost human, the next he was carved from cold ice. "I wasn't.. I was just... trying to steady you a little," he said in a controlled voice. "After all... the gloves aren't poisoned… are they?" He blinked once, red eyes boring into her face. "Or is it that you just don't want the Uchiha touching you?"

Sakura let her hands fall and hugged herself. "It isn't like that… I just... he did more than just attack me, this piece of garbage tried to..." Sakura shuddered and her mouth stopped working for a second. One of Sasuke's eyebrows rose in shock. "Let's just say... it's taking a real effort on my part to leave him b-breathing," she finished, hoarsely.

"He tried to... do... what?" There was a hard edge creeping back into Sasuke's voice.

Sakura inhaled. "He tried to… force himself on me, okay?" She tried to make herself sound strong and sure, as if the whole incident didn't really matter, but instead a scared little whimper was creeping into her voice. Sasuke stood there, perfectly still, not a single muscle twitching. That was more than she could say for herself. "You don't think that I go around dressed like this on purpose, do you? How do you think I delivered the poison?"

Sasuke didn't say a word. The pattern marking his sharingan spun and changed. Sakura and the rest of the world held its breath for a second.

Suddenly there was the sensation of something flying past her, a ripple of furious power tearing through the air. The chakra restrainers squealed in metal bending agony. There was the hot rush of displaced air and the sharp pop of burning meat. Tamago was a blaze of flickering black flames.

"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed in frustration and fear. She was reaching out to grab him, stop him, push him away, when the outside wall of the ANBU interrogation and holding center exploded in a shower of concrete masonry and choking dust.

The shock wave knocked both Sakura and Sasuke off their feet. Tamago's pyre just kept burning merrily away despite the piles of debris and grit. Kunai soared in through the now open wall, trailing flash-bang tags. A double handful of smoke bombs followed them. Through the deafening noise, clouds of smoke, and the heat came a hoarse shout of, "Secure them!"

Sasuke loomed above her coated with a fine layer of grey dust. He let loose a bloodcurdling scream. "You fucking bastards!" More black fires sprang up in a tight semi circle turning the open side of the building into a hellish inferno.

The situation got worse. Someone used a jutsu to send a wave of water into the opening to try to extinguish the amaterasu's fire, but all that did was spread it around more. Now there were a hundred tiny black flickering flames licking up the walls of the lobby. "Can you fight?" Sasuke called out. Sakura just looked up at him in a daze. "Can you fight Sakura? We'll need to get out of here."

A high pitched keening filled the air and vibrated the teeth in Sakura's jaw. The chakra restrainers were only barely able to keep up with the enormous amount of energy Sasuke was assaulting them with. The deep basso voice of Ibiki Morino could be heard bellowing through the chaos. "Take him alive if you can! But I don't want anybody to be a hero! Understand?"

"Sasuke! Wait!" That was all Sakura managed to get out of her mouth before she dissolved in a fit of coughing. She had to convince him to stop, to tell him that these weren't part of the Root ANBU but just the regular ANBU. He scooped up a pair of kunai that had come through the hole earlier. A shadow darted across the one of the few unbroken windows in the lobby and he promptly hurled one of the knives at it. There was a crash of glass and a yelp of pain. "We're going to have to make a run for it," he said smiling cruelly. "We'll head up and go out the roof. I'll burn them as we go." He reached out with one hand. "Come on Sakura… Come with me!"

Her head was swimming from the explosion and the atropine. All she could think of to do was stare. A voice from her past echoed in her head. _Please! Just take me with you!_ Shaking, she lifted up her arm.

He was reaching out for her gloved hand when there was a rumble and the floor jumped and twisted underneath them. The burning ring of fire split and sloughed off to one side as a earth style jutsu moved that section of street to one side. Rushing figures swarmed into the now clear hole, weapons and jutsu at the ready. Sakura recognized the scarred face of Captain Ibiki among those in the lead. Sasuke saw the attackers and clenched his jaw. His sharingan started to spin once more.

"Stop!" Sakura yelled. She forced chakra through her exhausted, trembling legs and did the only thing she could think of to stop the impending slaughter. She threw herself at Sasuke, aiming a hand primed with the restraining seal at his forehead.

Time seemed to slow down. Sasuke's eyes twitched in alarm as Sakura floated in front of his line of sight. She pulled back her arm and let it fly, the sealing sigil itching in her palm ready to strike him between his still spinning sharingan. As the whirling of the designs in his eyes decelerated, Sasuke's mouth dropped open, a look of raw panic crossing his face.

Just as her palm was about to land, two things happened. First, Sasuke's sharingan which seemed ready to settle in one particular shape blurred, and twisted itself into another pattern. Secondly, Sakura inadvertently met his stare.

One moment there was light and noise and his tomoe spinning liquidly into a hypnotic pattern, dancing and writhing in his furnace like gaze... The next instant she was swallowed by a complete and total absence of all sensation. It was if she had been plunged into the deepest pool of pure night. Sakura was about to scream when the tiniest little glowing spot appeared in front of her. With hands she couldn't see, she reached out for that mote, and there was suddenly the sensation of great speed as she was pulled faster and faster towards it. In the blink of an eye, this tiny sphere approached her with an unbelievable velocity and then engulfed her.

_Black clouds rode across a blood red sky on a howling eldritch wind. The baked red earth cracked and crumbled underfoot, sending small wisps of powder fine dust to join the spinning masses of grit and sand clogging the air. There was not a single tree, nor bush, nor plant nor scrap of greenery to be seen anywhere amongst the dusty red dunes and the stinging gusts._

_There were however, seven bodies lying in the dirt, most of them in impossibly broken positions. One of them, a tantalizingly familiar figure, stirred. He coughed twice and threw back the hood of his traveling cloak, revealing a head full of spiky black hair swept back from his face... Sasuke's face._

_This Sasuke creakily raised himself to his hands and knees and groggily surveyed the other fallen six. His face was streaked with dirt and blood. His eyes wandered for a moment, and then froze upon one of the fallen figures. A tortured moan escaped from his lips. "No!" he cried his voice all but obliterated by the wind. "No no no no!"_

_He half staggered half crawled to this particular twisted corpse and hugged it to his chest. "No," he pleaded one last time, his voice so clear it sounded like he was talking directly in Sakura's ear._

_Sakura was about to peer over his shoulder to get a better look at this person he was cradling when there was a deep steady hissing noise. A dark serpentine shadow topped by a huge horned head could be seen towering ten meters tall amidst the dust storm._

_There was deep throaty chuckle, like the sound of stones being ground together. "What's this Sasuke?" rumbled a vaguely familiar voice, thick with sibilants. "Crying over your broken toys? I would have never pictured you to become such the sentimentalist."_

Then, like a switch had been flipped, everything went truly black.


	95. Chapter 31: Sakura's Tale part 1

**Chapter 31 Sakura's tale: Hurt**

_Bearing the bandages, water and medicines,_

_Straight and swift to my wounded I go,_

_Where they lie on the ground after the battle brought in,_

_Where their priceless blood reddens the grass, the ground,_

_Or to the rows of the hospital tent, or under the roofed hospital,_

_To the long rows of cots up and down each side I return,_

_To each and all one after another I draw near, not one do I miss,_

_An attendant follows holding a tray, he carries a refuse pail,_

_Soon to be filled with clotted rags and blood, emptied, and filled again._

_I onward go, not daring to stop,_

_With creaking knees and unsteady hand to dress wounds,_

_I am firm with each, the pangs are sharp yet unavoidable,_

_One turns to me his appealing eyes—poor boy! I never knew you,_

_Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you._

_Night falls and my shift it ends,_

_Unlike for my wounded for they suffer on,_

_The cries and the groans once held back by brave faces escape,_

_Following me haunting me lurking in my dreams,_

_I meet her, my blonde haired Angel,_

_We fall together on my cot,_

_Too exhausted to do anything but sleep,_

_Too terrified of the ghosts that wait on the other side of the veil._

_She holds me and soothes me,_

_Kissing my fevered brow,_

_Caressing my trembling hand._

_Somehow we drift off into blissful oblivion,_

_Secure in the knowledge that if the nightmares find me,_

_My Angel will chase them away,_

_Just as I will do the same for her._

_Together in our pain, we somehow find our comfort._

_-'The Healer's Remedy' a poem by Dan Kato. Published posthumously._

* * *

Sakura took a huge gasping breath and opened her eyes. He found herself looking at the familiar sight of the drop ceiling, fluorescent lighting, and stiff clean starched sheets of Konoha hospital. She could identify it right away, even if she rarely saw it from the patient's perspective.

There was the tingling sensation of ice water coursing along the left side of her body. It made her head feel clear and her heartbeat race. She turned to find Tsunade finishing up an injection into an IV drip running to her left wrist. Her master gave her a disapproving frown and studied her with unusually hard eyes. "We... need to talk," she said bluntly. Shizune was shyly standing off to the Hokage's left.

"What..." started Sakura, but her throat was too dry. Tsunade motioned her ANBU guards out of the way and poured a glass of water. She held it to Sakura's lips while she drank. "What happened?" Sakura asked weakly.

Tsunade sat back and folded her arms. "Exactly the question I was about to ask you," she said coldly. Her flashing eyes fixed Sakura with a glare. "Start talking," she ordered. "I need to know everything."

* * *

"And then that idiot burned the body?" Tsunade grumbled, her head resting in the palm of her hand.

Sakura nodded. "Yes... I did everything I could to stop him… but look... on the bright side of things... We have verification that the Shimura clan was harvesting sharingan from the dead! And, by his own admission, Sasuke knew about it! That has got to be why he swore vengeance against Konoha!"

"Fat lot of good that does us," the Hokage muttered.

She was expecting more from the Hokage... something along the lines of a victory dance… Sakura licked her lips. Her mouth was feeling dry and sticky, probably from whatever stimulant Tsunade injected her with. "I don't understand."

Tsunade very slowly shook her head. "What you've just told me is one story that can be used to interpret this particular series of events... Unfortunately your tale is lacking proof, and there are at least two other conflicting stories floating around for the good people of Konoha to choose from."

"Huh?" asked Sakura confused.

"Well, the first tale is the report of ANBU officer Kaeru, who has already testified before the council. He's stated that despite repeated warnings, you insisted on removing the Uchiha's eye seal during your course of treatment." Tsunade shook her head. "He made sure all the council knew that while you were a fine Medical-nin and a very compassionate person... You threw the rules for handling the prisoner in his face."

"So? What was I supposed to do let a patient go untreated?" grumbled Sakura, her face growing red. "I swore an oath! Anyway, how does that affect my story? He still must have said something about the Root ANBU that came in and attacked him! I mean he saw five of them! "

Tsunade sighed. "Yes, but since Sasuke's eyes were unsealed, our dear friend Masanori Shimura was quick to point out to the whole council gathering that there was no way to confirm that Kaeru wasn't under a genjutsu the whole time."

"What?" yelped Sakura. "Sasuke could barely stand up when I entered that cell! He could barely see!"

"That was what Kaeru started to insist... until Masanori suggested that alternatively, he might have been complicit in Sasuke's escape attempt."

Sakura struggled upright in the hospital bed. "It wasn't an escape attempt! It was a kidnapping!"

"And as of right now, we'll need more than just your word to prove that," muttered Tsunade, as she looked away.

"What about the bodies? I know that Tamago, or whatever he called himself, used the Body Elimination technique on them... But we should be able to recover something from the soot spots, some DNA or blood or something... anything that will prove that there were some other people in the cell," said Sakura forcefully

Tsunade leaned forward. "Sakura, once the black flames of the Amaterasu start burning something, the only way for them to be extinguished is for their target to be completely consumed." Tsunade gave her a sour look. "The whole ABNU Holding and Interrogation center is now nothing but a smoldering pile of very fine ash." The Hokage laughed darkly. "You can guess how that's going over with an already panicked populace."

Sakura rubbed her forehead. The injection which had woken her up and made her thinking so clear at the beginning was starting to give her a headache. "Wait a minute, you said that there were two competing stories floating around... What is the second one?"

Tsunade's face went very still. "The second story... well, after Kaeru testified, Sai got up and told his version of events."

"Oh," said Sakura angrily.

Tsunade nodded "'Oh' is right. It looks like your teammate has gone back to being a full member of Root.

"I don't want to talk about it," mumbled Sakura.

"Apparently this was all some sort of elaborate plot hatched between you and Sasuke," said Tsunade rubbing at her nose. "Smitten by his charms, he convinced you to facilitate his escape and then apparently, the pair of you would destroy Konoha together."

There was an audible grinding noise as Sakura clenched her jaw. "They... tried... to kidnap Sasuke... They... were going to... kill me and Kaeru... Sai tied me up with one of his stupid ink jutsu snakes... I had to kill five men, cover myself in poison, and let some sadistic asshole batter the hell out of me in order to stay alive and keep Sasuke out of their hands! And they are saying this is some plot of mine?!" During her retelling to Tsunade, Sakura had left out the part where Tamago tried to... violate her… Inside of her she could feel those memories and emotions pacing back and forth… like a hungry tiger in a too small cage. She wasn't sure she... was ready to talk about that right now... She wasn't sure she could even bear to think about that right now. "I don't believe this!"

Tsunade sat back, and eyed her student carefully. "Well, believe it or not, we're going to have to deal with it." The Hokage paused thinking over her words. "I might as well tell you now, there is definitely going to be a pretrial hearing," she said, pinching her lips as if the words tasted foul in her mouth. "Without a doubt you are going to be pulled up in front of the council to answer a lot of questions... The only thing that remains to be seen is whether you are called as a witness, or whether you will stand next to Sasuke as one of the accused." Tsunade made a vague gesture to the door of the Hospital room. With a sudden cold realization in her stomach, Sakura found herself wondering if the ANBU guards were there for the Hokage's protection, or to ensure that she herself didn't leave.

"But... But Hokage-sama..." Sakura stammered. "Surely you believe everything I've told you? I swear I haven't..."

"Sakura," Tsunade interrupted firmly. "I believe you. I believe that you would never... actively make a decision to harm Konoha. Unfortunately, It's taking most of the political capital I can call in right now just to keep you in the hospital under guard 'for your own protection.' The council has been screaming me as loud as they could for the last three days, hoping to force me to transfer you to the maximum security facility."

Sakura swallowed. "I've been out for three days?"

"You've been out for six days," Tsunade corrected, "and you would hardly believe the changes your village has gone through. Your little battle in the Interrogation and Holding center stunned the Shimura clan for a day. To be perfectly honest... that's the only reason I'm still here as Hokage… it was a godsend for me, it gave me half a chance to build up some political support." Tsunade finally smiled. "I'd never seen the Shimura clan flinch like that. I was wondering what had happened... now I know, and I need to take full advantage of it. They must have gone into a purely defensive mode waiting to see what my next move would be. Right now, Eri is trying to launch a counter attack by destroying your credibility. That's what this trial business is really all about. She's just trying take away your usefulness to me as a witness."

"So can't you... do something?" Sakura said quietly. Her fears were starting to boil around in her head. There was going to be a trial. Oh God... she was going to be accused of being a traitor. Oh God… the news of Tamago's attack on her might get out… Sakura knew she was not ready to deal with the painful social connotations that would come with a stigma like that… Everyone would look at her differently, everyone would treat her differently, there would be whispering about how she brought shame upon the Haruno clan… and then on top of that if there was a trial… and if she was actually convicted... Oh Gods… and then there was her mother's reaction to think about... She took a breath and held it until she regained control.

Tsunade's smile faded away to sternness. "I already did something! I got the Shimura clan to show their hand! We don't have concrete proof, but we have the first pieces of evidence… not as much as I would like, but it should count for something." The Hokage sat back and looked pensive for a moment. "And you played quite a significant part in getting that, so I guess thanks are in order. Now we'll just need you to have a mind scan and have the psychic testify at the hearing," Tsunade continued, more to herself than anyone else.

"W-wait," stammered Sakura, "a mind scan?" A mind scan… Having someone else in your head... going through every memory, every feeling you ever had. This was not something that Sakura wanted to think about right now. The last thing she needed to do was to relive those past moments in the interrogation center.

Tsunade shot her a look. "Of course, how else are we supposed to make this story of yours believable to everyone in Konoha? I mean, no offense... I, of course believe you, but do you think people are going to accept that the monster of Konoha burned down the ANBU Holding Interrogation center out of anything but sheer menace?" She turned to Shizune. "What is Inoichi doing at the moment?" Shizume opened her ever present binder with a snap and started leafing through.

"Um… Hokage-sama?" Sakura started. This was moving fast… too fast. She just needed some time to think.

"He's just been dispatched for a joint mission with Kirigakure," said Shizune. "He's not due back for three days."

Tsunade shook her head. "Not soon enough. Recall him. I want to get her scanned as quickly as possible. We need that story of her's corroborated and out amongst the public yesterday."

Shizune frowned. "The Mizukage will not be happy about that."

"Excuse me," said Sakura again.

"I'll apologize to Mei Terumi later… I need this as a top priority!" Tsunade stood and started excitedly pacing around the room. "It was long odds that dangling those Mikoto Uchiha letters in front of Eri would produce a pay off, but somehow it did! We've got to move if we want to capitalize on this story of Sakura's!"

And right then, Sakura felt the bottom drop out of her universe.

Shizune nodded. "I'll get a message to the rookery right away. If he turns back quickly enough Inoichi might be able to be back by tomorrow." She left the room at a run.

Tsunade turned smiling. "Well, things are looking up for a change."

"What did you just say?" Sakura asked in a hoarse whisper.

"I said things were looking up…"

"No!" roared Sakura, so loud that the ANBU guards took a step forward. "What did you say? Something about 'betting that dangling Mikoto's letters in front of Eri would pay off?' What are you talking about?"

Tsunade's face went blank. "Leave us for a moment," she commanded to her guards. They saluted and left the room quietly shutting the door behind them. "Sakura, I can understand that you'd be a little upset, but in all honesty, that enemy action was no different from what you could expect on a mission."

"A little upset?" Sakura asked, her voice breaking with emotion. "Eri Shimura herself tracked me down. She threatened me and my parents… She turned one of my own trusted teammates against me… And now I find out that you goaded her into sending those men to take Sasuke, take the letters, and kill me." She stared at her teacher with such intensity that Tsunade turned away. "Those men that attacked me were part of Root! The Shimura's planned this! There's no need for a mind scan! You know it, I know it, everyone on the council probably knows it… for all I know everybody in Konoha knows it!"

"They also know that it can't be definitively proven," the Hokage pointed out calmly. "And that is why they will do nothing... at least until we can show them some more concrete evidence… Get someone else to testify on your behalf! To verify what happened to you was real!" Tsunade looked down at her hands. "I must admit I'm a bit... surprised… I was hoping you of all people would be more rational than this."

Sakura took a deep breath. The rage filled her to overflowing, and as it consumed her, in one instant her previous reservations went out the window. She felt the cage restraining everything slip open. "You expect me to deal with this rationally? Eri Shimura hinted that I would suffer a fate worse than death. One of the Root ANBU said an order had been given to punish me… And all that," she continued in a quiet growl, "was right before Tamago... you remember Tamago? The one with the mask with no eyeholes so no one could see his sharingan? The one I had to poison? He tried to rape me!"

"I know," said Tsunade softly. There was a long silence.

"You… knew?" Sakura was stunned. She was expecting something else from her mentor… righteous ire, or a tirade, or a gasp of horror, or shock, or something… anything other than this quiet acceptance.

Tsunade turned and slowly stepped back to her bedside. "The pattern of bruises, The scratches, scrapes… Enough to piece together a pretty good guess of what had happened when I gave you your preliminary exam." The Hokage sighed deeply. "There is no gentle way to say this, but unfortunately... it is one of the... hazards... of being a kunoichi in this shinobi world… Try to accept it and soldier on."

Sakura felt her eyes begin to burn. She had to clear her throat several times in order to speak through the crushing weight of Tsunade's apathy that was pressing down on top of her. "Accept it? How… how can you say that?"

Tsunade sat down on the corner of her hospital bed. Sakura shied away from her contact. "While... whatever happened to you seems bad now... there are others who have had worse... much worse… Trust me Sakura, I served through the Third Ninja war. Back then, many kunoichi considered it common practice to secrete explosive tags in their underclothes before heading out on a mission." Tsunade exhaled sharply. "It was considered preferable to... being dishonored."

Sakura turned her head away. She couldn't bear to look at her teacher right now. "I'm sorry that this happened to you Sakura… But you did well… very well... all things considered."

Sakura dug her nails into her palms. I helped her return to some semblance of calm. Once again she felt cold steel gates slam down over her emotions. "How could... why did you... do this?" she asked stiffly

Tsunade sighed. "It was a hard decision… but I knew you could handle it. Sometimes these moves pan out better than this, but the important thing is that, with the information you gleaned, I now have a better shot at holding on to the Hokage seat… the village will be a better place." Sakura looked up at her teacher. The Hokage had a habit of using her chakra to maintain a youthful, regal, appearance. This close Sakura could see the dark rings and worry lines coming through the jutsu. "We all have to make sacrifices for the good of Konoha… do you understand?" Tsunade asked quietly.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and said nothing in reply. She did understand. There was an acidic burn in the back of Sakura's throat as her mind called up the comment Eri Shimura had made to her: _Untrustworthy?" The Shimura councilor had said with a laugh. "My dear, she has already abandoned you to the wolves! This farce of an 'open mandate'. Sending you forth to do her dirty work… to take the danger and the pressure of the times off of her... And to take the blame when you fail. She is a politician through and through._

She understood all too well. She was nothing more that a piece in some giant game of shogi. Only when shogi pieces get sacrificed, they get taken off the board… They don't have to wander around Konoha for the rest of their lives, pretending not to see the pointed glances, pretending that the whispers are about someone else.

Shizune came back into the hospital room. "The hawk is away," she said breathlessly.

"Good," said Tsunade heading for the door. "Sakura, I do hope you'll be ready for the mindscan by tomorrow."

Sakura felt her control quiver. Anger and betrayal built with in her. "Is that an order Hokage-sama?" she rasped.

Tsunade paused in her exit. "If it has to be," she said simply. And that was the thing wasn't it? Tsunade was the Hokage… She could, in theory, order a shinobi to take on any mission she wanted to… even undergo a mind scan.

But even though Tsunade could order it… that didn't mean Sakura would accept it.

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura called out desperately, "What if… what if there was some way to corroborate my story… what if there was another witness?"

The Hokage turned in the door and stepped back into the room. "You're referring to Sasuke Uchiha," she said bluntly. Sakura nodded. "He hasn't said one word to his interrogators since his… well I guess you could call it a re-capture. If you are looking for help from that one, I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Hokage-sama, he stopped talking to me before because… Certain actions you ordered me to take caused him to lose trust in me." Sakura stared at her teacher willing her point to get across. "As of right now… I've healed his eye, fought to protect him and went… to some pretty extraordinary lengths to keep him safe… If there is anyone in this village who has earned answers from him it's me."

Tsunade thought for a moment, staring up at the ceiling "While, that might explain some Sasuke's… more recent behavior, I can't think of anything that he could give us that would…"

"The Uchiha massacre!" Sakura interjected. "The Shimura clan wanted Mikoto's letters because of something that happened during the Uchiha massacre… Sasuke was there. He almost opened up to me about it earlier… I could ask him again and…"

"And put yourself back into the sights of the Shimura clan? A minute ago you were yelling at me for using you as bait!" exclaimed the Hokage incredulously.

"Tsunade-sama… I… I just…" stammered Sakura. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to explain it. Being attacked by Tamago was not something she could allow to get around the Hidden Leaf village… Just thinking about it right now in the privacy of her own head made her feel slimy... dirty. Just thinking about someone else seeing it, feeling it through her nerves, knowing each thought that went through her head, knowing how helpless she was...

"Tsunade-sama," she started again. "I just need to… get out and do something. I need to… I know Sasuke can help," she finished lamely.

"This is about the mind scan," Tsunade said coldly. "Isn't it? You know that there is no better way to prove your innocence."

"Hokage-sama," Shizune piped up. "I'm not surprised at her reluctance. Mind scans can be very difficult when the subject of them is... about some past trauma. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to let her try speaking to Sasuke-kun… There is time after all… Inoichi can't possibly make it back before late tonight."

Tsunade stared at her assistant for a few heartbeats, then she nodded. "Very well. I can't see any harm in letting Sakura try talking to Sasuke for a little bit more… Is that open research mandate for Sakura still active, or has it been closed?" she asked Shizune.

Shizune nodded. "It's still on the mission books. No one's taken it off yet."

Sakura gave her teacher a puzzled look. "Why would you need to ask that? The only person who can assign or remove a mission is you Hokage-sama… isn't it?"

Tsunade shook her head. "At the moment, yes... Of course there are certain people on the Konoha council who are vigorously trying to change that."

Sakura sat up with a start. "The Shimura's?" she asked.

Tsunade saw her anxiety and patted her hand. "I wouldn't worry too much. It's unlikely the Shimura clan would dare try anything that public right now. They'd risk tipping their hand... right now, they have risen so far so fast that other clans are beginning to notice and keep a watchful eye." The Hokage leaned back a little and stretched. "You should be able to have you little chat with Sasuke relatively peacefully. Although if the Uchiha does happen to mention anything that might be useful in forcing them into doing something rash… I'd appreciate it if you could inform me as quickly as possible. The best thing we could do right now is raise even more suspicion against them."

Sakura didn't want to listen to Tsunade's plotting, not when she had other, more pressing matters on her mind. She took a deep breath and changed the subject entirely. "So... Sasuke... He's..."

"Sasuke is in the Maximum security prison. Even my so called 'allies' thought that was a good idea to hold him there. Luckily Morino-san managed to make it quite clear to the council that Sasuke is a treasure trove of valuable intelligence and needs an interrogator with him at all times... One of my ANBU interrogators..." Tsunade looked pleased. "I love that man. He could intimidate an Akimichi out of his lunch." The Hokage turned back to Sakura and gave her a nod of approval. "That reminds me, Ibiki wanted to pass along that the seal you gave Sasuke is holding nicely. It's one of the more impressive pieces he's ever seen." Tsunade smiled down at her, "I didn't know that you were studying up on your sealing jutsu, top notch work... Oh and before you ask, his eye is doing better too."

Sakura felt some relief, which was… odd considering that the infection in Sasuke's eye was probably the least of their worries right now.

Her thoughts froze. "Their worries… their worries…" On top of everything, she just referred to Sasuke and herself as a 'they.' Oh dear.

Tsunade was still talking. Sakura pushed this new flavor of mounting panic aside and forced herself to start listening again. "... and somehow he waited a full four days before trying to barge in there, which you have to agree is almost uncharacteristic restraint on his part." Tsunade gave a small smirk. "Which I guess goes to show you that he isn't entirely incapable of being taught some patience." Tsunade leaned back a sculpted eyebrow raised. "So, barring any objections, I guess it would be okay for me to send him right in?" She studied Sakura for a moment and quietly added, "Unless... of, course there is anything else that you want to talk about in private?"

_Huh? Who's coming in?_ thought Sakura. Her thoughts were still reeling. She was partly tempted to talk to Tsunade about the genjutsu flash she caught right before she passed out. But she decided against it. After all, Sai had shown her she couldn't trust people who had been on her team for years… And standing right outside the door were two ANBU guards whose faces she couldn't even see. She would have to learn to be more careful with her information. If news got out that Sasuke had cast a genjutsu… what would that do to the trial? And then on top of it all there was the Hokage herself to consider. As much as Sakura admired and respected her teacher… It was becoming clear that Tsunade was not above using whatever she could to maintain her hold on power.

The Hokage was sitting there expectantly. Sakura shook her head. "No Tsunade-sama. Although, if I do remember something… may I talk to you about it later?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. She knew how good Sakura's memory was. "Why of course you can!" she exclaimed, her voice bubbling over with forced kindness. "If you do recall something, please come see me at the earliest opportunity!" Tsunade rose from her chair. "Well then, I'll just be on my way so that all your well wishers can see you."

"Well wishers? Who?" thought Sakura suspiciously.

"Oh… that brings up yet another point," said Tsunade "While you are out and about Konoha, I should probably assign you an escort. They will accompany you to the Maximum security facility, stay with you during your interview with the Uchiha and then escort you back here to the hospital for overnight observation."

Sakura shifted. "Hokage-sama…Considering what has happened to Sasuke, I really recommend you let me speak to him alone. I'm not sure he'd trust anyone else."

"Oh, I'm quite sure he'd have no problems talking to you with this particular escort in the room," Tsunade said slyly, "In fact... it's quite the good idea... since Eri Shimura has made it clear that the gloves are off for this, sending you along with with those two will really make her sit up and wonder just what the hell I'm up to."

"Who?" asked Sakura suspicious.

"Oh, he's just right outside… Or more accurately, they're both outside." Tsunade smiled an evil smile. "This might work out to my advantage actually...After some of the things the Shimura clan has been saying about me these past weeks, I can't wait to see how they're going to react when your version of events reaches the Hyuga clan… Come Shizune, I think we need to call a meeting for this afternoon." She chuckled all the way to the door. "Take care Sakura," she said with a backwards glance and a smile. "Make sure you talk to me again… and soon."

There was the sound of indistinct voices in the hallway. Someone asked a very quiet question. "She's awake," came Tsunade's reply, "You can go on in and visit but then I'll need you to… Hey! are you listening?" There was the pounding of feet and Naruto burst into the room.

"Sakura-chan!" he wailed "I'm so glad you're okay! I saw that the building burned down and everyone said that Sasuke tried to kill you, or that you tried to kill him, or that you were both trying to escape and killed each other… but then I heard that you were poisoned and that you were going to die and nobody would let me in to see you and…" Naruto scowled and abruptly changed gears. "Did Granny Tsunade tell you that those bastards put Sasuke in prison again?! Why the hell would they do that? He couldn't have done a thing! You have to tell them that he didn't do a thing! He's completely changed now! He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

He paused in his breathless rant and gave her a slightly embarrassed look. "Although there was this rumor… I heard you were kinda… undressed... when they pulled you out of the building… and then… Sasuke… He didn't… try anything did he? There's some stupid stories going around that… Well… You'd let me know if he did try something right? Cause if he did, I'll punch that stupid jerk into the middle of next…"

There was a soft foot step in the doorway. Thankfully, Naruto stopped babbling as Hinata entered. "Sakura-chan!" she said with genuine happiness in her voice. "I'm so glad to see you are okay! We've been by almost every day to check on you."

Naruto blushed as she stood by his side. "Yeah, we have," he said a little awkwardly, grinning at Hinata.

Hinata tucked her hair behind her ears with a shy smile. After a moment she broke the pause by nudging Naruto with her elbow. "Go on," she prompted.

There was a brief moment as Naruto and Hinata stared into each other's eyes. "Go on, what?" asked Sakura, slightly annoyed.

Naruto shook himself and grinned sheepishly at Sakura. "Sorry… Um… I just wanted to say thank you… for being such a good friend and looking after Hinata when I was… um… running off and... being a general idiot." He stopped and began to nervously scratch the back of his head. "I've been apologizing to everyone for… you know, making them worry about me… in fact you're the last one."

Sakura shot a suspicious glance at Hinata who was beaming proudly up at Naruto. She did still feel that short stab of jealousy, but it was mostly smothered by relief over how happy, how alive Hinata looked now, contrasting to how Sakura last remembered her.

Sakura found herself nodding, a wry grin on her face. "Thank you Naruto… and thank you too Hinata. You'll have to tell me the secret behind how you finally managed to drill some manners into Naruto's thick skull."

Sakura quickly regretted her words because the Hyuga girl's face instantly turned a bright cherry red. Hinata opened her mouth but all that came out was a quiet "Eep!"

Naruto stepped in front of her. "Yeah… um… well, Hinata decided to give me another chance," said Naruto quickly, "And… um… part of the reason why is because of your great advice Sakura-chan… so… Thanks again!" To her surprise. Naruto was blushing as well. She almost missed him slipping his hand into Hinata's. "So… um now that you're awake… What happened?"

Sakura took a deep breath. Oh Gods, she was going to have to go through this story again?

"Well I did a search of the Hyuga archives and I found… You know what?" she said after a thoughtful pause. "I think I want to get going... I'll tell you the quick version of this on the way to Sasuke. It's kind of time sensitive." She sat up slowly in the bed, several of her bruises complained with the effort. "Let me get dressed, find my escorts, and then we can all head on over to visit Sasuke ourselves."

"Um… Who are these escorts?" asked Hinata hesitantly, "because while the Hokage was leaving she said that Naruto and I were to report to you for some sort of inquiry duty? Some sort of interrogation?"

Sakura smiled as the puzzle pieces fell into place. So that was what Tsunade was chuckling about. Herself, Naruto, and the Head of the Hyuga clan's eldest daughter all going to have a chat with Sasuke Uchiha. Talking, no doubt, about how there was a member of Root who had a pair of eyes he shouldn't have… What kind of message would that send to the watching elders of Konoha?

She wondered for a moment what other cards her teacher had up her sleeve. And then got nervous again as she remembered how Tsunade had just dangled her out there as bait. She closed the nervousness away. "Good," she said firmly. "I'm glad I've got the pair of you with me this time… Especially you Hinata, this... sort of concerns you as well… Did Neji happen to talk to you about any of this?"

Hinata shook her head. "No. Almost everyone has left to be with Father. He has business in the capitol for the rest of the week. I didn't get a chance to talk to Neji-onisan before he left."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully. "Let me get dressed then. I'll fill you in on the more important parts on the way."


	96. Chapter 31: Sakura's Tale part 2

The ANBU at the Maximum Security Facility were giving the three of them plenty of ugly looks, and Naruto was giving them right back. In fact his face was almost continuously locked in a snarl. Sakura was glad Hinata was with them; she seemed to have an uncanny knack at reining him in. A single touch was all she needed.

Sakura pondered on that for a minute or two. As a matter of fact Hinata seemed to be constantly touching him with a series of surreptitious gestures. That was... unusual. The previous six months they had been dating, Hinata would blush a vibrant scarlet if anyone so much as glanced at her and Naruto when they were out walking together… and Gods forbid if anyone caught them kissing... Sakura found herself wondering briefly what could have changed between them... but then chalked it all up to just Hinata being glad Naruto was back home.

Sasuke was placed way down in the solitary confinement cells. All the way down at the sub basement level of the prison. The cells were uncomfortably close to the underground source of the hot springs.

Supposedly all the hot water gushing about and around the walls made escape attempts much more difficult. In reality it just made it really hot, and muggy. Strange fungi had a tendency to grow on the walls and the floor had to be removed weekly.

There was a voice echoing up along the stone stairway as they descended down. It was singing a wordless little broken tune: "La-la-la… La-la-la-la… la-la-la… How about now?" a woman would ask cheerfully. There was a pause as if she were awaiting an answer and then the singing would start all over again. "La-la-la… La-la-la-la… la-la-la… How about... now?" the voice asked again with the same abundant enthusiasm.

They reached the bottom of the stairs. Sakura gave the ANBU guard manning the gate a quizzical look as he unlocked the rusting iron gate. He responded with a pained sigh. "I've been told that it's a tried and true interrogation procedure," he muttered. He gave a little shake to his head as the song started up again. "Personally… I'm ready to talk."

Sakura and company rounded the corner to find Anko Mitarashi reclining on a plain wooden bench waggling her feet in time to the music. "La-la-la… La-la-la-la… la-la-la… How about..." there was a very long drawn out pause, "Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn... Now?!" she yelled out gleefully. Sasuke meditating quietly in his cell, continued to face the opposite wall.

La-la-la… La-la-la-la… Hey!" said Anko taking notice of the entering shinobi and sitting up from her perch. "Have any of you guys seen Captain Hot pants? He promised he was coming back with dango and juice." She plucked out the dango skewer she had been picking her teeth with and flung it in the corner. "Torturing prisoners makes my throat dry like nothing else. La-la-la… La-la-la-la… la-la-la… How about... NOW?" she bellowed at Sasuke.

"Captain… Hot pants?" asked Naruto in complete bewilderment.

"You know… Kakashi!" replied Anko, giving them a knowing leer that should have been rated 18+. "It's not so much the pants themselves as the glorious wonders contained therein that have earned him that nickname." Her gaze fell on Hinata holding tightly onto Naruto's hand. Anko gave the Hyuga girl a knowing wink. "I'm sure the pair of you can figure out what I'm referring to." There was a gasp and Hinata flushed bright neon pink.

This was followed by a stirring in the cell. "I seem to remember you said you'd be back in two days," Sasuke grumbled sardonically. He stretched and climbed up to his feet. "Took you long enough doofus."

"Don't you bitch at me!" snapped Naruto, taking a step towards the bars of the cell. "I'm not the idiot who decided to set fire to the interrogation center in the middle of the night! Do you know how hard it is to visit the solitary wing of the maximum security prison?"

Sasuke walked over and peered out through the bars. He glanced at Naruto and Hinata and his lips drew up in a smirk. Naruto pointed an accusing finger. "Don't you dare say anything you jerk! Not one word! Not one goddamned word!"

"I wouldn't dream of it, doofus," replied Sasuke, still smiling. His smirk vanished as his eye drifted over Sakura. He stared for a bit and then gave her the smallest acknowledging nod. "Sakura."

Her's was an exact copy. "Sasuke… How's the eye doing?"

He shrugged his shoulders once. "Better... I should probably thank you…" his voice drifted off.

Sakura filled in the missing word. "But?"

Sasuke ran a fingertip through the fat drops of condensation collecting on the bars. "But it's partly your fault I'm in this mess."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "My fault?!" she asked incredulously.

Sasuke nodded. "You sealed my Sharingan."

"Well what the hell was I supposed to do?!" she exploded. "You were setting fire to everything! It was only a matter of time before someone got hurt!"

"I could have put it out."

Sakura folded her arms. "That was the amaterasu! Everyone knows it can't be put out! It has to burn itself out!"

Sasuke looked up at her coldly. "True… Unless... you're me. It's one of the powers of my Sharingan," he said matter of factly.

Sakura snorted. "Well you could have said something… In fact you could have listened to me instead of trying to kill everything that moved!"

"I know," said Sasuke quietly. "That's why I said it's only partly your fault."

Sakura shut her jaw with a click and turned away shaking her head. "And I suppose that is the closest thing to an apology that I am ever going to get out of the great Sasuke Uchiha," she grumbled bitterly.

Sasuke shrugged. "Thank you for rescuing me. It was… very…" he stumbled trying to find the right word, "nice of you."

"Awww nuts," grumbled Anko from the bench. Everyone turned to stare at her. "What? Kakashi and I had a little bet going on over when mister sulky -pants over there was going to start talking," she said by way of an explanation. "Personally I thought he would hold out for at least another day." Anko grinned and shrugged. "Oh well."

"So… then… Why do you look so happy about it?" asked Naruto.

Anko leaned forward. "Because… no matter who ended up winning… It was going to be a pretty fun prize either way." She gave Naruto a lascivious wink. "Make out tactics… Page 27… the bit right where the milkmaid starts to declare her innocence..." she started to hiss in a carrying whisper.

"Sasuke, we need to talk about things," said Sakura, forcefully running over Anko's detailed recitation. That was not something she wanted to hear right now.

Sasuke's eyes flicked once over to Anko and Hinata. "No," he said with finality.

"Look Sasuke, it's imperative that you give us the information about the Uchiha…" Sakura started again.

"No!"

The word faded away to echoes. Sakura decided to get to the point of this conversation. "We know about the Coup d'etat," she said simply.

Sasuke froze for a moment and slowly shut his eyes. When he opened them again he was glaring at Naruto. "You stupid son of a bitch," he growled in a low deadly tone.

"Don't you go blaming me, jerk!" shouted Naruto. "I didn't say a goddamned thing! If you want to blame anyone, blame your mother!"

Sasuke scowled. "You leave my mother out of this!" he snapped icily.

"Um… Sasuke-san?" said Hinata, a little nervously. "Did you know that apparently, our mothers were childhood friends?"

Sasuke turned and gave the Hyuga girl a blank look. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

Everyone jumped at the loud squeak of the stairway gate being opened. A few moments later the sound of footsteps rang down the stone corridor. "Sorry I'm late, but you know how it is with food vendors. It's so hard to choose just one cart. Okay I've got the dango in this bag, and I picked up some udon takeout in this one… and I wasn't sure what Sasuke wanted, or if he was even hungry, so I just got him a little of… Oh! Hello!" said Kakashi looking up from juggling the paper bags and small fold out boxes in his arms. He tried to wave, but in the end he just ended up shaking a paper sack dripping grease. "Well, what do you know? The gang is all here… and I see that Sasuke has finally decided to join the chat." Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned away. "So… what are we talking about?"

"We were talking," said Sakura very slowly and carefully. "About how you and Naruto knew that prior to the Uchiha clan's massacre the Uchiha were planning to seize control of the Hidden Leaf… and yet, for some reason the pair of you neglected to tell me."

* * *

After the summarization of Mikoto's letters, the levity had sunk out of Kakashi. "Well Naruto… and Sasuke I suppose," he said with a great sigh, "the secret is finally out."

"No!" insisted Sauke, a strange note in his voice. "It isn't out! It's just… spread a bit that's all."

"Sasuke... Neji knows, the Head of the Hyuga clan knows, anyone who was listening in his office at the Hyuga compound knows," started Kakashi, counting off on his fingers. "Have you heard the phrase 'If you want to make something common knowledge tell a Hyuga?' And on top of all that Sai knows… That means the Shimura clan knows as well." Kakashi shrugged. "Which is probably why they decided to abduct you sooner rather than later. There's no sense in holding an investigation about the past of an escaped prisoner… you'll just want to capture them again." He turned and gave Sakura a quick grin. "Which reminds me… You managed to defeat five Root ANBU and their sharingan wielding commander? Very impressive. Remind me never to repeat the bell test with you."

Sakura tried to make herself smile from the praise. "Thank you sensei." Her smile vanished as quickly as it came. "But what are we going to do about Sai… and the rest of Root?"

"Easy," said Naruto in a low growl. "We're going to find Sai… and then I'm going to let Kurama use him as a chew toy." There was a low murmur from Hinata telling him to calm down.

"Meh… Betrayal, blackmail, lies kidnapping, murder… It's all part of the typical shinobi life in the big shinobi village," scoffed Anko. "Personally I don't care about all this fluff. I want to start talking about the important bits… Like where Kabuto's hiding that scaly ass of his. I owe that slithering bastard big."

Sasuke didn't say anything. He just stared at the floor. "Come on Sasuke, It's not that bad," Naruto said to him softly. "You kept your promise...You didn't say a word about the coup."

"Yet somehow... without even trying… I've ruined that too… every goddamn thing I've tried just..." whispered Sasuke. He took a deep breath and let it out in a burst. "It doesn't matter now… None of it matters." He turned his head quickly and glanced at Sakura before glaring at Anko. "I could tell you where Kabuto is… But I want assurances that I will be allowed to come with any expedition against him."

Anko laughed and took a step towards the bars of the cell. "I'm flattered that you think I'm that influential kid… but I'm not the Hokage."

"Then talk to the Hokage!" growled Sasuke. "Add your voice to his," he pointed a finger at Naruto, "and hers," he pointed to Sakura, "and get her to listen! If you are going to stop Kabuto, you'll need all the help you can get!"

"That's going to be near impossible… Especially now Sasuke… not without giving us something to smooth things over," Sakura said patiently. "you were already being accused of murder and treason… and then we set fire to the ANBU station."

"Um..." Everyone turned to look at Hinata as she spoke up. "This is just a suggestion but… the knowledge of… um... what the Uchiha were planning… well... if it does get out... it might not totally be a bad thing," said the Hyuga girl hesitantly, playing with her fingers. "Given what I heard from Sakura just now about how they were being treated, I think... some people might... understand the Uchiha had a great many reasons to... be unhappy."

Sasuke gave Hinata a weary glance. "Shut up!" he said, annoyed. "You don't know the first thing about it."

"Hey!" barked Naruto. "You apologize to Hinata right now! She's just trying to be nice, all she wants to do is help!"

"I don't need her help," Sasuke muttered coldly.

"Oh? Is that so?" asked Naruto angrily. "And I suppose you don't need mine?"

Kakashi stepped forward to the bars of the cell, hands held up in a placating gesture. "And here was everyone was telling me that the pair of you were being so chummy," he muttered under his breath. "Sasuke, I'd suggest you refrain from being too obnoxious… From what I've been hearing about the upcoming council decision over what to do with you, you're going to need all the friends you can get." Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Besides, Hinata-chan has a fair point. You shouldn't give up hope on swaying opinion in your favor. You might be _persona non grata_ in this village right now, but the name of Danzo Shimura is also remembered by those who had past dealings with him. He was a brilliant politician... he always got what he wanted, but he always stepped on a lot of toes to do so." Kakashi shrugged. "Life in the Hidden Leaf village was more… trying when Danzo was commander of the ANBU." He brushed back his bushy white hair. "In fact, he was one of the main reasons I decided to take my leave from the organization. Towards the end, there were a lot of us that were growing disillusioned with Danzo's methods."

A question bubbled up to the top of Sakura's mind. It came from Neji's comment: "It is unlikely that an ANBU would violate a crime scene."

"About that sensei… one of the questions I had when I found the letters written by Mikoto Uchiha was who would have bothered to mail the letters even though Hishyona Hyuga was… well... deceased. Could it have been a disgruntled ANBU?"

Kakashi made a hopeless gesture with his hands. "Possibly, but it doesn't do us much good now. I mean I'm assuming that any clues or samples of handwriting that we could have gotten from those envelopes burned up with the masked shinobi."

"What if I told you this person could shrink themselves very small? Would that help?"

Kakashi's eyes widened for a second, then he started to chuckle. Then that chuckle turned into a laugh. "Would you care to share the joke with the rest of the class?" asked Anko, licking dango sauce off of her fingers.

Kakashi snorted. "I'm sorry, it's just kind of funny how obvious it is, now that I think of it. I mean really it all makes sense now… But of course nobody would really understand it unless you were in the ANBU back then… So really there's no chance that any of you would get the joke."

"Just tell us sensei!" insisted Naruto.

"... and really once you take the time to look at it properly it wasn't even that much of a joke," continues Kakashi, ignoring him. "I mean it was little more than a bit of hazing, razzing on the new guy as it were… and it was such a visual gag… really very lame now that I… Yeouch!" Anko's hand swung and gave him a stinging swat across his rear.

"Kakashi," she said sweetly, "stop acting so smug and answer the damn question already. Don't make me have to reenact that scene where the 'Make Out' series hero is thrown into the busty Amazon queen's dungeon again… especially not in front of the innocent young eyes of your former students."

The whole floor of the detention center ground to a halt at her statement. Everyone's eyes slowly turned to stare incredulously at Kakashi. It seemed like even the snails climbing up the wall halted in their slimy trails to swivel their eyestalks in his general direction.

Kakashi had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Was this the first time in the dungeon when they had the fight in the mud wrestling pit, or the second time with all the chains and whips and she's wearing the leather studded bikini?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Naruto!" gasped Hinata

"What?" Naruto said blankly. "The pervy sage made me proofread Make Out Tactics like, six times… he said it was cheaper than hiring a real editor."

Kakashi suddenly appeared at Naruto's shoulder, grinning maniacally. "Really? So then you saw the undecided draft? I'd always heard that there was this one little scene that was cut due to… content. I wonder if you could remember..."

There was another sharp smack. Kakashi yelped. "Focus Hot Pants!" barked Anko. "We were talking about the ANBU under Danzo Shimura's command."

"Right," said Kakashi looking sheepish. "Right… Anyway, everyone in the ANBU corps is assigned a mask for the purpose of hiding their identity. It used to be a lot more important to keep the ANBU agent's name undercover in the olden days, but even these days it still gets treated as a secret piece of information. Sometimes the new agent is allowed to choose their own mask. Sometimes it is given to them depending on their abilities or their attitudes… and then there are times when someone tries to be clever." Kakashi paused and took a breath. "Right before Itachi was made the youngest commander in the ANBU corps, he was assigned, as were all senior ranked members, a partner to mentor."

"We know this sensei," piped up Sakura. "It was in the letters, but it didn't seem that important. Sasuke's mother," her glance flicked to Sasuke but all his attention was focused impassively on the wall, "met her once. She described her as a pretty standard Akimichi, very tall. She said someone gave her a mouse mask as a joke."

Kakashi nodded. "It was half a joke… It was also an accurate description of Nezumi. You know how the Akimichi clan jutsu is the multi-size expansion technique? Well Chizu-chan could go the other way. It was the main reason the ANBU wanted to recruit her, and pair her with Itachi. Between his genjutsu and her ability to shrink her size down smaller than a mouse, they could walk past guards, get through locked doors and gates, open any safe, pick any lock, find any information no matter how well secured, and walk out again without anyone the wiser to the fact that they were even there. They were the ultimate infiltration and espionage team… The Raven and the Mouse." His eyes crinkled under his mask. "Chizu would have done anything for Itachi... If he asked her to, she wouldn't have had any problem extracting and mailing those letters."

Naruto shook his head. "Itachi would never have wanted anyone to…" He bit back his words and looked sheepishly at Sasuke.

Sasuke gave a pained sigh. "Itachi would have never asked her to do anything of the sort," Sasuke muttered in a barren voice, bereft of any emotion. "Itachi didn't want anyone to learn of the whole truth of what happened… No one… not even me." Sasuke gave a short humorless laugh. "Especially not me. The first hint I had of how things were... not as they seemed came from Madara Uchiha."

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably. "Do you mean 'Madara' Madara, or the other one?"

Sasuke smiled cruelly. "Your friend… The one who wore the mask. When I first ran into him he insisted that he was Madara Uchiha, and that is how I thought of him." He gave a smug snort. "I understand his true identity is still a secret these days?"

Kakashi leaned forward. "It is a secret… Which begs the question of how you learned it?"

Sasuke ignored him, and turned back to the cot. "Sasuke!" Kakashi called out loudly to his retreating back. "That man… He told us the same story he told you... he told us the truth of what happened!" Sasuke froze in his steps, and his former sensei continued grimly. "The masked Madara told us about how the whole Uchiha clan was blamed for the Nine tails attack and then penned up like a bunch of animals. He told us how your brother was then ordered to be the reaver and to cut them all down… one by one... and leave them bleeding in the streets… all on the third Hokage's order!"

Sakura heard herself gasp, even though she had been half expecting something like this revelation, it still came as a shock to hear it out loud. Sasuke's fists were clenching and unclenching. There was a loud high pitched hum filtering through the air. As she watched a fat spark of chakra leaped off the restraints around his left wrist and grounded out on the floor, leaving the sharp tang of ozone lingering in the air. "Stop talking about things about which you know nothing," Sasuke growled in a low voice.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said quietly. "This reluctance of yours to confront the truth isn't good. You're not helping yourself by acting this way."

"Yes Sasuke-kun! There is no need to get so angry and frustrated here. We are all your friends," Hinata's voice chirped loudly in the cavern. She blushed brightly as everyone looked at her in surprise. She clutched Naruto's hand tighter and continued. "We just want to help you."

Sasuke turned and looked stiffly at each of them in turn. Lastly Sakura found him expectantly staring directly at her. She wasn't sure what to do. Slowly she gave him an uncertain little half shrug, half nod.

Sasuke grunted and turned away again. There was a hiss and a cooling clink-clink noise as the charka restrainers calmed down. After a moment of chill silence Kakashi cleared his throat and tried to get the conversation moving again. "The Masked Madara told Naruto, Yamato and myself that Itachi had been given a choice from Danzo Shimura passed down by the Hokage himself. Either slaughter the entire Uchiha clan, prevent the rebellion and subsequent war as every other village attacked a weakened Konoha, or join the Coup and get killed along with the rest of his clan." Kakashi studied Sasuke carefully. "I was told that Itachi agreed to the the first option only after Danzo offered that his little brother would be spared." Kakashi paused before continuing in a subdued voice. "Itachi then left the village, becoming a missing-nin, keeping an eye on the Akatsuki organization. Making sure that his brother would focus all of his hate on him, and finally, when his little brother was strong enough, he would seek him out for one final battle. His younger brother would then be hailed as a hero… the pride of all Konoha…" Kakashi let his voice trail off into silence.

The heavy quiet was broken by a loud guffaw. "Oh please!" chuckled Anko loudly. "That story is the biggest crock of shit I think I've ever heard… I can't believe you bought something like that!"

There was another loud pop from Sasuke's chakra restrainers. "Um, Anko?" said Kakashi quietly, "I really don't think that was appropriate."

Anko did her best to choke back her laugh and gave a quick bow in Sasuke's direction. "Sorry… sorry, I'm not laughing at Itachi or what happened to your clan but," she turned and jabbed a finger playfully into Kakashi's side, "that little story you just told was ridiculous!"

It was as if Sakura had found an edge piece to the puzzle. She took a quick look at her companions. Hinata was looking slightly shocked at Anko's outburst. Kakashi had one eyebrow raised, studying his smug girlfriend. The oddest reactions were from Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto was staring really intently at his shoes. Sasuke was facing stubbornly away from Anko, body rigid, his eyes closed. "Would you care to explain Anko-sensei?" she heard her mouth ask.

Anko rolled her eyes. "Well geez Pinkie, you must have met Danzo Shimura few times going in and out of the Hokage's office, right? Did he strike you as the type of guy to give someone a choice on what their mission was to be? Did he strike you as the type of guy to tolerate disobedience in the ANBU? Did he strike you as the type of guy to show the tiniest bit of mercy like allowing someone to spare their little brother out of a clan full of traitors?" Anko shook her head. "I used to see the man all the time back when I was still Orochimaru-sensei's student. He never gave anyone a choice. Danzo Shimura didn't negotiate or bargain. He gave orders and expected them to be obeyed." She snorted. "It used to drive Orochimaru crazy to be bossed around like that."

Again, Sakura glanced at Sasuke, but there was no answer coming from the Uchiha. "Anko, there was a witness to Sasuke's battle with Danzo," said Kakashi firmly. "That red headed girl who was part of Sasuke's team. Before she escaped our custody, she said that during that fight Danzo admitted that the story, as the Masked Madara told me, was exactly what happened. He said there was no point in denying anything if Sasuke already knew the truth!"

"Uh-huh," said Anko idly, "and I'm sure you can figure out how forthright Danzo was going to be with a sworn enemy of the Hidden Leaf like tall, dark and brooding over there. Do you think he would have brought out the comfy cushions, poured a nice cup of tea, and confessed the whole story if Sasuke asked him nicely, instead of trying to kill him?" She made a pitying noise in her throat. "Honestly Hot pants... sometimes you can be as dumb as Ramen for brains over there."

Naruto started to giggle at Kakashi's frown until he realized what Anko just said. "Hey!" he exclaimed. Hinata shushed him.

"Of course," Anko said slyly. "The biggest tell for me that something is off with your version of the story Kakashi, is the fact that Sasuke-san over there is trying so very very hard to keep his reaction hidden from us." Anko sighed and leaned confidently against the wall. "Almost as if the kid has his own secrets to hide… and I'm not even going to mention Naruto staring at his boots like they got the meaning of life hidden on them… You don't work with Captain Ibiki for six years without picking up a few tips on how to tell when someone is hiding something…" Anko put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "Care to set the story straight Sasuke-kun?"

There was a long pause. "It doesn't matter," Sasuke muttered, trying to remain stoic. "None of it matters. The only thing that does matter anymore is stopping Kabuto." He spun and glared at Sakura. "How hard can it be to convince the Hokage that she needs to look into a threat?"

Sakura cleared her throat. "Actually Sasuke, things have only gotten much more complicated. Tsunade-sama isn't the only one you have to convince any more… She's losing her hold on the village. She told me there is going to be a hearing and there will very likely be a trial."

"So? Let them put me on trial. Like I said, it doesn't matter."

"Believe me Mr. Sunshine, I kind of agree with you there," said Anko wandering over to the bench and digging through the paper cartons. "I'm all for letting bygones be bygones and going after that slimy little glasses wearing mutant. And if the ANBU scuttlebut is right, I can see we're going to need some pretty heavy firepower in our corner to take him out. But you see... here's the thing…People around here don't think purely in terms of strategy… There's a political component." She pulled out two skewers of dumplings. "Pinky is right," she said waving one of the dango at Sakura, "only she's too polite to come right out and say that the way things stand right now, the moment you enter Konoha's charming judicial system, you are well and truly fucked… Dango?" she asked offering him one of the skewers.

Sasuke eyed it suspiciously. "Come on!" said Anko, giving it a little jiggle. "It's not poisoned… I promise. One former student of Orochimaru to another."

Sasuke slowly reached out and took hold of the skewer. Anko crammed the whole other skewer between her lips and pulled off every dango. "Ooh! You got me the good onesh!" she said happily through a full mouth.

Kakashi shrugged in a very nonchalant, yet pleased way. "Well, I know you like the ones from that shop by the river instead of just any old vendor's cart so..."

Anko leaned over and gave him a quick yet passionate kiss straight through his mask, that left a trail of dango glaze dribbling down his chin. "Mmmm… You keep being a good boy like this and I'll have to come up with some nice ways to reward you later," she growled in a sultry voice. She turned to find everyone giving her a stunned glance... again. "Oh come on now! I know this is Konoha, but Gods! Don't be so prudish!" Anko snapped. "What did you think we've been doing in our spare time? Discussing his love of fine literature?" She shot a particularly condescending look at Hinata. "Especially you Hyuga -san! Acting all shocked... don't try to tell me that you haven't taken the 'wild ride on the Nine tails' yet Princess!"

Sakura couldn't help herself, the laugh just bubbled out. "Hinata? Hinata is the Head of the Hyuga clan's daughter! There is no way she would…" there was a short gasp.

Sakura turned her head around just in time to see Hinata's eyes roll up in her head. Naruto caught her before she crumpled to the ground. "Godsdammit!" he yelled at Anko. "What did you have to go and say that for?"

Sakura felt a hard jolt and stood there... stunned. Naruto and Hinata were… They… They had sex? Hinata? Innocent, shy, pure Hinata? The growl started low in Sakura's throat, as the most obvious scenario presented itself. "Nnnnnn-Naruto! What… Did… You… DO TO HER?" she bellowed.

Kakashi stepped forward and tried to gain some semblance of order. "Sakura, whatever… happened... between Naruto and Hinata and whether they choose to say anything about it, will have to wait for another time. Right now… we have other things to focus on."

Over Kakashi's outstretched arm, Sakura watched Naruto holding Hinata. He brushed the hair back from her face and murmured something quietly to her. Slowly she opened her eyes, blinked twice and smiled. Again, Sakura felt a quick pang of jealously as Naruto helped the blushing Hyuga girl back up to her feet. Unable to look, she turned and focused on Sasuke.

Sasuke was sneaking a glance over his shoulder. There was a pleased glint in his eye as he watched Naruto and Hinata. He must have felt Sakura's stare. His gaze flicked once to her before it focused back on the wall of the cell.

"Listen to Kakashi-sensei, you Jerk!" Naruto called, eager to change the subject now that Hinata was stable. "We need to figure out some way to get you out of this trial… We can't let anything happen to you."

Sasuke slid a dango off the skewer and began chewing slowly. "Why should any of you care what happens to me?"

"Your mother would care!" Sakura's words rang out louder that she was intending. There was a brief patter of drops from the damp ceiling as her shout echoed about the small cavern and down the hall.

Sasuke paused mid chew. "My mother is dead," he said flatly. "And from what you've told me today, her legacy is destroyed." He mechanically swallowed his mouthful of dango. "Her memory is ruined. My clan's memory is ruined… Everything is ruined"

Sakura folded her arms. "What… the memory of how proud she was of you when you dressed up in your first real kimono? That's ruined?"

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up. "How did you…"

"Or how about the time you were so upset that Itachi had graduated the academy and was being sent out on missions, so your mother threw you a secret party, just to make you feel better… Do you remember that? Is that ruined?" There was no answer from Sasuke, he just stared at her darkly. "And then there was that time that a bunch of drunk jonin barged into the Uchiha village and started causing trouble, and both she and Itachi told you stories and made jokes about some big genin exercise gone wrong in order to soothe your fears… Does that sound like someone who wouldn't want her son to care anymore?"

Sasuke stood there quietly, so Sakura continued. "Your mother was so proud of you, and Itachi, and your Father and… well, all of you." She stepped closer to the bars of the cell and rested her hands against them. "And now Sasuke… Whatever fate has done to you... and your clan… You are the last Uchiha left. Mikoto Uchiha wouldn't want you to… to… throw away what's left of your clan's name and your clan's history like that!"

Sasuke inspected his dango. "How would you know? You never met my mother."

He was talking… that was good. "No, but I read her letters. She wrote about things other than the Coup attempt. She poured out her feelings into those letters. She said a lot of things about you, like how you looked up to Itachi, and how your father was putting all of his hopes on Itachi, and how that made you jealous. She wished things could have gone a different way."

Sasuke didn't react. Sakura swallowed and continued, trying to get through to him. "She wrote about how scared she was that something terrible was going to happen to your clan and your family."

Sasuke gave her a cold look. "Something terrible did happen to my clan… and my family."

"But you never heard of the hopes she had for them… and for you!" insisted Sakura. "She wanted so much for you and Itachi to grow up and be respected and have a normal life!"

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" Sasuke rasped. "Because it's not."

"Then what would make you feel better Sasuke?" Sakura snapped, waving her arms in frustration. "Letting everyone think your brother is a murderer? Letting everyone in the village believe that your clan was nothing but a bunch of vicious conniving traitors?"

Sasuke turned away and marched back to the bed. Sakura kept right on talking. "Yes... okay… maybe the Uchiha did decide to rebel, but like Hinata said, if there were some extenuating circumstances, you could…"

Sasuke whirled around. "I could do what?! What possibly could I do or say that could remedy the truly enormous cesspool that is my life?"

"Well, you could explain how Danzo Shimura got the eye of Shisui Uchiha when Shisui supposedly killed himself and the body was never found!" Sakura barked.

"Easy!" Sasuke roared back. "He stole it! Just like he stole every other sharingan he had!" There was a frantic sound of panicked coughing from Naruto.

"Every… other?" Hinata said in a stunned whisper.

Sasuke's jaw clenched. He turned and sat down heavily on the cot, arms folded tightly in front of him. "You know what?" he said forcing his voice to remain calm. "I don't care anymore… I can't afford to care anymore. The entire Hidden Leaf village wants to believe that Itachi killed my whole clan… let them. It's the way Itachi wanted it."

"But that's not what really happened… is it Sasuke?" Sakura found herself whispering.

Sasuke turned his head away. "Itachi was able to kill everyone in the Uchiha clan without showing an ounce of remorse," he muttered. "that's the official story. He killed everyone except his little brother. There's nothing I can say to change the village's perception." Sakura could see why Sasuke was holding his arms so tightly. It was to prevent them from shaking.

"What about his little sister?"

Sasuke blinked once in total confusion. "Huh?"

Sakura took a step closer to the cell. "In her letters… your mother wrote she was pregnant. She thought she was going to have a girl this time." She leaned her forehead against the damp bars. "Do you expect me to believe that Itachi would spare one sibling, but not the other?" Sasuke was staring blankly ahead. Sakura felt her brain make an intuitive leap and yet another puzzle piece settled with a click. "You didn't know that... did you? Even you don't know the whole story… You see Sasuke, this is why you need to let your friends help! The more people we have working on this together, the easier it will be! Tell us what you do know. We want to help you."

Silence rang in the cavern. Sasuke barely seemed to be breathing. "What you did Sasuke… well, we can't undo it. But maybe if we can get enough people to understand what happened and to understand what you were feeling, then maybe we can convince enough people to give you a chance to make things better."

"What… What would you have to know?" Sasuke asked a little shakily.

"Everything."

There was a small shake of his head. "That won't happen. Not ever." He silenced her protest with one hand. "But I might be willing to tell you some things about the Uchiha incident… and Itachi."

"And Kabuto," Sakura insisted. "I'll need more details about him."

Sasuke's head jerked up. His eyes bored into hers. She made sure not to blink. "Maybe," he admitted finally.

"Hot damn! She's getting the boy to talk," echoed Anko's whisper in the following silence.

Inside Sakura whooped with joy, but she kept her face still. "Okay, your mother hinted that Itachi may have…"

"Stop!" yelled Sasuke. He was glaring at Anko. "I didn't say that I wanted to have a conversation with everyone here… If telling you some things will help convince the Hokage and the council that I can be trusted enough to join an expedition against Kabuto… then maybe I can… share some stuff… but only with you Sakura… just you."

There was a long pause. "Well," said Naruto brightly. "I guess we'll be getting along then!"

Hinata nudged him. "Our mission?! Escorting Sakura!"

Naruto looked quickly at Sasuke, Sakura and then finally Hinata. "Yeah, but… you heard the jerk! He won't…"

"We've got our orders too, Ramen for brains," said Anko. "And we're not supposed to let the prisoner out of our sight!"

Sakura looked at Sasuke, but all he did was give her an apologetic shrug and then put his arms behind his head and slowly lay back on the cot. "Sorry Sakura… I will say, it was... nicer... chatting with you this time. You should come back and visit again... when it's less crowded."

"Sasuke, there's a reason Tsunade won't allow me to be alone with you!"

Sasuke smirked. "What, she's afraid the big bad Uchiha is going to hurt her little student?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm under investigation as well… There's been talk that at the interrogation center… I was trying to help you escape."

Sasuke's head rose a fraction off the cot. "What, I try to save a girl from a burning building and everyone assumes we're in collusion together?"

There was an awkward cough from Anko. "Actually Sourpuss… speaking as an observer… That looked a little bit more… touchy feely than the typical rescue."

"Sakura-chan would never be touchy feely with anyone!" said Naruto loyalty.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence doofus," said Sasuke with a glower. "I can see exactly where this line of reasoning is going… It's another round of 'the Uchiha are all a bunch of monsters' isn't it?" he asked in a dark growl, turning to Sakura. "And you're just going to let them get away with it aren't you? Letting everyone think it was me, not that jerk in the mask who was trying to pull off your clothes and…"

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelped loudly. Loud enough that everyone turned to stare.

Sasuke looked at her carefully and then at everyone else around the cell. Sakura could feel the questioning glances of Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi and Anko on her, but she made sure to keep her eyes fixed on Sasuke. He took in her silent plea and waited. She clenched her hands into fists and hid them behind her back.

Sasuke looked down at the floor. After a long moment he nodded once. "Okay… I… Whatever."

Sakura let out a shaky breath. Then another. Slowly the internal tremors faded away. "Thank you… I promise I will... talk to Tsunade-sama," she said simply.

Sasuke lay back. "You do that... You might want to make it as soon as possible though… apparently I have a really crummy track record when it comes to keeping things secret."


	97. Chapter 31: Sakura's Tale part 3

Naruto managed to keep silent until they were about a block away from the Interrogation center. "Sakura, what the hell was he talking about down there? Who pulled off your clothes?"

Sakura definitely didn't feel like talking about that. Not to him, not right now. All the… unspoken cuteness going on between Naruto and Hinata was grating on her nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard, all the more so now that she knew the hidden meaning behind it. "What?" she asked with an extra heaping of sarcasm. "You mean there are some of Sasuke's secrets you don't know?

Naruto frowned. "Hey! That's not fair! The only reason I'm not talking is because Sasuke made me promise to let him handle it himself... All of it!"

"Naruto… can't you see that such a promise is hurting Sasuke, and costing him opportunities with those who are willing to help him?" asked Hinata quietly.

Naruto gritted his teeth. "Yes," he admitted very grudgingly, "but believe me… Some of it…" He sighed. "Some of it you wouldn't want to know."

"So then you knew about the Uchiha massacre too?" said Sakura accusingly. "You knew that story the masked Madara told you and Kakashi and Yamato wasn't the truth either!"

"Yeah… Kinda… Well, a little bit… maybe."

Sakura clenched her fist. So she was running all over Konoha searching for clues when all she had to do was pester Naruto. "For how long have you known?"

"I… um…" Naruto gave her an odd look. "Look… Seven days ago I thought the story that Kakashi-sensei told down there was the unvarnished truth. Now?" He paused and shrugged. "I know there's more to it… a lot more... but I think only Sasuke knows the full story… or as full as anyone is ever going to get."

"That doesn't seem very fair that you wouldn't share it with the rest of his friends then," said Hinata reproachfully, "especially when you know how it will help both him and Sakura with their trial... and not to mention the Hokage… Doesn't Tsunade-sama deserve to know at least? Things have been extremely hard on her since you ran off ten days ago..."

Sakura stopped in her tracks. That was another thing, in all the mayhem and arguing over the Uchiha massacre, she had forgotten to ask Sasuke about his reasons for returning to Konoha. Seven days, was that all the time that had passed since Sasuke returned? Naruto and Hinata continued for a few paces, before realizing that she wasn't with them. "Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked.

"Okay Naruto, you won't tell me about the Uchiha massacre? Tell me this… What the hell happened when you found Sasuke?" Sakura said quietly. "You were gone for less than three days... How did you and Sasuke have enough time to completely destroy the Valley of the End, nearly kill each other, heal up completely, and then become best buddies? When did you find the time to share all these stories and heartfelt moments?"

A guilty look flashed across Naruto's face. Hinata prodded him. "Sakura asked you a perfectly valid question… What did happen?"

Naruto refused to look at either her or Hinata. "Sorry," he said quietly. "You'll need to ask Sasuke that."

"Ask Sasuke, ask Sasuke!" Sakura imitated. "All you ever say is 'ask Sasuke!' Why? What happened to put you so far in his debt that you are willing to stand by and let him be a total idiot? He's destroying himself... and the Village!"

"Why can't you just try to be more happy that he's back?" asked Naruto, getting angry himself. "Ever since we showed up at the gate everyone has been yelling at or poking or prodding or trying to interrogate us! Gods dammit! Can't you all see that he's trying? Can't you guess what it took for me to convince him that this might be a good idea? So what if he wants to keep a few secrets? Everyone's all like 'Oooh! it must be some big horrible evil plan that Sasuke has up his sleeve!' Can't you guys just accept that he's ashamed of a bunch of stuff and doesn't want to talk about it?"

"Of course he's ashamed! He should be ashamed!" barked Sakura. "You saw what he did during the Fourth war… You were there! Hell, you were the one he was trying to kill the most!"

"The Fourth war? The Fourth war was a walk in the park! The Fourth war was nothing compared to…" Naruto snapped his jaw shut. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Look… just... trust me okay? Please? He needs to keep things under wraps for a while. That's his way of dealing with it okay? He's got a lot to deal with, believe me." Naruto took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He massaged his face, as if he was trying to get past something painful. "But... look Sakura… back to my original point... that's no reason for you to keep secrets from the rest of us… you know?"

Sakura stared at him incredulously before she made a disgusted noise. "I'm serious Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out as she stomped away. "So what happened in the interrogation center? It's obvious something is making you upset… Hey! Are you ignoring me?"

"Really? Really? You think I'm ignoring you? What ever gave you that idea?" she said not breaking her stride.

"Sakura!" Naruto whined.

"Naruto," she heard Hinata hiss, "just... leave her be… She… needs… she stopped Sasuke because… she doesn't want to talk about it either… she needs to think about things."

"Think about what?" Naruto said in his usual clueless manner. "I just asked her a simple question! Why wouldn't she want to tell her friends what happened?"

Hinata pulled him aside and whispered in his ear for a few moments. "What?!" he yelled. "Who?! I'll…" There was more whispering from Hinata. "Really?" Naruto exclaimed again. "That's so stupid! Who would ever…" Whisper whisper. "Her clan would do what?! Well, when I'm Hokage that sort of…" Whisper whisper whisper whisper. "Well, if you don't know for sure then why can't I just ask her if… Ouch!" he yelped as Hinata hit him in the arm.

There were a few more faint whispers followed by hurried footsteps. "Sakura-chan?" said Hinata. "Naruto would like to humbly apologize for pressing you on topics you do not wish to discuss. He means perfectly well, but unfortunately he often doesn't completely grasp the social intricacies of being in a shinobi clan... Isn't that right?" she asked him with a smile.

"Um… yeah… Sorry," grumbled Naruto.

"Good!' Hinata said cheerfully with a little dismissing wave. "Now go wait over there while I talk to Sakura for a moment… Go on!" She pointed to a tree. Naruto stared at her with raised eyebrows before wandering off.

When Naruto was out of earshot, Hinata turned back to Sakura, all cheerfulness gone from her face. "Sakura-chan," she said quietly, looking down. "A little while ago… You were a great help to me when I… I was going through a most difficult time. I just want you to know… That I will never forget that."

Sakura shook her head. "Hinata… Look… That's great, but I don't really want to talk about…"

She stopped as Hinata looked up. Sakura didn't think she'd ever seen the Hyuga girl looking so intense before. "I understand that Sakura-chan. It's private… I just want you to know that I am in your debt… far more than you can ever imagine."

Hinata started to fidget with her fingers for a moment, but then took a deep breath and dropped her hands down to her sides. "You know that I am… not a strong person. When Naruto left me… and everyone thought he was… not coming back, I was…" Hinata's voice trailed off. She shot a glance over to where Naruto was lounging against the trunk of the tree, whistling loudly. "I decided that if I couldn't see him in this world… maybe I could find him again in the next one." Hinata turned back to Sakura and gave her a quick bow. "You lent me your strength and your courage and most importantly, you gave me hope Sakura-chan." A smile flashed across Hinata's face. "And everything worked out for the best."

Hinata bowed again, much more formally this time. "So Sakura, I would just like for you to know this: No matter what happened in the past, no matter what anyone says about you, no matter whatever anyone accuses you of, no matter what happens tomorrow, I will always be your friend."

"Hinata," said Sakura breathlessly.

Hinata smiled and gave her a little bow. "It's not that much, I am afraid... I am after all, only the 'other' daughter of the Head of the Hyuga clan… the one that is always overlooked… the one that nobody wants to talk about… But…for what it is worth..."

Sakura smiled. For the first time since she woke up in the hospital she felt… happy… happy-ish at least. She had one friend who wouldn't desert her. "Thank you Hinata-chan." She turned and looked up at Naruto. Two friends maybe. It wouldn't fix things… but it did make them a little better. "And thank you too, idiot!" she said loudly.

"Huh? What did I do now?" Naruto yelled from across the street.

* * *

About halfway back to the her hospital room they offered to eat lunch with her. Sakura found herself glad about their offer. It was... a welcome distraction. Naruto was still an over enthusiastic idiot, and Hinata was still shy and blushing at every opportunity, but they were both doing their best to make her feel included. Despite all the hidden romantic subtext going on in their body language, it was nice to have the company.

And really… she just didn't want to be alone… When she was alone… she started to think.

Hinata insisted on treating them all to take out ramen from Ichiraku's, and Sakura just couldn't say no to that. It was so much better than the standard hospital fare of rubbery chicken, hard rice, unidentifiable mushy vegetables and lime jello. No matter what meal it was, the hospital always gave a serving of lime jello. She never could figure out why.

The ramen was delicious. It almost made up for those awkward moments where Naruto and Hinata were trying to feed each other. She knew what that meant, and did her best to ignore it.

It was almost a relief when Tsunade burst into her room with Shizune in tow and kicked the pair of them out. "I need to speak to my student… alone... please," she said coldly. Naruto put up a gradually increasingly louder protest that quickly faded as Hinata grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door. Their goodbyes echoed in the hallway.

"Tell me you have good news," Tsunade said, "We definitely need to finalize our plan of attack as quickly as possible."

Sakura shook her head. "Sasuke still insists on an offensive against Kabuto. He is willing to negotiate in exchange for being allowed to join in any expedition against him… Truth be told I think he'd be willing to do almost anything in exchange for being allowed in on such an action."

"Did he say why?" asked Tsunade.

Sakura thought back to that realistic genjutsu she had been trapped in, but shook her head. "Not directly… not in so many words… but I'm pretty sure it's because he wants revenge for… something. I don't get the feeling it's a trap."

Tsunade exhaled. "And suppose the council asks me how I can be certain he won't just turn back to trying to kill everyone in Konoha once he has his revenge on Kabuto?" she asked rhetorically. "Did he give you anything concrete that could be of use now?"

"He did offer to talk to me about Itachi and the Uchiha incident, but only in private."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow. "Really? Private? He insisted on privacy even though he was in the maximum security facility surrounded by sympathetic people? Was he just making up excuses? Did you tell him to stop playing stupid games?"

Sakura looked away quickly. "Actually… he said he was willing to talk to me… and only me."

There was a pause as Tsunade thought this over. "Interesting… I wish we were in a better position to exploit that. With enough time I might be able to set something up. Unfortunately, time is the one thing we do not have." The Hokage looked up. "The hawk returned with a message from Inoichi, he should be back in the early morning."

Sakura had been giving this a lot of internal thought. She needed some way to politically tell the Hokage that getting her mind read was the last thing she wanted right now. "Tsunade-sama, with all due respect I think I can get useful information out of Sasuke. Just give me another chance to speak to him... today… by myself."

Tsunade sighed. "This old routine again... Sakura, it didn't work the first time, It didn't work the second time, and it didn't work a few hours ago… it's not going to play out any better no matter how many times we dance this dance. I'm sorry Sakura… but no. I need a bomb to threaten the Shimura clan with, something to hold over their heads to knock them back into line… something like definitive proof that they had a set of sharingan."

Sakura held back a shiver. She really did not want that mind scan. "But, my Lady... Wouldn't it be better to get something else?"

Tsunade shook her head firmly. "Nothing else will do."

Sakura felt a ripple of indignant rage. "Didn't you say earlier that you couldn't risk the stability of the village with such inflammatory news?" she asked sarcastically.

Tsunade scowled. "I don't approve of your tone Sakura."

"And I don't approve of how I am being forced into this!" Sakura spat. "What if I don't want to have Inoichi inside my head? What if I would like to keep some of my thoughts private? What about the Laws of the Hidden Leaf Village? I understand you're feeling pressed Tsunade-sama, but don't I have the final say on whether or not I want to be scanned? Isn't it a voluntary choice?"

"Unless you're being accused of treason Sakura," snapped Tsunade. "Considering your upcoming trial… I would think long and hard about refusing to have one voluntarily."

"You mean… pretrial hearing, right?" asked Sakura a little unnerved.

"No, I mean trial," said Tsunade firmly. With each word Sakura felt a cold nervous flush in her belly. "My most recent meeting with Eri and Masanori Shimura started with them dropping an eighty page legal deposition on my desk outlining every supposed treasonous act you are accused of. It has been signed and ratified by the necessary ten councillors, Gods knows where and when, because it certainly didn't happen in the council chamber. Anyway this motion for your speedy trial is poised to be rammed through the council as early as tomorrow." The Hokage leaned forward for emphasis. "This mind scan isn't just for my benefit Sakura, it would also be for yours."

Sakura sat there, trying not to hyperventilate. Even though she knew this morning that a trial was likely to happen, to actually realize that it was going to happen terrified her. Tsunade turned to her assistant. "Shizune, I can't spend any more time arguing with the girl. I've got to go and listen to the Akimichi's grievances, I've got to finalize the reports of the Daimyo about that small village that got raided, and then I've got that mess with the Inuzuka to deal with." Tsunade ground a frustrated fist into her forehead. "God… I hate dealing with the Inuzuka. It's practically impossible to get them to agree to anything. First they all have to meet in a group. Then everything has to be argued over. They have no grasp of diplomacy. They have no respect for the council. They barely respect their own internal hierarchy… I swear, they only listen when Tsume threatens to pound them." As she was turning to leave, she stopped and gave Sakura sympathetic look. "Sakura… I understand why you're so... reluctant to have the mind scan… don't be. It's not your life you are putting at risk from the scan… It's just a reputation."

A pair of ANBU guards waiting outside the door filed out with the Hokage, while Shizune lingered behind watching Sakura. "Sakura," she said after a long pause, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry she is acting this way… being so... stern, she's under a lot of stress… I don't know if you heard from Hinata and Naruto, but things are... not going well."

Again Sakura's anger bubbled forth "Really? Gosh, that makes all the difference… Tell me Shizune, How far does she need me to humiliate myself in order for her to keep her position as Hokage? She has all that power, why doesn't she use it?"

Shizune slowly shook her head. "The position of Hokage carries a lot of respect, some influence and a lot of honor… Power? Power doesn't come automatically with the Hokage seat. The Shimura clan has already forced several… less popular measures through the council. They are stepping on toes and making enemies right and left. The Nara and Akimichi clans are upset over new regulations on medicines, the Sarutobi clan is in an uproar over the loss of their position as head of the council, and the Inuzuka clan is on the verge of starting a revolt over a proposal to build on some of their 'unused' lands." Shizune sighed. "All Tsunade-sama needs is something that puts the Shimura clan in check long enough for her to reestablish control and steer things in a more peaceful way."

"And the one who has to pay the price is me?" Sakura snapped.

Shizune pursed her lips. "I understand that you are upset, and you might not be able to see it right now, but you should know that it has cost Tsunade-sama a lot to protect you… If she was truly willing to sacrifice you for the sake of her career... given all that's happened to you… you would not be recovering here in Konoha hospital… You would be in prison," Shizune said matter of factly.

There was a sullen silence. Sakura didn't answer. "Look, Sakura… I know you must feel angry. What has happened to you is… Unthinkable… unconscionable. But you have to believe me, Tsunade-sama never meant anything like this to happen to you."

Sakura gave her a cold look. "She seems very eager to take advantage of it."

Shizune sighed. "Just because she's needs to use what happened to you in your... fight, to help her in her dealings with the Shimura clan doesn't mean she isn't sorry…"

"Go to hell!" Sakura growled at her, tears burning in her eyes. Again, the metaphorical tiger of her assault threw itself against the bars of the emotional cage she kept it in. She couldn't snap at the Hokage, but she could damn well snap at Shizune. "You go to hell! Neither one of you have any right to tell me what to do… or how I should feel… Neither one of you have the smallest idea what it is like!"

Shizune Kato waited for the echo of her shout to fade from the room before she drew herself up. "You are very wrong Sakura," she pronounced resolutely. "Very wrong indeed."

It took a moment for her to register what Shizune was saying. Sakura felt a cold chill of realization "Shizune-sempai?" she asked timidly.

Shizune took a deep breath. "Everyone wonders why the thirty three year old assistant of the Hokage never got married… why her clan never bothered trying to find a suitable match for her… Everyone assumes it's because I was too busy… am too busy." She blinked twice, long and slow. "The truth is that… my clan... my family... never got over the shame of it."

Shizune folded her arms in front of her. She was quiet for a long time. "I will be honest… there were days when I felt like… I would never be normal again. But those got farther and farther apart… I'm learned to live with it. I learned how to live well and how to see that those terrible things that happened to me… didn't have to dictate who I was." Her voice was hoarse. She cleared her throat several times before she could continue. "If you read up on the medical histories of how various… patients recover from being sexually assaulted, you'll see that their... respective outcomes are difficult to predict." Shizune paused and wiped at her eyes with one hand. "Some kunoichi are completely destroyed by it... they have no choice but to retire. Some can still function, but become dead inside. They slowly drift out of society and... sometimes end up taking their own lives." Shizune exhaled and shrugged, as if she were shedding a great weight. "Some manage to recover. There doesn't seem to be any correlation between the strength one has and how any one person will react."

"I can't tell you what will help you… but I can tell you what helped me." Shizune looked up, her eyes were wet. "I learned that I had to be brave… be brave and not give up. Just take everything that happened one day at a time, and tell myself that things are slowly getting better. It's easy… so easy to give up and feel weak, Sakura… But trust me… don't... please don't."

Shizune paused to briefly rub at her wrists. It was all Sakura could do to pretend not to notice. "It... helped me to think… that not giving up was a little like a continuation of that battle you know? Those Hidden Mist shinobi were out to destroy me in every way they could… and if I gave up… then... they won!"

Sakura couldn't say anything, she just stared up at Shizune wide eyed, stunned at this confession. Shizune blushed and composed herself under her gaze. "Anyway… you've had a lot happen to you... if you need to talk about things, I'd be more than happy to... chat again sometime." The silence grew. Eventually Sakura nodded. The Hokage's assistant coughed politely and turned to leave. "Why don't you try and get some rest… I'll... see you tomorrow," Shizune said with attempted warmth.


	98. Chapter 31: Sakura's Tale part 4

Sakura tried to rest… really she did. The hospital room was too closed in, too stuffy, too uncomfortable. There was too much raw emotion floating around in there, too much hatred, too much sorrow. Sakura decided that what she really really needed was some fresh air, or a distraction, or a change of scenery… or best yet, all three. Slowly, without bothering to check in at the floor's medical station, she made her way outside to the hospital courtyard.

The newly redesigned hospital was a much less cramped than the original that was destroyed in Pain's attack on Konoha. The corridors were wider and more accommodating. It stretched up for six stories instead of the previous three. Consisting of three wings, it also covered about twice the original grounds, leaving enough room for a well manicured garden in the centre, a garden that Tsunade-sama had specifically requested be planted and sculpted to fill one with a feeling of peace and tranquility. Sakura often ate her lunch there when she had a break in between her shifts. It was good to get away from all the chaos that surrounded everyday hospital operation… but no so far away that she couldn't be found if she was needed.

She sat in her favorite spot, on a stone bench, under a small, but wiry willow tree. It was a warm sunny day for the season. The air had that fresh smell that you get after a rainfall, and there was a small flock of birds darting this way and that over the small koi pond, snatching up gnats hovering over the water. She watched a couple, a young man and woman, perhaps a little younger than her, walk slowly through the garden, smiling shyly at each other, in between casting furtive glances about. They were obviously out on a date without their parents or clan's permission. She pretended not to notice as they ducked behind the rose bushes into the small hidden copse of ferns back there.

The Hidden Leaf village was known throughout the shinobi world for its almost puritanical views on relationships in general, and sex in particular. An attitude which a younger Sakura had often felt was patently ridiculous and painfully old fashioned. I mean these people had to know where the next generation of shinobi were going to come from didn't they? What was the point of keeping things all a big 'hands-off' mystery from the younger shinobi?

As she crossed into the higher ranks of being a medical-nin, and spent more and more time at Tsunade's side and was privy to more and more of the complaints lodged in the village requiring arbitration, she began to see why the clans came down so hard on this sort of thing. Long before she heard of Eri Shimura's little tale of how the Uchiha and the Shimura clans came to be at each other's throats, Sakura had figured out the basics of why young people's relationships were so tightly controlled.

It was all about power. Not just the parent's power over their children, but the clan's power… power that needed to be protected and nurtured, and above all… increased.

A clan's needs often overshadowed the desires of its members. Alliances, wealth, power, prestige, jutsu… not so long ago, all of those were considered in a potential match for the younger members of the more prominent clans.

Who was she kidding? Not so long ago? That sort of marital calculus was still happening all over the Land of Fire... in this very day and age! And not only amongst the major clans! The minor ones as well were looking to get a metaphorical leg up any way they could… and marrying into a family that had what you needed was the easiest way to get it.

And in all the protocols used in determining the greatest marital alliances, there was this baseline assurance that the young people involved weren't… well… 'used goods.'

Of course when that young person was a shinobi, there was usually some leeway in that. There were such things as 'seduction missions' after all. But in the Hidden Leaf village there was this tacit understanding that those assignments weren't for Konoha's elite. They were for the shinobi from the smaller families, the orphans, or those that their own clan heads had deemed 'worthless.' After all... in order to be assured a good marriage pairing you had to be... 'pure.'

These days, after the Fourth War, there was some relaxing of these traditions. Konoha shinobi had seen how customs differed in the other villages and were beginning to fight against these traditional methods. Surprisingly, this was most noticeably happening amongst the usually, rigidly traditional Hyuga clan. Case in point, Neji and Tenten seemed to be seeing an awful lot of each other these days without any repercussions… and of course there was always Naruto and Hinata…

Sakura sighed and slumped down a little on the bench. She idly wondered for a moment about Naruto and Hinata. They looked happy... frighteningly so, considering how much trouble they could get in if their blossoming romance ever became a Hyuga clan issue. On the other hand, maybe they wouldn't get into too much trouble… Like Hinata said, it wasn't like Hiashi-sama made much of a secret about who his preferred daughter was…

The young couple from earlier walked in front of her bench again, faces flushed, clothes mussed. They looked around nervously before continuing their walk around the courtyard. Yep, those two were definitely here for a clandestine meeting. She knew Naruto and Hinata had had a few of those… She'd once walked right past them making out on training field number four late one afternoon. She'd pretended she hadn't seen anything, more to save Hinata from having a stroke than anything else. Right now though… that memory made her feel as if there was a heavy weight pressing down on her chest.

She turned away from the blushing couple and studied the koi pond. She didn't want to think about that sort of thing now. She couldn't… The very notion of romance made her feel cold and panicked… right now her whole body felt tainted with the touch of Tamago's hands on her.

Sakura shuddered… and once again pushed all those sensations away, locking them up in the cage.

Sooner or later she was going to have to admit it... she was having a problem. And no matter of how she felt about how she came to be in this situation, like Shizune said, she needed to deal with it... fight it… not give in.

Tsunade was right… in a way she was... lucky… this easily could have been a whole lot worse. She could have actually been raped instead of just assaulted. If Sai hadn't spoken up when he did…

Sai. She growled under her breath and put all thought of him out of her mind. Unfortunately, that left her back with her original problem.

The problem was… well one of the problems was that if she sat down and took stock of her subconscious, even knowing she got off lucky, she could still feel this whole assault lurking there just under the surface waiting to rise up and drag her down. And then there was the attitude of Shinobi society… The moment this little story of her's got out…

The image of Shizune floated through her mind. Shizune. Strong competent Shizune, the woman who kept the Fifth Hokage in line, on the job, and sometimes, upright. A woman who was beautiful, talented, sweetness incarnate… and completely ignored by the men of her generation. Dammit, it was so unfair.

There were these stories that floated around the Hidden Leaf village, stories that the boys would twitter about on the Academy playground when they thought there weren't any girls about. Stories that were printed up on cheap paper and sold from the back, roped off section of Konoha's seedier bookstores.

Surprisingly, Jiraiya the Sanin never wrote on this... fetish. Sakura knew this because… well… it was impossible to serve of a squad with both Kakashi and Naruto off and on for almost seven years without picking up a lot of… interesting facts about the author. The 'highlights' of his texts were certainly ribald, definitely pornographic, and quite often beyond belief in their complexity, number of participants and amount of flexibility necessary in said participants in order for those scenarios to take place… But those aforementioned participants were always willing. Granted, sometimes the nameless hero was captured and thrown into a dungeon by huge bosomed amazons, or voluptuous succubi, or sinewy assassins, but circumstances always got steamy and made him a very willing part of the action. Any enemy kunoichi he... found himself 'engaged' with was soon so seduced away from evil by his humble charm, quick wit and devastating good looks that she quickly vowed to join the forces of good.

As pornographic and, quite frankly, ludicrous as the Icha-Icha tales were, the sex scenes always retained something of an optimistic tone. There was the feeling underneath it all that everyone was at least enjoying themselves at some level… As disgustingly pervy as he was, Jiraiya's stories always turned out like that.

Unlike these… other authors.

Almost exclusively, these other stories involved a powerful kunoichi, captured by enemy shinobi usually, but sometimes it was even members of her own team. Whoever her captors were, they would inevitably decide that for whatever reason, usually something along the line of that she was 'too good', that she would need to be 'taught a lesson'.

And that's when her physical and mental torment would begin.

In ones and twos and with multiple partners, violating her in every way possible, defiling her over and over again, forcing her to do horrible things all the while laughing at her, taunting her, treating this way because somehow she 'deserved it'... because she had the nerve to think she was 'too good.'

And if that wasn't enough humiliation, at some point in these tales, the kunoichi would 'flip her switch' and she'd begin to like it. She'd plead and beg and cry out for more.

But the worst part, the very worst part of all was that while most upstanding citizens of Konoha would condemn these types of stories as being filthy and improper, on some deep subconscious level… they were accepted as truth. Because running through the undercurrent of shinobi society was the sentiment that all kunoichi were uppity, and needed to be taken down a notch, combined with assumption that underneath their cold, aloof, competent exteriors, all kunoichi were wantonly despicable creatures... it was okay to treat them like dirt... because underneath it all, they liked it.

It was hideously unfair. Your family and clan expected you to be an ice princess, and feed into the uppity stereotype. The moment you did so, everyone would point and whisper, "Oh, she's too good for the likes of us! Don't waste your time with that girl, she's a total ice queen!"

But at the same time, if you had 'inappropriate contact' with a boy or, Gods forbid if you were, as Tsunade had so eloquently put it, 'dishonored'... that was it. The armor of your mystique was gone. You were no good… broken… fit only to be used and thrown away. People would point and whisper this time too… only this time the topics would be… much less civil.

Everyone would assume they'd seen who you 'really' are.

Deep down inside, Sakura was afraid... this… this had the potential to destroy her. She already worried that she was a phony. Before her assault, she was already anxious that her skills, and the respect she had as a shinobi were just a thin shell, covering up how weak and worthless she really was. She was just using the opinion of others to bolster herself up.

And that bespoke just one nagging question… In the eyes of her society, where would she stand if everyone knew she had been sexually assaulted?

Sakura took a deep breath and tried her best to bolster herself. Shizune… Shizune wanted to help her. And Hinata... Hinata had said she would always be her friend. But actually confronting it right now… Physically admitting it...

She knew it shouldn't bother her… really it shouldn't… She was Sakura Haruno! Trained medical-nin, war veteran, jounin. She was dedicated to her profession. She wasn't interested in the trappings of society! She wasn't interested in relationships! She wasn't interested in what anyone else thought, or how they pointed and stared, or how they'd whisper behind her back, or how the rumours would grow and consume her and her family, or how they'd…

"Hey Forehead!" Ino's voice cut through her thoughts like a katana through silk. "I heard you were finally up! I went up to check your room and was totally freaking out until I saw you out here." Her blonde friend plopped down on the bench beside her and gave her a cursory glance, smiling. "You look like hell… Didn't you pay attention during that bit of the lecture where they say Medical-nin are supposed to avoid brawling in the streets?"

"Ha-ha, very funny Ino-pig," said Sakura, still too weighed down by her own thoughts to come up with a clever retort, but trying nonetheless to carry on their usual banter… anything was better than dwelling inside her own head right now. "What are you doing all the way over in this part of town? Isn't the Akimichi clan's hog wallows on the other side of the village?" Ino sat there staring at the koi pond, ignoring her for longer than would be polite. "Ino?" Sakura prompted.

"Hmm? Oh sorry," Ino shook herself and quickly looked around. "I was just thinking that it's a really great day to be out in the sunshine." Ino said cheerfully.

"What?"

"I mean just look at it Sakura! The sky, the birds," she took in a huge breath and grinned, "the flowers." She turned and gave Sakura a good natured grin. "Although it seems the cherry blossoms could use a good scrubbing, phew!" She held her nose. "When was the last time you had a bath?"

"Ha ha… very funny… It's been a rough week."

"Tell me about it Forehead!" It has been a quite iiiii-interesting week," Ino said stretching out the syllables of 'interesting'. "An iiiii-interesting week just packed full of iiiiii-interesting things. " She giggled in a silly way. "So iiiii-interesting!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Ino… are you drunk?"

Ino sputtered with laughter. "Drunk?" she grinned hugely, and Sakura inwardly cringed. She knew that smile of Ino's. It only made an appearance when she had a new boyfriend. "Maybe I am drunk… drunk on the wine of love!"

"Really," said Sakura slightly surprised. Ino had never used that term to describe any of her boyfriends before. "In love?"

Ino shook her head, her blonde hair tossing about in a swirl. "Really! I mean it came as a shock to me too Forehead! I mean who would have ever thought it! And I'm talking big time hot and heavy sparks flying every which way, not some silly little schoolgirl crush like that thing we used to have with Sasuke!" Ino gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" she gasped.

"It's alright Ino, I…"

"No no no! That was so insensitive of me!" Ino interrupted with a look of sudden concern on her face. "I shouldn't have said anything… especially about 'him'. Not after what... happened," she finished awkwardly. "You know if you ever need to… talk about things… I'll always willing to listen… and stuff," Ino paused as if she wasn't sure what else to say.

"What… what are you talking about?" asked Sakura with a sinking feeling. Oh Gods, please let Ino not have heard anything… please just once let the ANBU actually be competent in keeping a story like this to themselves.

"You know," Ino said with a quick look around to make sure no one was listening. "The rumor about what happened with Sasuke?"

Sakura cringed inside. So much for prayers. "What about him?" she asked in a pained voice.

"Sasuke! After your little… that little thing in the ANBU holding center, he tried to fight off half the ANBU in Konoha and carry you away over his shoulder. He didn't get very far, but still… He was screaming and hollering and going on about how no one was going to touch you or take you away from him… Moegi-chan saw the whole thing and said it was almost romantic... in a creepy, possessive, caveman sort of way of course." A suspicious look crossed Ino's features. "You don't look upset... You don't look upset at all… in fact I know that look of yours Sakura!" Ino sat back and gleefully covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh my gosh! You're hiding something!"

Sakura opened her mouth a few times but nothing came out. Sasuke... did... what? Those quick comments that Tsunade and Anko and Naruto had made earlier made a little more sense now. She got the mental image of Sasuke carrying her… and then… then… It was like her mind just completely shut down at that point. "Hur?" she finally asked stupidly.

"Come on Forehead, the rumor… you must have heard about the rumour. Everyone's talking about it!" Ino looked at her desperately. "No? Really? You really want me to tell it to you?" Sakura gave her a slow nod. "Okay... there's the big rumor going around that Sasuke tried to… you know, tear your clothes off and... stuff." Ino paused and waited to see Sakura's reaction. When none was forthcoming, she continued. "Understandable really, you weren't wearing very much."

Shit. That was it. If Ino had heard that, it was all over Konoha by now. Sakura still made an attempt to put the story right. "He didn't tear my clothes off!" Sakura said forcefully. "If anything… Sasuke was… completely honorable."

A shocked, smug smile slowly crawled across Ino's features. "Oh... my... gosh!" Ino said slowly and with great reverence. "You… You're defending him!" she said with dreamy interest. "Everyone I've talked to has just assumed that he was trying to carry you off and do unspeakable things to you," Ino leaned forward and grinned with gossiping glee. "Don't tell me… the other rumor is true?"

"Which... other rumor?" said Sakura with cold dread.

"That Sasuke managed to seduce you with that hot little Uchiha body of his," said Ino with a waggle of her eyebrows.

"What?" yelped Sakura.

Ino shrugged. "Well that's just what I heard… of course, no one really thought that one was true for a minute..." Ino leaned forward, "Or is it? Tell me Sakura… and don't lie… we Yamanaka know when someone lies… did you and Sasuke do the no pants dance?" she asked suggestively.

"Eww! No!" insisted Sakura.

"Make the beast with two backs?" Ino chirped.

"Ino… Stop."

"Dance the horizontal Lambada?" Ino said with a shimmy.

"Cut it out!"

Ino gave that insolent knowing smile that she perfected back before she graduated from the Academy. "Personally... I don't know if I believe you Sakura," Ino said teasingly. "With you all sweaty in your underwear, and him being all clingy like that...Well, I can't say I approve of your choice in men, or romantic venue, but if you ask me, it's about time you got a little action, even if it is in a…" Ino stopped suddenly as Sakura grabbed her arm. "Ouch!"

"Nothing happened between me and Sasuke," Sakura said, her words as cold and sharp as broken glass.

Ino squirmed. "What the hell Forehead? I'm just teasing you!" Sakura felt an instant pang of shame and released her. "That hurt! You didn't have to do that! I was only trying to get you to talk about it, you know!"

Sakura pulled her arm away and folded her hands in her lap. "Sorry," she said with instant regret.

Ino nursed her arm. "Jeez, you can't take a joke anymore can you?"

Sakura sighed. "Look, I'm sorry Ino, okay? It's been... rough… I'm going through a lot."

Ino stood up. "Yeah well… I can understand that Forehead. Everyone's going through a lot these days. Trust me, getting caught with a man can be pretty scary." The smile melted off of Ino's face. "I should know. No need to take it out on me though. Save all your strength for your mom." She looked down at Sakura's blanching face. "Oh yeah, she's heard the stories too, and according to my mom… she's not happy... I'd be careful when you get home."

Sakura watched Ino sashay away. "Shit," she swore again. Her mother… things were really going straight to hell. She leaned back and covered her eyes. Suddenly everything was too bright all the sounds were too loud. "Psychological trauma induced anxiety symptoms," whispered the medical-nin voice in the back of her mind. She told it to shut the hell up.

So… Her mother had heard… these rumors… and so had Ino's mother... about her and Sasuke. Well that was going to make everything just peachy keen. She and Ino's respective mothers had been in constant competition since they were girls… a lot like Sakura and Ino had been.

Both mothers had relationships to the Senju clan. Although to be perfectly honest, you could say that half the clans in Konoha were related to the Senju clan through marriage somewhere. Everyone wanted ties to the winning side.

Ironically, it was their distant relation that started their rivalry. For while they were both technically cousins, Ino's mother, Azami bore the Senju clan name, while Mebuki who still proudly claimed ties to the clan, carried the surname of the Kagawa clan, a much less noteworthy family.

They had been rivals since their first introduction in the academy when Mebuki had pointed out that they were related and Azami had looked down her nose and coldly insisted "No… We are most definitely not… Kagawa-san."

Starting as Academy students, through their genin and chunin years, they were in constant competition with each other. A competition that culminated with Azami Senju getting married to Inoichi Yamanaka, the second son of the Head of the Yamanaka clan. Mebuki Kagawa set her sights on a shinobi from the Haruno clan, a smaller clan mostly known for its stone work and earth style jutsu.

Kizashi Haruno had great promise. He was a well liked shinobi, not overly connected or politically savvy, but handsome enough, skilled and friendly to everyone. Everyone who taught him at the academy said so. A few even said that if he could just focus his mind on jutsu and training more and less on making so many jokes, he might even be a candidate for Hokage one day. Mebuki decided he would be the perfect project to work on in her rivalry with Azami.

But then Minato Namikaze came back from the third war a celebrated hero, while Kizashi suffered a leg wound that had him recovering in the hospital for six months.

Sakura often thought that even though Mebuki Haruno (formerly Kagawa) really did seem to love and appreciate her father, her disappointment over that lost opportunity never went away. Sometimes it felt like she just transferred it to her daughter.

This competition between the Haruno and Yamanaka families was, alternately ignored or acted upon by Ino and Sakura. These days it was mostly ignored, leaving both mothers to exchange subtle personal jabs behind forced smiles. Although if Ino's mom started making cutting comparisons between Sakura and her own daughter…

Sakura suddenly realized that she never asked Ino about her new boyfriend. She idly wondered who it could be.

A flock of small birds had been slowly gathering about her feet. It wasn't surprising. Most of the birds who called the Hospital garden home had learned by now that people sitting on the benches were probably going to be good for some handouts.

She smiled at them as one by one they tilted their heads and cautiously hopped closer. One of them let out a loud chirp and ruffled its feather indignantly when she made no move to produce bread crumbs. "I'm sorry," she said waving her hands to show that they were empty. "I don't have anything with me."

Most of the flock eyed her and promptly flew away. But one bird, bolder than the rest flapped up and landed next to her on the bench. It sat there watching her expectantly. Slowly on an impulse she held out her hand to it. The bird jumped and landed on her finger.

"Why hello there," she cooed to it. "I really don't have any food you know."

The bird flapped its wings soundlessly and cocked its head. It was a glossy black color. Its feathers were so shiny they seemed to be wet. It opened its beak and gave a croaking cry. Sakura leaned closer and saw little swirls on the surface of each feather.

Ink.

Barely thinking, she snapped her fingers closed, spattering fat black drops everywhere. Sakura squeezed her fist tight crushing anything that might be still in her palm. After grinding her fingers for a full thirty seconds she slowly opened her hand. There on her palm was written the phrase _Root is watching... be careful._ She recognized that flowing, precise script.

She jumped to her feet. "Sai!" Sakura screamed. "Where are you? You little shit! Where are you hiding?" She spun around, searching the foliage. "I'll kill you! I'll tear off your goddamned head!"

Her screams shocked all the birds and insects of the garden into silence. There was no response from Sai or anyone else. Of course there wouldn't be. Why should she expect there to be? He could do that beast scroll jutsu of his and be kilometers away. He wasn't here, and if he was he certainly wouldn't face her. But that didn't stop her rage. Sakura stood there trembling, face flushed hyperventilating. Her head swam and she leaned forward gripping the bench for balance, her fingers leaving dents in the wrought iron.

A few faces peeped from the windows of the hospital. She felt a sudden wave of embarrassment and shame for just a moment before she pushed that back, deep down inside herself.

Sakura sighed heavily, sat back down and tried to let the 'peaceful healing energies' the architect claimed he put into the design work their way over and through her. She tried to relax amongst the gentle sounds of birds chirping, the delicate lapping of small waves in the pond, the scents of flowers wafting on the breeze… She tried to relax, but she couldn't. There was just too much she was holding back… too much she was holding in… and she couldn't let it out now… not when there were enemies about. With one more cautious look around the garden, she got up and headed back to her hospital room. Even the garden was ruined for her now.

Whatever Tsunade had used to bring her out of unconsciousness this morning had worn off long ago. She had a pounding headache and her legs were getting the jitters… It was time to head back to the hospital room.

Perhaps she could just sleep until tomorrow. Tomorrow… ugh… Who was she kidding? She wouldn't be able to sleep.


	99. Chapter 31: Sakura's Tale part 5

Tsunade wasted no time with the mind scan.

She bustled in with a travel weary Inoichi in tow just as the sun was beginning to peep over the horizon. From his face, it was clear he also was uncomfortable with this… delving into the mind of one of his daughter's best friends.

"Now Sakura," he said, trying to sound kindly. "We're going to give you a single injection. It's nothing terrible, simply a little cocktail of a benzodiazepine and sodium pentothal. You're going to start to feel drowsy. I want you to very slowly count backwards from twenty. That should give the drugs enough time to take full effect. Are you with me so far?"

Even though she knew the procedure for a mind scan backwards and forwards, Sakura nervously nodded. There was something about the whole process being finally here that made her feel like a six year old about to get her first shots. Inoichi tried to smile comfortingly. "Good. It should feel like you're having a very intense dream. You might not feel me inside your head, but if you do… try not to panic, I will just be… looking. It will be hard, but try to remember this conversation. Try to remember that you want to do this. The less you panic and fight, the easier it will be for both of us and the sooner we will be able to get this over with… okay?"

"Yamanaka-san… I…" Sakura looked back and forth between Tsunade, Shizune and Inoichi. The Hokage was looming over the side of the bed, her face carefully blank. Right behind her was Shizune, giving her a welcoming nod. She didn't want to do this. She really didn't want to do this. All her life she had suffered from the sneaking suspicion that she wasn't good enough, that everything she did was a lie. She just knew deep inside that if people took too close a look at her they would see past this… thin veneer of competency and confidence and see how she was just a weak, twisted, pitiful little thing… And now… after what Tamago had done to her she was holding tightly onto a secret that could actually destroy her.

And here was her best friend's father asking to see inside her defenses… see everything that made her weak… made her broken.

"Sakura?" Inoichi asked quietly. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Her throat tightened. She almost started to cry. Sakura saw Tsunade's lips part open, ready to give her some command, an order no doubt to go ahead with the mind scan. Shizune was staring at her eyes wide with kindness and encouragement. She mouthed two words. "Be brave."

Be brave… Shizune was right over there. She'd been through much worse… and she was telling her to fight back. Well, this was one way to fight the Shimura clan. She was still afraid, but somehow… it wasn't as bad. "Okay," Sakura said quietly.

She felt the sting of the needle and she slowly began to count backwards. She didn't remember reaching zero.

* * *

It was almost exactly like a dream… and not a good one.

She couldn't remember who she was, or where she was. She was cold. So cold all over… She could move her arms and legs, but every motion was slow… there was a lot of resistance as if she was underwater. Things floated by her… bubbles maybe? They twisted and floated around her, riding on some unfelt breeze. A large one bobbled right up to her, orbiting her head. She peered into it, and just behind the surface a familiar face stared back. Pink hair, green eyes… a wide forehead. "My face," she thought possessively. She reached out and touched the bubble with one hand. A picture of a tree with pink petals raining down. "Sakura… My name."

The bubbles started to drift towards her, moving with deliberate purpose. As each one touched her, another small piece of information would appear. There were flashes… little bits and pieces of things that she knew she should know… faces, snatches of phrases that echoed in her ears. Her Father, Neji, Hiashi, Eri Shimura, Sai… More and more she began to rebuild her story. The whirlwind of images slowed as they approached a particular day and she saw herself approaching the ANBU interrogation and holding center. Now it was like she was watching a movie, from a camera recording everything from a point behind her eyes.

If it was a movie, someone else was totally in control of the projector. It ran steadily to the point where she undid the seal binding Sasuke's sharingan, at which point it stopped, rewound, and replayed that moment three more times. Then it spun forward again, speeding through the long period where she was cleaning up the discharge from Sasuke's eye.

It slowed again when the Root extraction team appeared, pausing and making careful study of each of her antagonists. Then there was a flash and a jump. The movie started to replay itself, making her go through her dance of violence, step by step killing them one by one before Sai could restrain her with his ink snake…

Wait… that wasn't right… was it? Didn't she escape from Sai's snake before she attacked the Root ANBU?

Other details began to change as well. The snake masked Root ANBU… He had short black hair, hadn't he? Not a brown ponytail. She was positive that no one in the Root abduction squad was a woman, and yet two of them were now standing there in her memory, wearing the typical ANBU coveralls with armor.

The scene with Tamago repeated itself, over and over, watching her first futile fight with him, her knocking Sai away, her mixing up the contact poison, and finally when she pulled of his mask, revealing his sharingan. The 'movie' of her memories ran forward and back, sometimes stopping on one particular scene, sometimes playing all the way through. The memory recall ground to a halt when it reached her comment, "I look like an S&amp;M fetishist's wet dream!" It paused there… looking down at her bruised torso, for quite a long time.

It rewound all the way back to where she first defeated the Root shinobi. Only now, they weren't dressed in their Root robes any more, they looked like typical Konoha ANBU. And she killed each and every one. She broke free of Sai's restraining snake and attacked him too. Then she went back into the cell and helped Sasuke to his feet. "Excellent job Sakura," he said with a smile. "I knew I could count on you."

"Oh Sasuke," she said, her skin burning hot with his touch, "you know I'd do anything you asked!"

He was leaning into kiss her, when another ANBU appeared at the second gate. She remembered this part. His mask should have been a smooth featureless shell, like an egg… but it wasn't. It was a weasel, an odd choice for an ANBU. He took one look at them and fled. "After him!" Sasuke commanded. "We can't leave a single one of them alive!"

Sakura chased this nameless ANBU down the stairs, tackling him as he reached the bottom. With a cruel laugh she held up the syringe she had prepared earlier…

A syringe? She never had any syringe!

… and injected the ANBU. She heard footsteps and turned. Sasuke was coming down the steps after her. "Good girl," he purred, "would you like to have your reward now?"

She shivered with the way he was looking at her. "Yes please… master," she begged. Sasuke shoved her backwards against the wall and tore at her blouse.

This was wrong, this was wrong, this was wrong all wrong! What the hell was going on in her head? It was like reliving those 'Sasuke' dreams she used to have when she was twelve… only... much more graphic.

There was a static-like break in the images, and the story jumped back to what she remembered... her arguing with Sasuke, keeping him from killing Tamago. There was multiple replaying of Sasuke saying 'And whose pretty eyes do I see before me now? An aunt? An uncle? Some young cousin perhaps who screamed and cried and begged for mercy as the knives came flashing down?' followed by a long pause. Then Sasuke's sharingan flashed and the black flames engulfed the body.

Another jarring leap. Back to Sasuke. He was pressing up against her, his body rubbing hot on her front while cool stone caressed her back. "Did you kill him?" he asked, in between bites on her neck.

"Kill who?" she heard herself gasp with pleasure. Sasuke gave a tossing nod of his head to the ANBU lying on the floor. "No… a paralytic agent… he'll be out for hours," she panted.

Sasuke stopped and scowled. "I told you not to leave any of them alive," he grunted. "I guess I'd better clean up your mistakes." His sharingan flashed and the body burst into black flames.

There was the fuzz of static again. Only this time, this time Sakura had the faintest whisper of an extra sensation. It felt like someone reading over her shoulder. She could have sworn that there was someone else here, in the dream, with her… For some reason the face of Ino's father floated up in her mind here… That's right Yamanaka-san! He was going to be reading her memories! She remembered that. It wasn't the best thing, not exactly what she wanted, but he was a family friend, she could trust him.

The wall of the ANBU holding and interrogation center exploded covering herself and Sasuke with dust and debris. Sasuke started setting fires every which way. He reached out with one hand… "Come on Sakura… Come with me!" he said reaching out to her. This scene stopped and began to replay itself, but as it stopped, this time Sakura could feel it happen. Like when you are spinning a wheel and suddenly someone else grabs hold of it. The velocity changed, the control changed.

The memory reached the part where Sasuke was just about to use the amaterasu on the real Leaf ANBU…

But wait, then who were the ANBU she killed before? She didn't kill any ANBU... did she? No… She remembered now, she did kill them... they just weren't ANBU… they were Root…

...and she jumped forward to seal his eyes before anyone could get hurt. Only she looked and got sucked into a genjutsu.

She could sense the eagerness behind her. Again her memory stopped and began a very slow replay, step by step slowly cataloguing each and every pattern of Sasuke's sharingan as it spun and started to settle.

And that's when it dawned on her that Inoichi wouldn't be interested in Sasuke's sharingan. Inoichi Yamanaka would only be interested in seeing her story... Her real story… which was getting… confusing.

Sakura had a moment of realization that crystallized into cold dread. This wasn't Ino's father… Someone else was inside her head… going through her thoughts… and more than just that, somehow they were trying to change her memories.

She reached out and felt her mind connect with some external personality. There was the sensation of a stinging slap and a hurrying of pace as the other mind tried to force its way through her thoughts, grabbing what it could, erasing what it could not. Her memories swirled around in her head like leaves blown by a storm. The soap bubble like recollections, shining in multicolored hues, darted this way and that. There was a sharp pain and Sasuke's comments about 'knives flashing down' was almost popped, destroyed. Somehow she managed to grab it and hang on.

Sakura spread her mental presence thin and curled up into a ball with everything she wanted to protect at her center… just like they teach at the Academy in resisting psychic interrogation 101. There was a huge blast, like echoing thunder as the other presence attacked her defenses.

The invading mind promptly fell back, squealing as it was counter-attacked by her other sense of self… 'Inner Sakura'.

Sakura released her memories and joined in, swooping down on the invading mind, picturing herself all spines, sharp teeth and claws. She would never be as good at this as Ino was. But she had mentally sparred with the Yamanaka girl enough to pick up a few tricks.

Slowly, by centimeters, she fought the mind scanner off, leaving nothing but a foul taste in her mouth. There was a brief moment of calm, a pause as the psychic intruder warily circled, searching for an opening. And then, without a word, the presence vanished, leaving her alone.

Sakura relaxed, just a hair. Was she safe? Was it gone?

There was a slow disturbance in the dream. A huge glacially moving black cloud listlessly settled around her. She swung out at it and it grabbed her before she could connect. "Stay calm Sakura, stay calm," a deep voice reverberated in her skull. She knew this voice, it was a voice she could trust.

But it was touching her, grabbing her, reaching out for thoughts that she knew she had to save and protect. Sakura fought where she could, wrapped herself around whatever she couldn't.

Somewhere, somehow separate from her mind she felt her body twitch. She felt her lips move. They were heavy and rubbery. "Help!" she tried to scream. It came out the thinnest whisper.

"She's panicking! She's waking up!" The deep voice called out. "Gods! She's fighting it like a wildcat!" There was a pained grunt as Sakura rolled her mind into a ball and thought herself into a porcupine slashing out with her spines. "Where did she learn that?" the voice said in wonder.

"What do you need?" the Hokage called out, an edge of worry in her voice.

"More of the benzodiazepine! Hurry! We don't want her to hurt herself!"

"No!" whispered Sakura. "Stop!" she tried to hiss. There was an icy wave that coursed down her arm, dissolving into an icy tingle as it reached her shoulder. Her thoughts started to spin and fade.

The strong voice echoed through her mind again. "Well then, let's try this again… I can't recall the last time I've been attacked like that right off the bat," it said good naturedly. The last thing she truly remembered was coiling about what few memory bubbles she could still hold on to with her numb fingers. She pressed her face into the closest one. There was the taste of choking red dust in the back of her mouth, and she could hear someone crying…. someone familiar.

"Sasuke," she whispered.

His voice was a song of misery and anguish. She had the instinct to reach out and dry his tears… Hearing him cry like that, it was all she could do not to run forward and comfort him. She took a few cautious steps and stopped. This close, she could catch a better glimpse of the body Sasuke was holding. Despite the flapping of the corpse's wind driven cloak, Sakura could plainly see it was a female.

She tried to take another step, but her feet wouldn't move. They felt heavier than lead.

* * *

Through the drunken swaying of the hospital room she recognized Inoichi's voice. "...I know what I saw Tsunade-sama, and I'm telling you she has two distinct sets of recollections regarding the event! One which follows the story as she told it to you and another which is… well… quite different." He sounded troubled.

"How much different?" came the Hokage's voice.

There was a pause. "Let me put it to you this way, if this other story is the true one… she's a traitor to the village."

"Sakura would never betray the village," Tsunade said loyally.

"Then if you want to use her mind scan as evidence, you're going to have to explain to the whole courtroom how she has two sets of memories imprinted on top of each other!" said Inoichi. "Not to mention the memories she was protecting." Inoichi's voice held a note of shame in it. "I didn't dare try to dig out those. Her mind was under enough stress as it was." There was a deep sigh and a mumbled question that she couldn't hear. "I'll tell you what will happen," the Head of the Yamanaka clan said sourly. "I'll fail, damaging her mind in the process... Your opposition will probably propose that it was done on purpose because she was carrying too many of your secrets."

"I was always led to believe that the mind scan was one of the purest forms of information gathering in existence. Is something like overwriting a person's recollections even possible?" asked the Hokage.

There was a long pause from Inoichi. "At one point there was a... forbidden jutsu in the Yamanaka clan… It was… originally developed as a brainwashing technique where one could alter or even replace memories in an enemy subject. But it's been long lost for at least two generations, and for good reason!"

They were talking about her! She had to tell them what happened! Sakura struggled to rise on the cot and promptly let out a moan. Her muscles were stiff, oh so stiff. They felt like they had been stretched from the bones. She ached everywhere. She couldn't help but cry out again. Footsteps rushed to her side. "Sakura!" yelped Shizune. "Calm down! You need to relax!"

Sakura took in a deep breath. "Jutsu," she gasped, "it was a jutsu."

More footsteps "What Jutsu? When did it happen Sakura? came Inoichi's voice.

"Right before... you started. Thought it was you… at first."

"There! You see!" said Tsunade triumphantly. "It had to have been this memory jutsu!"

"Impossible," said Inoichi flatly. "It's been lost!"

"But if someone kept it, or researched it and figured out how to accomplish it! It could have been used here! Her testimony is still useful," insisted Tsunade.

Inoichi slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama… But it is my opinion that it is highly unlikely you'd be able to convince anyone of that. First of all, whatever jutsu this was… if it even was a jutsu, the memory replacement wasn't complete. There are quite clearly two sets of memories. One is probably real, one probably false, but there is no means for me or anyone else to tell them apart, other than going by Sakura's word. Second, this forbidden jutsu, if it is indeed the one that was used, requires a high level of mastery. This was an extremely sloppy job… a true master of the Yamanaka arts would be ashamed to leave a jutsu like this."

Sakura forced herself to speak again. "I fought him off… Ino showed me how."

Inoichi smiled. "So that's where you learned it from! I thought I recognized the second Yamanaka defense! Nicely done!"

"If she fought him off, that would explain the incompleteness of the jutsu!" said Tsunade insistently.

Inoichi shook his head slowly and leaned forward. "Sakura, honey… when did this attack happen?"

"Just now… just before… during the mind scan."

"Are you sure?" asked Inoichi. Sakura nodded her reply.

Inoichi leaned back. "Well that settles it then… Tsunade-sama, from what little I know about this jutsu, it requires line of sight of the target, preferably the user of the jutsu needs to be extremely close, close enough to make out every last detail of the target's face… There is nobody here but you, me, and Shizune-san." There was a long pause. "I am sorry, I don't see how you can reasonably use anything I gathered today at an evidence hearing."

Sakura forced herself to sit up. It hurt, it hurt like hell, but she'd had worse. The pain even helped her to wake up some. "Inoichi-san," she slurred. "It's true…Sasuke and I... we were attacked by Root! You have to believe me!"

"Inoichi," Tsunade asked carefully. "Is there... anything else you can think of? The girl is about to be accused of treason. Is there any other jutsu you can think to try that might help?"

Ino's father smiled sadly, reached out and awkwardly patted Sakura on the shoulder. "I believe you Haruno-san, I believe you… Unfortunately, what I believe matters very little in how this game is played." He looked up and gave Tsunade a reproachful look. "Regardless of whether or not Sakura is a… whatever she may or may not have done, it is my professional opinion that we need to take a break. The sanctity of her mind has been violated, and that is a truly terrible thing… She needs rest, perhaps even counseling and treatment. Continuing any further before she fully recovers would be… unsafe."

Tsunade didn't say anything. She just watched Sakura, thinking. "Tsunade-sama?" Shizune prompted. "Did you hear Inoichi? He says Sakura needs rest… and help."

Tsunade closed her eyes and shuddered. "Well, we will have to see whether or not I can last long enough to give it to her." She turned to Inoichi. "Thank you Yamanaka-san… that will be all."

There was a long uncomfortable silence as Inoichi's footsteps echoed away. The three of them sat there, not looking at each other. It was Tsunade who made the first move. She reached out for the interrogation kit. "You need to rest," she said to Sakura bluntly. "I'll give you a sedative."

"No!" cried Sakura, she was still woozy from the drugs from the mind scan and missed the Hokage's arm. "No more injections! No more sleeping!" The last thing she wanted to do was be drugged again, not when that mysterious jutsu wielder was still around… Despite Inoichi's protestations of how something like that was impossible.

Tsunade looked down at her and frowned. "Sakura, we need you to be fully rested and recovered if…"

"No!" Sakura yelled. "No more!"

Shizune stepped forward. "Hokage-sama," she said quietly, "perhaps… perhaps we should do as she wishes? She has had a very hard time…"

Sakura snapped. She still felt sick, the room was still spinning slightly… there was no way for her to control the hurt bursting forth from within her. "A hard time?" she asked, her words slurred. "A hard time? I've had a hard time? I started off with late night back to back hospital shifts, midnight missions chasing after idiots who should know better, getting the shock of my life seeing my long lost teammate again… I spent the better part of two days running all over the Gods damned Leaf village trying to convince you that Sasuke wasn't a threat! And what do I get in return?" Sakura asked on the cusp of hysteria. "I get dangled out as bait in some stupid little contest with your enemies! I get threatened, I get attacked, I almost get raped… I get attacked... again! And this time right under your very nose Tsunade-sama! What's next? Are you going to try to convince me to jump off a bridge for you? Do you think that my suicide will help build you sympathy in the great, wonderful cause of you keeping the Hokage seat?"

Tsunade seemed to shrink a little bit. "Sakura… I'm sorry. If you want I can try to…"

"You've done enough!" spat Sakura. "Everything you've asked of me lately has been some move in this big stupid fight you're having with the Shimura clan. And every move you've made has been a losing one!"

"Sakura I think you should…" started Shizune.

"I tried explaining this to you," said Tsunade in a restrained voice. "Sometimes, in the game of politics you have to make a dangerous move and…"

"That wasn't some shogi piece you were moving!" Sakura said, her voice cold but trembling. "That was me! Every move you tricked me into making… I'm the one who paid the price for it!" Her screech echoed in the Hospital room. She swallowed but continued to glare at her teacher. "You're sacrificing the people who care about you just to put off the inevitable."

"Sakura!" Shizune said her mouth dropping open in an 'O.' "Tsunade-sama is the Hokage! By all rights she can…"

"Shizune!" the Hokage's voice rang out in the room. "Just… let it be. She's right." Tsunade rose from her chair. "Sakura is absolutely right… I did let her pay the price… and I need to fix that."

The Hokage turned sharply and walked briskly towards the door. Shizune half rose as well, frantically looking between Tsunade and Sakura. "You stay Shizune," the Hokage ordered. "Take care of things here. Debrief her and release her. I've… I've got a meeting I have to get to."

Shizune turned back to the bed, a nervous look on her face. "Well Sakura, I guess that there are a few things that you should know before I… release you from the hospital." Shizune paused to see if Sakura would have any reaction, but none was forthcoming. She took a deep breath. "It's about your hearing… I won't lie, no matter what happens, standing up in front of the Council is going to be harsh. They are going to say terrible things about you, and try to provoke you… But the Hokage has already taken a few steps to ensure that the hearing's end result should be as good as we can make it. Try not to worry… it's not going to be that bad."

There was a note in Shizune's voice that made Sakura hesitate. "When you say, it's not going to be that bad… what do you mean?" She watched her sempai closely, but the older woman refused to look up and meet her eyes. "What sort of steps have you taken?"

Shizune toyed idly with a card saying 'Use your Power of Youth to get better soon Sakura-san!' perched underneath a vase of flowers from Team Guy. "Well... despite pressures being levered against the Nara clan, there is a promise from Shikaku Nara that he is willing to represent you, so that's good overall... and I think that Tsunade-sama still has a few long saved favors that she can call in, so if things look like they're going bad in the trial she could use those… she might be able to make a few last minute deals." She took in a deep breath and let it out sharply. " But I'm not going to lie to you, as far as Tsunade's long term chances at remaining Hokage go… things look pretty bleak right about now… you see as of last night… Eri Shimura put forth a motion that the Hokage be censured one more time. It was upheld by a majority of the council elders. According to the new rules… they can now put forth a vote to remove Tsunade from her seat at any time."

Sakura didn't quite know how to respond to that. On the one hand she was still very upset with Tsunade… on the other hand having the Shimura clan in charge of Konoha… "Well, I guess I'm not the only one in the village who is disillusioned with her," she muttered.

Shizune leaned forward, her face a mask of anger. "It is far beyond mere disillusionment you…" She leaned back and took a deep breath. "Tsunade-sama has lost control of the village… last night three members of the Inuzuka clan were arrested by the ANBU for assaulting a member of the Fukuda clan. This 'grievous breach of the peace' was all that certain council members needed to call an emergency session… This morning right before Inoichi showed up, the council named Eiji Shimura to head all shinobi assignments."

Despite all her anger at Tsunade, Sakura gasped. "They… They can't do that!" The person who held the control over the mission assignments, held control over every clan in the Hidden Leaf village. Despite the fact that many clans had secondary family professions, medicines, flowershops, foodstuffs, etc… the real income for each clan was brought in by missions.

Shizune raised an eyebrow. "You're surprised by this? You of all people should be well aware of what lengths the Shimura clan is willing to go to to solidify their hold on power." Shizune shook her head. "Tsunade-sama took a risk… a big one a risk she normally wouldn't make," she admitted, "And it didn't work… And yes… you suffered because of it… and no, it isn't fair." Shizune pulled out a clipboard and scribbled something hastily across the bottom of it in pen. She tore off the page and tossed it at Sakura. "But do you know what? The Shimura clan makes political moves like that daily… treats them as if they were common place… and thinks nothing of it." The Hokage's aide spun on her heel and marched towards the door. She paused in the hallway and seemed to sag a little. "Sakura… anger will help you… but make sure it is directed anger. Lashing out at people who care about you for their mistakes or their ignorance… burning bridges..." Shizune stopped and gave a deep sigh. "I hope you see soon that Tsunade-sama needs your assistance… and your forgiveness."


	100. Chapter 31: Sakura's Tale part 6

Her walk back home was sobering. There was an air about Konoha that Sakura didn't think she'd ever felt before. The usual cheerful, friendly atmosphere was gone, replaced by dark suspicious looks and frowns of open hostility. She passed a pub and saw what must have been half of the male population of the Nara clan inside, quietly murmuring and drinking heavily. Knowing Shikaku Nara's reputation, she didn't think that much of it... until she next passed the Korean style barbecue restaurant and saw that it was packed full of Akimichi. There was none of the typical good natured singing and boisterous laughter coming from an Akimichi gathering however, everyone was eating in sullen silence. Even more unnerving than that was a pack of Inuzuka loitering on a street corner, radiating the cold threat of violence, huge dogs lounging at their feet, eyeing all the passerby.

Sakura really started to take a closer note of her surroundings then. Squads of jonin were dashing over the rooftops, in a never ending criss cross of patrols. There were ANBU pairs openly walking about the village… which clearly meant someone was trying to send a message to the general populace, because ANBU were only seen when they wanted to be.

Sakura sucked in a deep breath, lowered her head and pressed on. Tsunade was right… Underneath it all, the Hidden Leaf village really felt like a powder keg.

Heh… Powder keg… that was an apt metaphor, considering the explosion she was expecting from her mother the moment the opened the front door.

* * *

Her mother sat her down in the kitchen, and then went and fetched her father. For once Kizashi was refraining from joking. Most disturbing of all, her parents didn't ever throw any pointed accusations at each other, they just sat across from her at the table and stared.

It was her father who spoke first. "Blossom," he said in a quavering voice. "Your mother and I have been worried about you… very worried."

Sakura sighed. "I know… I should have gotten word to you that I was okay… I'm sorry... There's been a lot going on and..."

"Word that you were okay?" Mebuki muttered incredulously. "Word that you were okay?! Do you know that we had to hear about what happened from an ANBU patrol that showed up on our doorstep?"

Kizashi laid a hand on his wife's arm. "Now now dearest, we promised that we wouldn't shout."

Sakura took a deep breath. "Mom… I'm sorry. I don't know what else you want me to say."

"Hmph!" her mother grunted with folded arms. "You could at least acknowledge that you should have stayed away from that boy… You would not believe the things I have heard. Azami Yamanaka came by to express all the proper sympathies, but I could tell she was secretly gloating."

Kizashi gave a pained sigh. "Mebuki… You have known Azami for thirty some odd years now… This rivalry of yours is…"

"Is not the subject of discussion right now!" snapped her mother. "We are discussing the behavior of our daughter!" Mebuki scowled at her. "Honestly Sakura, what the devil has gotten into you? You aren't some Academy girl with a crush anymore! You're practically a grown woman! When are you going to start acting like it?" Her mother shook her head in a frustrated way. "You should be thinking about your future! But that's your problem… isn't it? You young people never think… you never plan ahead…"

"Mother, despite what you might have heard," Sakura said with a grind to her teeth. "There is nothing between Sasuke and myself."

"And yet, despite your father and I voicing our concerns to you, you were associating with him the very night the Holding and Interrogation center burned to the ground. And then, to make matters even worse, the Uchiha had to carry you out of the flames over his shoulder. This wonderful little tidbit of gossip is apparently the only thing the entire village can talk about!" Mebuki shot a look of pure venom at her daughter. "Don't treat me like an idiot."

"Look... Mebuki," said her father, an exasperated note to her voice. "That rumour is completely and utterly ridiculous. You know our daughter…"

"I know our daughter, but the rest of the village certainly doesn't! Trust me... with a juicy story like that… No one is going to care how true or not it is! Everyone will tell that story… They will want to retell it, just to see the reaction it gets!"

Sakura gripped the edge of the table for stability. "Mom… That rumor is completely untrue... Sasuke was trying to help me. I was unconscious… there was a…"

Mebuki snorted. "Oh wonderful! Now my daughter is in a traitor's debt. That's going to go over charmingly with the neighbors."

"Mebuki," said Kizashi in a warning voice.

"Mother, you don't know the first things that's happened to me," growled Sakura.

"Sakura… Please," pleaded Kizashi.

"And you don't know the first thing that has happened to your father and I!" her mother shot right back. "The whole Haruno clan has a pall cast over it because of your choices… and because of this little escapade of yours, the whole clan is now looking at us in a foul way… Do you know how difficult our life has gotten?"

"Dearest," said Kizashi, "calm yourself, please… We said we'd talk to to daughter... not yell at her."

"How difficult your life has gotten?" said Sakura, her voice creeping up an octave. "Your life? You aren't the one who is going to be put on trial!"

"Trial?" her father asked in a weak voice. "For what?"

Shit. She hadn't meant to say anything about. "Dad… It's just a bunch of trumped up charges… there is nothing behind them. I swear."

Sakura's mother rested her head in her hands. "Wonderful… The looks we were getting were bad enough when the civilian ANBU came marching through our house… I can only imagine what will happen once this news gets out… Thank goodness for that gentleman caller of yours. The fact that someone still cares enough to come by and ask after you has helped your social position somewhat."

Sakura's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Wait… what visitor?"

Mebuki sat back with a smug smile. "You my dear are being noticed again. Your teammate was dropping by almost every day to see how you were and if you were back from the Hospital yet."

"Oh, I already bumped into Naruto and Hinata they…"

Her mother chuckled. "No no no… we're not talking about the Jinchuriki. I mean your other teammate… that pale artist boy who dated Ino once or twice. I think he's gearing up the courage to ask you out on a date!"

Sakura froze. "Sai? He showed up here?" Her hands balled up into fists. "I'm going to kill that stupid fucker!"

"Sakura! Language!" snapped her mother. "At first I could only imagine what the intentions are of a young man would be, seeking after a young lady whose… reputation has been marred… But he was so earnest day after day, so desperately insisting that he needed to talk to you…"

Sakura slammed her palms down on the kitchen table and forced herself up and out of her seat. "Sai is working for the Shimura clan. Have you heard any little rumours about the Shimura clan lately?" she asked in a voice quivering with anger. "They are in the process of seizing control of the Hidden Leaf village, in case you didn't know. And because Tsunade-sama was desperate she threw me into the fray."

Sakura leaned forward over the table. "The Shimura clan made a specific point to threaten you and Daddy, and threaten me in order to try convince me to abandon my Hokage. They convinced my teammate, Sai to switch sides and betray me at every turn feeding them information. Finally, while I was treating Sasuke for a medical disorder, they sent in a platoon of six ANBU to try and kill me. I fought them all off but the strongest one who tried to rape me!"

A silence fell over the table. For all her life Sakura remembered looking up at her parents, In her mind they seemed to tower with strength and decisiveness. Right now, they both looked so pale… so weak. "What?" asked her mother in a soft disbelieving voice.

"It's true," said Sakura matter of factly. "He tried… He tried twice... but I… I managed… to…" She tried to go on, but her voice hitched. As second before she felt so strong, but then something happened. The moment she finally confessed all of this out loud, the moment she decided to bring this all up in front of her parents, the people she was dreading the most finding out… It was if her body realized the worst had happened, and there was no point in holding herself together anymore. The steel cage in which she had locked all the tears, all the emotions all the fears and pain and sorrow in flew open.

It started as a few little hiccups that degenerated into great howling gasps. The sobs came pouring out of her. Instinctively she pressed her palms into her eye sockets in some primal attempt to stop the flow of tears, to try to keep them all in. She staggered against the table.

Sakura flinched when the arms first wrapped around her. "It's okay baby… It's okay," her mother cooed in her ear, holding her tight, snuggling with her in a way that she hadn't done since Sakura entered into the Academy.

Sometimes you need to be told to to suck it up, to bear your troubles. Sometimes you need to hear from others, that they too have dealt with the same hardships and horrors that you have… But sometimes, what you need the most is just an outpouring of raw, unconditional sympathy.

Sakura didn't quite remember what happened next… which given her memory was decidedly strange… but at any rate… One moment she was leaning on the table, her mother clinging to her, holding her steadying her, the next she was huddled in her mother's embrace, head buried in her lap, a raw animal cry of pain scraping at her throat.

She didn't know how long Mebuki sat there with her, stroking her hair, making wordless comforting sounds. Her mother caressed her face, kissed her brow and rocked her back and forth.

After a long while, the tears dried up, the sobs faded away, leaving Sakura feeling hollow inside. "My baby… My poor, poor baby," whispered her mother, hugging her even tighter.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked around the kitchen. "Mom?" she asked her voice still hoarse. "Where did dad go?"

They found him upstairs in her parents bedroom. He had ransacked their closet and thrown all his old shinobi gear on the bed. He had strapped on his equipment pouch and a shuriken holster. His old katana was leaning against the dresser, and he was struggling to zip up his flak vest. Kizashi was so intent on his preparations, that he completely missed his wife and daughter standing in the doorway. "Kizashi!" Mebuki blurted out, a hint of an edge to her voice. "What do you think you're doing?"

Her father tried to pull in his stomach a few millimeters more so he could work the zipper closed. "I'm going… Ooof!... To go find this Shimura fellow… ugh… and kill him." Kizashi exhaled deeply and fastened the vest up to his chin. "Why do you ask Mebuki? Do you want to come too?"

There was a brief pause as her mother actually seemed to be considering the question. "Don't bother Mom and Dad," Sakura said, a slight hitch in her voice. "He's dead."

There was a great exhalation as Kizashi relaxed, and the flak jacket popped open. Her father gave a downtrodden look of betrayal at his sagging gut and then looked sheepishly up at his daughter. Sakura covered her mouth with one hand and started to laugh. Her father joined her shortly thereafter. "Take that ridiculous thing off!" Mebuki ordered, suppressing a chuckle herself. "And clean up this mess... What on earth were you thinking?"

Her father grinned and wiped at his eyes. "Sorry my dear." He turned to Sakura. "I don't suppose I could trouble you to give your old man a hand picking up, could I?"

Her mother shook her head. "Honestly Kizashi… Dueling at your age?" she sighed at her husband's awkward shrug. "I'll go put on some tea… Sakura, do me a favor and make sure he stays out of trouble."

While her mother was downstairs in the kitchen, her father turned to her, his arms full of shuriken. "Um… Blossom? Was it you who… um…" he asked quietly, clearly unable to finish the question.

Sakura didn't feel like telling the whole story. She settled for shaking her head. "No… I... stopped him… and captured him, but… well… when Sasuke heard what he tried to do… Sasuke was the one who killed him," she said simply, handing her father his katana.

Kizashi raised an eyebrow. "Really? The Uchiha?" Sakura nodded the affirmative. Her father finished packing the closet, thinking heavily. As they left the master bedroom he put a hand on her back. "Well," he said quietly, "I guess you should remind me to thank him... the next time I see him that is."

* * *

A cup of tea helped immensely, as did a handful of her father's jokes. Mebuki didn't even complain about them for once. Of course the moment he stopped to take a breath, she took the opportunity to change the subject… asking her about her assignment in the hospital, asking her about how Ino was… how the rest of her friends were… and as Sakura told her, her mother actually listened.

They had a nice time… a decent conversation for once. Their conversation lasted long into the evening. Her father worked around them, putting together the evening meal. That night, lying in her own bed for the first time in a week, Sakura pretended not to notice when her mother opened her bedroom door a crack to check up on her.

She awoke to the late morning sun peering in through her window. Sakura could hear her parents talking in urgent voices from downstairs. Still clad in her pyjamas, a pair of comfortable shorts and a loose t-shirt, she walked down to the kitchen. "What's going on now?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

Her father looked up guiltily from the morning paper. The headlines screamed about another Inuzuka clan protest that turned violent, made a loud call for better leadership in Konoha, and muttered a few small lines about a triplet of minor villages on the border of the Land of Rice paddies being mysteriously destroyed. "Oh, I'm so sorry Blossom, did we wake you? We were planning on letting you sleep in as long as…"

"Oh hush Kizashi, she needs to know this! All of this! We should have woken her up sooner!" snapped her mother. "The Hokage's disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Sakura gasped. "How?"

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Well, on the op-ed page there is a well written column by one Akihiro Shimura that suggests the recent failures and stressed of the job must have gotten to her, and she's probably off in some gambling parlor drinking herself into oblivion… But I think it probably has something more to do with this." Mebuki slid the scroll across the table to her.

Sakura unrolled it. There was a note hastily scribbled in the upper left hand corner. "Sakura," read Tsunade's hastily scrawled kanji. "Don't think I forgot about you, or that I don't appreciate you. I hope it meets with your approval."

Sakura read the rest. "This is an agreement… a contract… Saying that the Shimura clan will drop all treason charges and cease all attacks on my character…" she paused as she came to the end of the scroll. "But it doesn't say what she gave the Shimura's in return… Why would she agree to this?"

"That isn't all," her mother huffed angrily. "We also got this," she said handing Sakura a second letter.

"To whom it may concern:" Sakura read. "This solicitation is to hereby inform the current residents of the Haruno clan domicile located at… An eviction notice!?" she yelled. "What the hell?"

"What the hell indeed," agreed her mother, not commenting on Sakura's language for once. "Did you get to the part where we are being politely but firmly asked to leave our clan, because we have unspecifically besmirched the good name of Haruno?"

Her father, nervous at the rage Mebuki was working herself into, tried to calm her down. "Dearest… look… This is politics… Nothing but politics… These things take time to sort themselves out… And trust me, this is the Haruno clan we're talking about here, we're not exactly known for being speedy… I bet if we wait patiently the Clan will withdraw the eviction order and everything will be fine."

Mebuki narrowed her eyes. " I'm not a Nara, but it looks like Tsunade-sama tried to make a deal on your behalf… a deal that went down badly. I wouldn't put it past those damn Shimura's to try anything."

Kizashi sighed. "Dearest you're talking about kidnapping the Hokage… The Hokage, surrounded by all her ANBU and commanding the loyalty of the jonin corps… That would start a civil war!"

"I talked to Shinko Akimichi the other day, and she told me that given the rumblings in her clan, a civil war might not be that far of!" Her mother slapped the paper for emphasis. "Have you seen the news?"

There was a sharp tapping sound and the three of them looked up. "Was that the door?" asked her father in a worried note.

"It better not be that bastard Sabuno kicking us out already," snarled Mebuki. "The damned eviction notice said we had a week to petition against the order and move all of our things out."

The tapping came again. It was close… too close to be the door. "Oh look!" said her father. "It's a little bird at our window! Finally! I was wondering when that bird feeder would start attracting them." Kizashi stood up from the table a took a slow step. "Hello little one," he said soothingly, "Did you enjoy the seeds? I bet you did!" The glossy black bird hopped up and down.

"Dad!" yelped Sakura "Get away from the window!"

Her father flinched just as two shadows streaked out from the yard and smashed against the glass. A thick black liquid slowly dripped down the window pane. The first tiny bird, the one who tapped on the window to get their attention, flapped itself into the air, and like its partners, dove head first into the window with a solid thump.

The ink scrawled itself over the glass. _Extraction team coming for you_, ran down the window in Sai's neat handwriting.

There was a moment of silence as Mebuki and Kizashi read the note. "The hell they are," growled Sakura's mother, stepping over to the sink and pulling a thick metal cleaver out of the butcher's block.

"Dearest, this is a Root extraction team," said her father patiently.

"What? Are you suggesting we just quietly and hand our little girl over to those bastards?" snarled her mother.

Kizashi gave her an affronted look. "No… I'm suggesting we'll need much more than just a cleaver... If I get the shuriken out of the closet again, would you be so good as to cover me while I booby trap the garden?"

"Hmph, good idea," agreed Mebuki. "While we're at it, we should probably mine the front steps with explosive tags." She looked around the kitchen with a sad frown and exhaled. "It's not like we'll be able to keep the house anyway."

Kizashi nodded. "Sakura honey, can we borrow some of your…" he paused and looked around worriedly. "Where the blazes did she go?"

"Sakura?" called Mebuki.


	101. Chapter 31: Sakura's Tale part 7

Sakura ran. Her pyjamas flapped against her in the wind as her bare feet slapped against the pavement. She didn't even bother to put on her boots. Every extra meter she put between herself and her parents was an extra meter of safety for them. Her parents meant well, and she loved them all the more for it… But they were also old far too old and far too retired from the shinobi life to expect to go face to face with a bunch of Root ANBU and survive. Hell, she herself had only triumphed because she had surprise on her side. They had thought she was captured… they hadn't expected a medical-nin to be so combat ready.

Even so.. it had been close… too close.

She could sense the extraction team closing in behind her. That spine tingly feeling on the base of the neck that warned that you were being watched was getting more and more frequent. Every so often during her sprint she would catch the flicker of movement from the corner of her eye.

"Crowds," she muttered to herself, rounding a corner and heading into the market district. "I want to be somewhere where there are crowds… It will be harder to grab me that way."

She still didn't have all her strength back. She was starting to get a stitch in her side and had to slow down considerably. Thankfully there were a few people milling about in the street heading back and forth in this seedier section of the Konoha market. She started to walk, trying to blend in.. blend in as well as a shoeless girl, clad in satin shorts, a baggy t-shirt and… well... obviously not wearing a bra could.

It wasn't working. She could see the gleam of the bone white masks peeping at her from rooftops and alleyways.

There was one good thing about being in her pyjamas… she was certainly attracting attention. If the extraction team grabbed her, at least there would be witnesses, she wouldn't just disappear mysteriously. She ignored the disapproving stares, and doubly ignored the approving ones. She started experimenting with how naturally she could walk with her arms folded in front of her.

She turned left at the junction of the main boulevard and headed downtown, towards the Hokage's mansion, to do only gods knows what… maybe hope that she could find Tsunade, when a loud wolf whistle pierced the air. Her head whipped around to find an older Inuzuka jonin leering at her from the shade of a tree. "Hey baby!" he called out in a cocky voice. "Need a ride back home? The walk of shame can be a rough one!"

"Dude!" exclaimed a familiar voice. "Will you shut up already Aoto? Seriously… Why do you have to yell out to every girl you see?"

Aoto's grin grew, "You should take a look at this one Kiba… Total hotness," he said in a carrying voice.

"You think anything in a skirt is total hotness," said Kiba slowly sitting up from where he was lying on Akamaru's stomach, using him like a pillow. "If you keep this up, one day, some pissed off kunoichi is royally going to kick your ass up around your ears, and I swear… on that day, I am going to laugh so hard…" Kiba stared. "Holy Shit! Sakura? Is that you?"

Sakura almost ignored him and kept on walking… almost. Her brain gave her a nudge. There were seven human members of the Inuzuka clan lounging in the shade of the tree, together with a further ten dogs… a formidable force… very formidable. She turned sharply and started to head straight for them. She heard Kiba mutter to Aoto, "Sorry cousin, it look like today is going to be the day…"

"Hey Kiba," Sakura called, pretending she didn't hear the exchange. "Can I bother you for a second? I need your help with something." Nobody else moved other than Kiba and Aoto, but she could tell by the twitching ears that the others were all listening.

Kiba slowly rose and was nudged back with Aoto's boot. "Sit down little cousin, I'm the alpha for this group," he muttered with a growl. Kiba barred his teeth at him but slowly sank back down. Aoto got up from his leaning position against the tree and swaggered over to her. " Little Kiba-kun's a little busy right now, but, Lady... if you're looking for an Inuzuka? You got one… the best one."

She felt a slight pang of revulsion, but stood her ground. "Actually, I was hoping Kiba could help me with a little something. I'm on a mission you see." Sakura saw Kiba's cringing glance.

Aoto shot Kiba sneering look and slicked back his hair. "If you're looking for a little something Kiba's a good choice… You need a big something, I'm your man..." There was a snigger from the clan group.

Sakura gritted her teeth and took another handful of steps forward. " Ha ha, very funny… I need some help… there's some men chasing me."

Aoto cracked his knuckles. "No worries my little chickadee, big bad Aoto is mean enough to scare away a whole army… for an appropriate reward of course." He leaned forward and casually draped an arm across her shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kiba flinch and start to inch his way behind a tree.

Sakura felt like flinching herself, his touch made her skin crawl. She forced her body to remain calm and tried to pull rank on him. "I'm on a mission for the Hokage you know?" she said in a cold flat voice.

"The Hokage?" Aoto asked with a smile. "Haven't you heard cutie pie? The Hokage took off… she isn't in charge any more...That means your mission isn't my problem."

Sakura stared at him as he giggled at his own cleverness. There was an echoing snicker from the pack. Even Kiba was giving her a questioning look. She frowned and thought back to what she knew about the Inuzuka. This was the wrong approach. Inuzuka didn't respect hierarchies, they respected strength. Well… even feeling weak as she was, she could make her point. She patted Aoto's wrist with one hand. "I can make it your problem," she said sweetly. Her fingers clamped down and twisted. The Inuzuka yelped like a kicked dog.

Aoto found himself face down on the street, his arm bent straight back and his joints creaking painfully. He looked up at Sakura and swallowed. "On the other hand… I'm always willing to help out a damsel in distress," he said in a nervous whisper.

Sakura sighed. "Oh, thank goodness!" she said with sarcastic relief. There was the repeated sound of giggles from the lounging Inuzuka . "I'm glad there is such a big strong man around I can depend on!"

Aoto frowned. There were more giggles. "Look… just, what do you want lady?"

"The Shimura clan has sent an extraction team after me. I need someone to delay them and run interference while I slip away.""

There was a sudden silence as thirty four pairs of ears, both canine and human perked up. "Did you say the Shimura clan?" asked a leather clad Inuzuka kunoichi with an evil smile.

Sakura nodded. "A Root team was sent to capture me and my parents and…" she let her voice trail off. She didn't have their interest anymore. Humans and dogs were eagerly getting to their feet and stretching. Sakura watched them, a cold finger of caution creeping up her spine, even Aoto looked less embarrassed, and was looking eager for a fight. "Be careful," she insisted. "They're Root ANBU!" There was a moment as the Inuzuka's all looked at each other and grinned. As one pack, humans and dogs alike stepped out from the shade and sniffed at the air. Then there was a blur of speed as they vanished.

Everyone except Kiba, that is... he and Akamaru wandered up to her. "What gives Sakura? Since when do you need other guys to fight for you?" He looked her up and down. "And what's with the outfit?"

She shook her head. "No time to explain. Will Aoto and the rest honestly help me out here?"

Kiba gave her a disbelieving look. "Of course! Aoto was the alpha for this mission… And you whupped him! That practically makes you an honorary Inuzuka!"

"So he'll go along with this feint against the Root ANBU?"

Kiba smirked. "Don't worry about it… he's not a bad guy, he just can't keep his mouth shut around girls. He won't take it personally, he knew he had it coming." He gave her an infectious grin. "Besides, mom sent us all out here to make sure everyone in the Hidden Leaf knows we weren't happy." He rolled his eyes. "Personally I think she gave us this sector 'cause she worried the Shimura clan might be holding a grudge against me for that little Sasuke dust up… We've seen nothing! All the other hunter packs have been having fun and raising hell… We've been bored stiff... up till now."

She found herself smiling with relief. At least the extraction team after her would be slowed down some… Hopefully her parents would be smart enough to get away… Which brought up another thought. "Hey Kiba… aside from the distraction thing, I need another favor… two favors actually. First, I need a food pill. I'm running on empty here. Second, would it be to much trouble for you to head to my house and get my parents? Like I said… we're all being targeted and…"

Akamaru growled darkly, and Kiba chuckled. "Don't I know it boy… Akamaru said, who isn't being targeted by the Shimura's these days," he said to answer her questioning look. He shrugged and dug in his equipment pouch, pulling out a pill. "No problem, I guess they can bunk at the main Inuzuka compound for a bit. It's only two more warm bodies."

Sakura sighed and thankfully patted him on the shoulder. "Great… Thanks Kiba… I owe you one… I hope your clan mates are careful, those Root Guys can be dangerous."

Kiba laughed evilly. "Yeah they can be dangerous… we know that by now, Those Root guys like to strut their stuff around, acting like they're the top dog in Konoha… but you know what?" he said baring his fangs, "I think they'll get the message pretty soon, that we Inuzuka can be dangerous too."

* * *

She watched part of the skirmish from the roof of an empty store. Kiba wasn't boasting. One on one, the extraction team shinobi from Root wasn't out classed but taken as one group against another, they were outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Dogs and Inuzuka worked seamlessly together, dodging and weaving into the defensive circle the extraction team formed, feinting, probing. Little by little their attacks would separate a single Root shinobi from the group, and then savagely drive them apart. Then it was just a matter of time before the lone Root ANBU was surrounded and the rest of the pack pounced. Sakura almost left bad for them… almost.

She was just about to get up and continue on her way towards the Hokage mansion, when there was a scrabbling sound on the roof tiles next to her. She looked down just as the small black rat looked up.

They stared at each other for a second, and then she lashed out with her heel. Ink sprayed from the squashed rat, dripping slowly off the roof with a plink... plink... plink.

Sakura froze. It was Sai, he was sending out feelers, searching… Indecision caught her and she froze, should she go back and call for the Inuzuka? Should she continue on searching for Tsunade? Should she run? For that matter, did she get the rat in time? There was a chance that Sai might not have even noticed her…

A shadow dove out of the sky. Instinctively she dove from the roof, lept across the alleyway, and used chakra to cling to the opposite building. The bird came fluttering after her. She dodged and it hit the wall beside her leaving a splash of dripping kanji.

"I see you," read the neat letters. "Please don't run."

Sakura ran.

She lept off the roof top of the warehouse, landed on the balls of her feet, and quickly spun around, glancing at the sky. Sai knew she was here. It was unbelievably stupid of her to stay and gloat… watching the Inuzuka battle the Root ANBU. She should have kept running, she should have fled in all the chaos.

There was no doubt in her mind that Sai would have Root reinforcements somewhere close behind him. The last thing she should have done was continue her flight deeper into the warehouse district. There was nobody around here, no one to help her… no one to hear her scream.

Her best chance right now lay in evading all of Sai's ink creations and finding someplace where she could hide… somewhere where his beast scroll animal jutsu could not go.

There was a rattle on the roof above her. She saw a single gleaming black bird perched on the storehouse gutters blinking one beady eye on her. Sakura turned sharply and continued running.

The stitch in her side was back, but she forced herself to ignore it. She tore through the alleyways as best as she could, trying to keep her path as random as possible. Occasionally, she would careen off of a handy corner or wall to quickly provide a change in direction.

She could tell the bird was still following her. She could hear it flapping heartily and sporadically uttering a guttural cry. She briefly wondered why it was even bothering with all the noise, until she heard an answering call from somewhere off to her left.

There were more of them on the way… no doubt the were going to try and surround her. She darkly mused whether they would attack her themselves, or just pin her down, hold her there until some Root assassin, maybe even Sai himself, could finish her off.

A third bird's cry joined the first two… then a fourth and a fifth. She tried to run even faster, starting to panic.

It was such a relief when she finally found what she was looking for three streets over. A large drain set at the intersection of two heavy transport roads.

Sakura jumped into the air, charged her leg with chakra, and swung it down with a leaping axe kick. The mortar around the grate shattered with a loud crack, and the whole area, Sakura included, fell into the new dark hole.

There was a drop of about two meters, followed by a splash. Sakura kept her mouth clamped tight and her eyes shut as she swam for the surface… There was no way this liquid was clean.

She broke the surface and treaded water, while shaking her head, trying to clear as many drops as possible from her face and hair. Finally, hoping that it wasn't too bad, she opened her eyes.

She had fallen into a sewer, just as she had feared / hoped. Since the warehouse district wasn't inhabited, the odds were good it was used for water run off and not raw sewage… but she didn't want to take any risks. She'd done rounds in the pediatric charity ward, treating the orphans who in the summer months would go swimming in anything to beat the heat.

Thankfully, there was a little maintenance access path running aside the water channel. It was child's play to make her hands and the soles of her feet to stick with chakra to the slime encrusted wall and climb out.

Sakura looked up at a loud cawing sound and caught sight of a dark shadow fluttering through the light shining in through the hole she had made. It was time to go. Hopefully the water would keep the ink summons at bay… Maybe with a little luck she could even use the moisture to destroy them so they couldn't report back to Sai… at any rate, it was better than doing nothing and waiting for the Root agents to catch up… all she needed to do was find a way out.

* * *

Sai was relentless in his pursuit. Sakura had no idea how long she had spent wandering the sewers. Every so often she would cup her hands into the water canal and splash a huge puddle onto the stone walkway behind her, before carrying on her way. The first time she tried that she was rewarded with the frantic pained squeaking of an ink rat as it walked into the pool and started to dissolve from its feet up. She couldn't tell if he pulled back after that, or just switched to another method of following her, but she kept pouring water on the path anyway… anything to inconvenience him.

The maintenance byway led her into a huge vaulted underground chamber. An area where four waterways came together, collecting into a huge murky pool, before running out again through a large barred opening. The sound of splashing waves echoed back and forth in the room, drowning out all other background noise.

This was not a place she wanted to be caught in. A noisy, wide open space with only a few stone columns holding up the roof for cover. Sakura quickly made a decision and headed to the rightmost tunnel… right as Sai himself stepped out from behind a pillar. "Sakura," he said calmly. "I'm glad you listened to my warning and escaped the extraction team… It makes this... easier. Would you stop running please? I need…"

She punched him square in the face. He exploded into a shower of ink. A second clone appeared off to her left. "I need to talk to you. I need to…"

That clone exploded as well. A third one approached from the entrance she just came out of. "I need to tell you something important… I need to talk to you about a lot of things actually, but first I…" He was quite a distance away, so this clone managed to get out quite a few words before she neatly decapitated him with a kick to the throat.

There were more footsteps, a fourth approaching from her blind spot. "Sakura, I just need you to listen… I want to apologize and then I would like to tell you a story and then…"

"I don't want your apology, you fucking asshole!" Sakura screamed as she charged at him. The force of her blow knocked the Sai clone clear across the sewer antechamber and into the far wall, where he left a dark stain across the mossy brickwork.

The pool of ink from the first clone pulled all of its droplets together. The head and shoulders of a new Sai was slowly rising from its shallow surface. "I can see that you are somewhat upset…" it managed to get out before she smashed it.

By that time the other three ink spots were also coalescing back into individual Sai clones as well. Sakura spend a good many minutes charging around the cathedral-like chamber, reducing the clones back to smears of sticky darkness. The clones themselves never put up a moment's resistance or made a single move towards her. They just stood there as she pounded them.

Eventually, exhaustion got the better of her rage. Sakura warily stood in the center of the chamber panting, turning her head this way and that, trying to keep all the ink puddles in view at the same time. Despite the puddles on the floor remaining still, she stayed in her fighting stance... waiting for the real attack.

Sakura heard the footsteps long before she saw him appear. "As I was saying,"Sai announced calmly. "I could see that you were quite upset… so I thought it might be best that I waited until you calmed down some." Sai stopped and tilted his head. "You are calm… aren't you?"

She tried to keep one eye on this new Sai and at the same time on the other entrances to the sewer chamber and all the ink spots decorating the walls and floor. "What do you want Sai?" she growled.

Sai smiled his simple fake smile. "Good… I was hoping that you were finally ready to listen… As I was saying... I would like to discuss three things with you."

Sakura braced herself as Sai took another step forward. Where would the next attack come from? The Sai in front of her or from some other direction? "You look tense," Sai said curiously.

"Yeah, being tracked by your former friend who betrayed you and is now trying to kill you will do that," she said grumpily.

"Well hopefully I will be able to rectify that," he said cheerily. "You see, first, I would like to apologize to you… Second, I would… very much like to tell you a story of sorts. It doesn't justify my actions, but perhaps it might... make them more understandable. I would like to make amends if possible."

Sakura didn't believe that for a second. She slowly began gathering chakra in her fist. "You said there were three things?" she asked quietly.

"Ah yes… number three." Sai crouched down on his knees in front of her. Very slowly , one hand reached over his left shoulder where he kept his short tanto blade in its scabbard. Calmly and deliberately, he drew it, and slid it hilt first, across the floor to her. "Third... and finally," he said with that vapid smile still on his face, "I would very much appreciate it if you would kill me."


End file.
